Lately, the only characters keeping my nose between the pages are a girl from Arizona and a boy who has been alive since 1901. Reading seems to be more difficult when all my time is taken up by kids and blogging and writing (forget cleaning!).
However, my friend brought me The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (the same book Stephenie Meyer recommended on her website) last week, and when I finally decided to read it, I was hooked.  I finished it in a little over a day.
Set in the future, in a place formerly known as North America, it is the story of a teenage girl who is thrown into a game with twenty-three other teenagers who must fight to the death.
Though probably not a book for those who cannot handle Lord of the Flies, it is free of profanity, and promotes themes of hope and humanity.
Romantic and ironic, haunting and thrilling,  The Hunger Gamesis an excellent read.

10 Responses to “put down ‘twilight’ for a bit and read this!”

1. Jen T says:

   8 November 2008 at 2:49 pm

   Thanks Jaime for the recommendation. I picked up Inkheart/Inkspell/Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke after Twlight, but I just finished those and was wondering where to go next. Thanks! Are you heading to the movie the 21st? I have my babysitter lined up!
2. Gabbi says:

   9 November 2008 at 9:12 pm

   This seems like a rip off of a Japanese cult movie called Battle Royale.
3. My First Kitchen says:

   10 November 2008 at 6:00 am

   I haven’t gotten sucked into the Twilight world yet, and I’m trying to avoid losing all my free time to a smitten vampire with all my might! But I loved Lord of the Flies. This sounds interesting. Hmmm, library this afternoon?
4. susan says:

   13 November 2008 at 10:38 am

   It’s one of my favorite books of the year!
5. Rachelle says:

   20 November 2008 at 2:07 pm

   Thanks! I’ve been needing a new page-turner, as well as another good book so that my whole 1st page from goodreads on my blog isn’t Stephenie Meyer.
6. Annamaria says:

   29 September 2009 at 2:32 pm

   The sequel to this recently came out, Catching Fire. Very good read.
7. Allie Knell says:

   12 October 2009 at 8:54 pm

   Jaime, I recently read both volumes if The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I could not put these crazy books down. They had me hooked. I can’t wait for the movies on these books some day. The New Moon movie comes out November 20th and looks good. Do you remember how the Harry Potter movies started? The first movie did not have lots of money for special effects, but once it became a huge hit, the money was there to produce top notch future Harry Potter movies. Twilight will probably follow the
   same pattern. I hope I will not have to eat my words.
8. S says:

   3 November 2009 at 11:17 am

   Hi, Jaime, you have a very beautiful blog here! I just discovered it a few minutes ago. That book is good, and it really is like Lord of the Flies, which I stopped reading many years ago out of distaste, actually.
   If you’re looking for something new to read, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is also very good! It doesn’t have as much of the horror element to it as The Hunger Games, and it’s about 3 or 4 times longer, but it’s very good!
9. Mr.Asian says:

   5 May 2010 at 11:28 am

   I think this was an exelent book! It has been awhile since I’ve picked up and read a book with such quality. This is a must read for those who have been looking for an adventure!
10. Karen says:

    29 May 2010 at 7:33 am

    This is an amazing book! It is full of adventure and raw emotion that kept me thinking about it long after it was over. The third book in the series is coming out later this summer…. it has been a tough wait. Enjoy!