The Hunger Games

Every now and then a book comes along that digs deep into your soul and becomes a part of you. The characters and their world live vividly in your mind and heart. You can see them as clearly as if they were standing in front of you and feel everything they feel. Their world is yours and your world is theirs. For me, those books have included Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb...and now, The Hunger Games trilogy (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay) by Suzanne Collins.

There's no point denying I had no interest whatsoever in reading these books. I tend to by anti-hype. I've never read or watched the Harry Potter books or movies (except for one and that's only because my co-worker begged me to go with her on opening day since no one wanted to go with her). And I'm not about to read the Twilight books. Unfortunately, I've had to sit through the movies because of friends or my niece. (How can I say no to my niece? I can't.) None of it has been able to pull me in.

And for me, The Hunger Games was just another teen book series surrounded by too much hype and I wasn't going to touch it. That is, until the thing I've always wanted happened.

I've always wanted to do a book club. I had joined one on meetup.com, but the discussion meetings were always inconvenient for me. I only ever made it to one discussion for The Lovely Bones. So when MG asked if I wanted to participate in the book club she and some other friends were forming, I said yes. Then she told me the first book was The Hunger Games and as if she already knew what I would say or do, she handed me her copy because she had also downloaded it on her Kindle. Ugh, great, I thought.

After a day, I gave in and figured I might as well get it over with. Plus, I figured it could help with work since I had to promote the movie on my company's FB page and I had already found myself Google-ing little things here and there for related posts. At first, I was only reading it while on the bus. It held my attention; it was an easy read, but then it made me cry. And I knew then I was a goner. I was three-quarters through the book when I knew I had to read the second book.

It hadn't pulled me completely in yet, though. Yes, I wanted to know what happened next, but it was still three days after finishing the first one that I finally gave in and bought Catching Fire at Barnes & Noble. I should have bought the 3rd book too.

Catching Fire engulfed me completely. I stayed up all night reading it. I finished it at 5:30am and only slept for 2 hours before I got up and went to work. I don't know how I survived work that day. I never thought I would finish that quickly. I knew I shouldn't go buy the last book even though all day at work I was consumed with knowing what happens. I questioned my co-worker, but he was reluctant to tell me, wanting me to find out for myself, but warning me against getting the 3rd book that night since I hadn't slept the night before.

But MG text me and said she'd pick me up from work and we could go get the last book, so I started reading Mockingjay at 7pm Thursday night and finished it at 2:30am.

And Friday night I started re-reading them again. First, going back and re-reading favorite chapters and passages. Sitting in the living room or laying on my bed crying as I re-read them. And then I picked up the first book and started reading again from the beginning. Slowly this time. Taking my time and re-living every word. The exhaustion from the previous nights took over though and I went to bed at a reasonable hour.

So, for the last two weeks my life has been consumed by The Hunger Games. My co-worker shakes his head at my obsession.

I can't explain it, but these books have affected me in such a way. And not because of MG's observation that their world is eerily possible. I've re-read them and particular passages have been re-read numerous times, but even so, there's a familiarity to them. The first time I read them, I felt like I knew those words, the images brought to life in my mind were not new to me. Almost like deja vu, but deeper. The characters, the story; I could see them in a past dream. I can see them so vividly. They've been with me a long time. Maybe I read these books in a past life...I don't know the answer.

All I know is that it's the first time in a very long time that I've been affected this way. It's made me reflect on my life and past loves.

Heed my warning, buy all three books at once and be ready to be consumed. They may not affect you the same way, but you won't be able to put them down.

Thursday, March 22, 2012
P.S. Catching Fire is my favorite of the series. I can read it over and over again.