A book review!

I rarely write up book review on my blog. I think there are so many actual good book review bloggers out there that who am I to compete. However, I just finished a trilogy that I couldn't put down and it is being turned into a movie, so I'm going for it. The trilogy I have not been able to put down for the last couple weeks and stayed up late so I could finish is "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. It's been on all the best sellers list since being released from 2008-2010. The books in sequence are "The Hunger Games," "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay." I didn't initially read them because the premise sounded too science fiction for me. It takes place in Panem, which is North America in the future after it's been destroyed by numerous natural and man-made disasters. Panem is split into 13 different districts and an area called "The Capitol."  The Capitol punishes the districts for a previous rebellion by making them send one boy and one girl to the "hunger games" every year to compete against the kids from other districts until only one remains alive. This didn't appeal to me at all. But the main girl, Katniss, is a great female lead and at the end of the day, it's less apocalyptic and is basically a love story. Katniss is torn between two different boys, Gale and Peeta. It's action packed and romantic, which is a rare combination, resulting in a total page turner.

The first movie is coming out March 23, 2012. They cast my new favorite young actress, Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. Peeta will be played by John Hutcherson, the adorable boy in "The Kids Are All Right." Gale will be played by Liam Hemsworth, unfortunately known for being in "The Last Song" and dating Miley Cyrus. Other big names include Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland. This Monday the news came out that a date for the second movie has been set for November 2013. I'm so excited to see how they do with the adaptations and am so glad they're not cramming all the books in to one movie. While this will never replace Harry Potter for me, it's nice to have a book/movie release to be excited about!