0
oldwomanc6

Hunger Games

Recommended Posts

My daughter has been bugging me to read this for what seems like forever. Well, I started it, and now can hardly put it down.

Anyone else read this? Comments on the book? How about the upcoming movie? Speculation? Will it be good or a waste of money?

Please, if you have a spoiler alert, advise ahead of the post :P
lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I can't wait to see the movie. If the movie is half as good as the trailer, I think it'll be worth the money. I'm just bummed I have to wait an extra week to see it since I'm overseas (but I'm not complaining since it will actually be shown in our theater!!!).

I didn't hear of the trilogy until the first movie trailer came out last fall. I put off reading the books for a month so I could read them after my graduation in December. I read them in three days :$

I'm a fan :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I first heard of it when I was home last, and saw the movie trailer. My sister informed me that the movie was based on these books, so I bought them all for my Nook. I read all three of them in about 2 months (I'm kind of busy!) :P

I thought they were really well written. I knew at the time of purchase that the intended message was to teach teens about the effects of war. However, once I started reading, I thought they delivered that message to anyone.

From the trailers, I have high expectations for the movies. I just hope mmy expectations aren't so high they can't be reached. We all know the book is always better than the movie, but here's hoping the movie is on par.

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The series has really gone viral in high schools. I had a copy in my classroom-it was the most read book (ever!) that I had students read outside of course readings-a record of 13 students, and 3 parents read it, and returned it... in less than 5 months, as I didn't get it until late October. Then it went "missing" in January (don't like it, but I know it's still being passed around). I then bought the trilogy, and have another copy of the first book. Both are out with students right now... Sadly, because I haven't had the chance, I haven't read it :$

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Perhaps this book is a lesson in not forcing kids read only "classics". Not that there is anything wrong with them, but why not let kids read the books that will interest them? If we encourage them to do that, they may read a great deal more. :)

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Perhaps this book is a lesson in not forcing kids read only "classics". Not that there is anything wrong with them, but why not let kids read the books that will interest them? If we encourage them to do that, they may read a great deal more. :)



Totally agree! I was an avid reader as a kid - part of that was because we lived in Greece from when I was age 5 to age 8, and at the time (late 70s) there wasn't much English language TV on for kids (except the Muppet Show! yay!). But we had a library available and boy did my brother and I read!

After we moved back stateside, I continued to read a lot, and to be honest, a lot of it was "junk" reading. I appreciate the fact that my parents still let me read it, because it kept me reading actively and made reading something I had fun doing. Heck, even into early adulthood, I read more fluffy stuff than serious stuff, but in the last decade or so, I've revisited a lot of the classics and I read tons of more serious newer stuff (about 70% nonfiction, probably 30% fiction).

The Hunger Games trilogy (I've just recently finished the first one and am eager to get the other two from the library when they're available) and the Harry Potter series are good examples of books that have turned a generation that's used to television and electronic devices on to reading. So they may not go down as "classic" literature... they're still getting people to crack a book!
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just finished the trilogy in audiobook form the other day, they were good and looking forward to the movie. I did like the first one more then the other two as a whole but they all were good.

I don't read as much as I used to a couple years ago, tend to listen to audiobooks more lately. There was a awesome used book store where I used to live and ended up having so much credit built up with them that I no longer had to buy books. I'd go through 2 or three a week, trade them back in and pick up some more.

I hardly read in high school but I have to agree that if they worked with newer books that would actually interest the students they would probably get more to actually read. Hell my class vetoed The Scarlet Letter when we were assigned it. Royally pissed off our english teacher but after a couple days of nobody even turning the cover she gave up and we just watched a movie (Monty Python and The Holy Grail) instead.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Really? I thought the Scarlet Letter was one of the better classics we had to read. But when I was in high school, they were actually veering away from the classics. In freshman year our summer reading list was actually a lot of recent books from a bunch of different genres. I think a lot of people in my class read more because of that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Pretty good series all in all. The ending was a major letdown for me and completely went against everything I had been brought to believe about the main character and her moral standing. Complete 180. I won't go further as it would require a fairly large spoiler

Also, as much as these books were intended for a 'younger audience' they were pretty horrific. I mean some of it was like reading a passage from the script of one of the Saw movies. I don't mind that, I think it's better at making the point about the horrors of sending young children by lottery to a gladiatorial arena (war I guess) but I just looked it up and it's rated PG-13. Pretty sure hollywood will have sterilized the hell out of it to reach the largest audience as possible and turn it into something...well Hollywood and cool and do their best to avoid any character analysis or personal growth story. I could be wrong, and I hope I am.

Not that anyone is surprised by that but it irks me all the same. And I'll still go see it

And yes, I'm very cynical. I make no apologies
Find your peace, though the world around you burns

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Perhaps this book is a lesson in not forcing kids read only "classics". Not that there is anything wrong with them, but why not let kids read the books that will interest them? If we encourage them to do that, they may read a great deal more. :)



I have to agree with that. When I was a kid, my parents strongly encouraged me reading anything. Even comic books. Because it was reading.

They instilled a great love for books in me that way.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

Perhaps this book is a lesson in not forcing kids read only "classics". Not that there is anything wrong with them, but why not let kids read the books that will interest them? If we encourage them to do that, they may read a great deal more. :)



I have to agree with that. When I was a kid, my parents strongly encouraged me reading anything. Even comic books. Because it was reading.

They instilled a great love for books in me that way.


Any of your peoples with kids, I strongly recommend you look into this site:

http://www.reading-rewards.com/

A good friend of mine built and runs it. It's a great idea and resource if you ask me!
Remster

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My current bugbear is people complaining about how movie producers ruin books ;).

The book is the book and the movie is the movie, and the two types of media call for different approaches. I think it's almost better to think of them as unrelated - people are spoiling their enjoyment of films adapted from books because they're not accepting the films on their own terms.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On occasion I will be slightly disappointed that the movie didn't include certain parts of the book it was based on, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is one that comes to mind. But mostly I will keep them separate, as you say a movie is a movie and a book is a book.

One thing I think its hard to make in a movie that is based on a book is that there is a lot of inner monologue and thoughts that fill pages, set the moods, and fill the scenes that you just can't do in a movie.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

My current bugbear is people complaining about how movie producers ruin books ;).

The book is the book and the movie is the movie, and the two types of media call for different approaches. I think it's almost better to think of them as unrelated - people are spoiling their enjoyment of films adapted from books because they're not accepting the films on their own terms.



This is true, but most people never think of what the differences in the medium mean in terms of how the product is created. Just the fact a book can be put down or a chapter reread to clarify what just happened vs a film which is intended to be seen in one continuous sitting with no "instant replay." Books can go into the mind of a character from a first person point of view, movies really can't do that for any extended period of time.

Great adapted screenplays have to cut through all the fluff, get to the meat of the story and make it crystal clear to the viewer who is watching it in "real time." Can you even begin to imagine what Steve Kloves had to go through to keep the "Harry Potter" franchise manageable?

Crazy.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0