My Gift to You: A Recommendation

In honor of my Birthdays (I say days because, as Natalie so rightly observed, I got more than one day of celebration), I am going to recommend a book for you to read:

The Hunger Games (by Suzanne Collins) --see the pic on the right--

I love, love, loved this book. It is definitely my favorite for this year; probably a favorite of all time. A patron of mine who knows I like books talked me into it. She said that if I liked Twilight, I would like this. I still don't understand what Twilight has to do with it, since the books are NOTHING alike. So please don't not read it if you didn't like Twilight. (And no offense, but as much as I liked Twilight, this one is a notch better in the writing and believability.) But Stephenie Meyer did recommend it, and she was right on the money.

The story is set at an unknown time in the future. War has caused North America to crumble into a tightly controlled collection of 12 districts, ruled by one district called the Capitol.

Because the Capitol won the war, it controls all the food and supplies of the land. To maintain physical and psychological control over its people, it forces each district (by lottery method) to supply a young boy and girl to fight in their annual Hunger Games. It is a fight to the death.

Katniss is our heroine. When her twelve year old sister is chosen for the death match, Katniss (only 16 herself) volunteers to take her place. A boy her same age named Peeta is also chosen to represent their district, District 12.

The Capitol is all about reality tv, and not only are the games televised, but the contestants are given makeovers and air time. The kids use this time to try to garner support for themselves. If they can get sponsors, they have a better chance of being the last one standing.

Peeta and Katniss form a tenuous friendship as they prepare for the games, knowing they will soon be trying to kill each other. In a stroke of genius, Peeta decides to garner viewer support by telling the audience that he is madly in love with Katniss. The audience goes wild, after all, who doesn't love a good reality romance (think Trista and Ryan from the Bachelorette)?

How will Peeta and Katniss keep up the romantic farce when they are forced to fight each other at evey turn? Better yet, how complicated will things get when the two (against Katniss's will) start to really fall for each other on the battlefield?

Only one can win in this violent (but not in your face so) but romantic (and oh so sweet) fight to the death.

It is a book I thought about long after I had read the last page. I lent it to both a college friend and my mother in law, and both of them loved it as well. It's really a book that appeals to everyone.

So please, in honor of my birthday, go out and read a book that will have you cheering for love and justice and freedom. Read the Hunger Games.