Finally Reading The Hunger Games
One of the many shameful things I did not confess to you, dear reader, is that in addition to not having finished the Harry Potter series, I have never read The Hunger Games. I know. I know. But, it just never seemed that compelling to me. I mean, I’ve seen Battle Royale, so I’ve got the gist, right?
Even finding out that Susanne Collins went to school here in Birmingham didn’t sway me.
This happens to me sometimes. I’ll miss out on THE NEXT BIG THING early on and then the sheer weight of societal expectation repulses me. I didn’t read The Help, or The Da Vinci Code. I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a year or so late and it was ok, but I didn’t continue. I still don’t quite get what all the hype was about. I haven’t read Gone Girl. I did read Twilight, but I read it before it was cool. Also, I got bored waiting for book 3, so I haven’t finished that either. (Apparently, I’m a quitter.)
I get stubborn when too many people tell me I have to read something. It’s one of the best ways to keep me from doing it actually. My mom learned this when she gave me Stranger in a Strange Land when I was ten or so. I got stubborn and didn’t read it for five years. Heinlein is now one of my favorite authors. I’m a little bit like a cat, I think. I have to think things are my own idea.
What all of this is coming around to is this: I have not read The Hunger Games. (Or seen the movies.) Yet.
I am going to read The Hunger Games. And I am going to blog about it because I like doing things on the internet. So, I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
Medusa's Library 
I’m a contrarian, too. If everybody has read a mega-bestseller, then it doesn’t need my help. I try to read the books that will benefit from my advocacy, as well as books for my own enjoyment reading. It’s nice to tap into the zeitgeist of a publishing trend ever now and then, but there are too many other books that need a leg up with finding an audience.
Agreed! I love finding a book I can introduce people too. Of course, sometimes that backfires on me and the book doesn’t get enough momentum for the sequel to get picked up, but other times, it’s awesome.
I can actually say that I read The Hunger Games right before Catching Fire came out. So I suppose I was on the bandwagon when it was just gearing up. I have a weird YA addiction though, so I blame that. However, I find myself in the middle of so many series currently, that I have started waiting until a given series is finished before picking it up. One would think I had learned my lesson with Stephen King’s Dark Tower series (which I started in middle school for goodness sake) about ever beginning a series that has not reached completion. I am apparently an exceedingly slow learner. That said, I have quite a few series that have been recommended to me that I’ve not given a go yet as I am waiting for the last books to be written. I am a completest and I can’t help myself. What all that up there means is that I think it’s fine that you waited to read these books. At least you know they’re finished. ;o) (I also apologize for using the word “series” so much. It doesn’t even look like a real word anymore.)
I should do that because I get really, really frustrated when series I love either end or don’t get publication here in the US (I’m looking at you Random House! I had to import the second two Daniel Polansky books!) But, at the same time, I work in a bookstore, so I feel like I should be on top of things and always reading new books and I’ve already skipped out on so many of the big things (I haven’t read Game of Thrones. I tried, but I just couldn’t get pas Ser Roderick or whatever his name was on the first page.)
Fortunately for me, I’m a quitter. It took a long time for me to get to that point. I made myself miserable slogging through books because I’d started the first one gosh-darn-it (Anne Rice, looking at you on this one). But, I think grad school is where I finally figured out, you know what, I actually don’t have time to read things that don’t make me happy. So, I learned to quit.