The Hunger Games

 

So I haven't read this yet.............

So this will probably only serve to demonstrate that I live in the UK and that I’m not a teenager anymore (apparently twenteen is okay but twenteenone is too much of a mouth full to be tolerated and people just give me a look of pity when I use the phase) but I haven’t actually read The Hunger Game books. I know, I know it is a disgraceful thing to state, but it’s the truth. PLEASE DON’T HURT ME, I have so much to live for, for example actually reading The Hunger Games Trilogy.

The thing is until recently I had never heard of The Hunger Games, not even a little peep, then suddenly it sort of exploded everywhere, it seems to have appendages scattered all over the place, blogs, vlogs, newspapers, magazines, posters and the television. I don’t even watch TV anymore so if I know it’s there I can’t imagine what it is like for regular viewers.  This is by no means a terrible thing, because you know what?? Colour me intrigued, what the hell have I been missing??

It isn’t just me who has been missing it, none of my friends (bear in mind most my friends are students of literature) have read it either. It just seems to have missed most of the UK, which is really disappointing considering we got Twilight, I mean really if you are going to put us through the agony of Twilight USA at least give us a light at the end of the tunnel. I know I’m not exactly its target audience but one of my favourite books is Artemis Fowl and that is aimed at 12 year old boys so I think I can manage The Hunger Games.  All I’ve got from posting the question on Facebook “So anyone actually read the Hunger Games?” is ridicule from my American friends for missing out on something great, obliviousness from my UK friends and surprise that it’s a book as well as a film and the general consensus that it’s better than Twilight.

Here are my questions: Is the writing decent?? Has it got a better idea then Romeo and Juliet with Vampires?? Is it interesting or am I going to feel like I’m wading through treacle?? Are the characters engaging and am I going to care about their plight?? Is it really as good a social commentary as everyone suggests?? Can I put it by H.G, Wells collection of dystopian literature?? And is it worth reading beyond the reason of seeing what all the fuss is about??

I just want to know if it will be good, that’s all?? Not that I don’t read a lot of rubbish but with all the hype I don’t want to end up despairing at the worlds taste in literature. I’ll be honest I’ll probably read it anyway I just want to know if I’m going to enjoy it or am I going to finish it and hate the world, feeling it was a really disappointing lover that lied to me about how great their performance was going to be.

It’s a Bookworm Thing

The book lovers chair

I am having a bad week, the Monday Blues stuck around and this week has just not gone my way or even been remotely tolerable. The universe seems to have taken offence to me. I’m currently in last minute negotiations for an improvement on next week, but trying to get the universe in a dialogue is like getting a child to sit still. Neither wants to be unmoving and must be everywhere at once spouting outrageous demands that if refused will result in tantrums. I am, however, hopeful.

Sweety Shop

My bad week has given me a chance to indulge my weakness and great passion, the written word. I really don’t need an excuse to read an obscene amount of books, but a bad week where all I can do to cheer myself up is to picture the next time I’ll get to pick up my book, it becomes the few minutes of sunshine in an otherwise very bleak day. A beautifully written book can make everything better, it can make you feel an immeasurable amount of emotions and make you believe you can take on the world. It can do the wonderful thing of filling you with a golden glow from your head to your toes. As for a not so beautifully written book, well that can just amuse you for a couple of hours. Buying a new book is like… being in a sweet shop and they have new stock. The old trusted tastes are still there to be procured but there are so many new ones to try, to experiment with, to be enjoyed.

Classics

You can open a book and be taken anywhere, to the far reaches of the globe or a completely different world. A good book has the ability to whisk you away to improbable places, away from your world to anywhere you and the author cares to dream of. Then there are the books that take you home and are so familiar they comfort you. It doesn’t matter how far beyond your own knowledge a book maybe, a good one, when you pick it up makes you feel, smell and hear everything. You are there with the author and character, gone from your seat to somewhere special; even if it is just someone else’s day to day life. Some books reflect reality, time and culture; they are an extraordinary gateway to experiences and societies outside your own. Books stand as a documentation of a way of life that has the potential to be sadly lost, preserving a world safely in black ink within bound pages.

They have to possibility to bring masses of people together, to unite and on occasions reshape literature, for example in the last ten years children’s novels has been completely revolutionised. They can touch a diverse range of people and connect them with one enjoyment. Literatures capability to expand a person’s belief of what is possible is fantastic, people often choose to translate the endless possibilities of books over into their lives and worlds.

Literature, books and novels change people lives, my own has been completely redirected by the written word and I believe there is no greater force. They can change a person, their ideas, attitudes and thinking, changing an outlook can make a person or break them. The written word has a wonderful potential to inspire a person or movement and it can communicate an idea in a few symbols. The written word is pleasurable, awesome and life changing. Or so this bookworm thinks.

 

Posting Literature thingys here all week!!