Wild Things: YA Grown-Up discussion

GR Summary of The Hunger Games:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

This was a FANTASTIC book, it has so many great reviews. The sequel, Catching Fire, will be released in September.

I bet a ton of people have read it! Thoughts?

I loved this book. It's funny to me that Stephanie Meyer reccomends it, because, like her books, I owuld relate this book to crack! I could not put it down! I was compelled to finish.

In addition to being a great story, I like the style and skills of the writer. I am really anticipating the next installment. Enough so, that I am almost sorry I didn't wait to read this one.

I loved this book. It's funny, because I'm now reading "The Long Walk" by Stephen King, and I keep comparing it to "The Hunger Games" because of the whole 'last man standing' theme and the fact that both stories are focused on 16 year old protagonists. (Which reminds me, I'll have to start that thread too, even though I haven't finished TLW yet.)

I can't wait for the sequel to THG though. I passed the book along to another GR friend, so I will have to buy it later. :)

I want the second book... I was a little mad they're making more books, because it would've been a great stand-alone novel, but I wouldn't mind some more.. not at all!

Kristen wrote: "I want the second book... I was a little mad they're making more books, because it would've been a great stand-alone novel, but I wouldn't mind some more.. not at all!"

I already preordered it! hehe.

man Fiona, you really do! It rocks.

Seriously Fiona, jump on the bandwagon!

I started it with the mind set "oh everyone loves it, so I'm sure it'll be good but no way will it live up to the hype."

...before I could blink practically I was devouring the thing, knowing I wouldn't be sleeping til I'd read through the entire book.

In other words...it lives up to its high praise :)

Yeah, I want to read it too, just cause everyone seems to love it so much, even tho I don't really like the "Survivor" premise. I like a little less drama in my reading than "kill or be killed".

But I def. need to at least give it a try.

Most of the "action" is mental, Laura, so it doesn't dwell on the physical part of survival as much as you would think.

OK, so I wouldn't have to triple my already tripled Progesterone dosage just to get thru it is what you're saying? Cause I really do wanna try it.

It's more of a Battle Royale than "survivor". You most likely will die in this game.

Laura wrote: "OK, so I wouldn't have to triple my already tripled Progesterone dosage just to get thru it is what you're saying? Cause I really do wanna try it."


Right! I mean, of course there are fights and violence, but they are used to move along the emotional journey, not as the focal point of the narrative. There's a little romance too:)

I'm always a sucker for some good romance thrown in to liven up the joint...it's already on my TBR, I'll def. try it.

I knew the romance would get you! That's my Laura.

You got it baby! I do like my romance in the black-and-white film variety tho (usually)....but yup, a little romance is def. a draw - esp. with a book like that, you need a little comic (or some kind of) relief, don't you?

I have been wanting to read this one for a little while. I hope to read it soon.

Wow, more high praise for this book...yup, gotta make room on the TBR for this one.

Laura and Fiona, you guys won't regret reading it. You will seriously be so addicted you'll finish it in a day or two, I swear!

Fiona wrote: "Hmph, if I stay on GR for any longer I'll never get to read another book ever again let alone this one."

If I wasn't cheap (and broke), and didn't want a copy for myself anyway...I'd get it for you :)

lol.

Fiona wrote: "The thought is what counts. I know you are trying to psychic me the book right now!"

yes! The book is soooo good, Fiona. I won't hold my breath tho, as its taken you months to finally get a copy of my favorite book to try :P

But if you ever happen to see it in a book shop...why mess with fate? ;)

I think I'm already on the waitlist at my library for this one, as I was going to read it for the Shelf Challenge - it hits LOTS of shelves.

Laura wrote: "I think I'm already on the waitlist at my library for this one, as I was going to read it for the Shelf Challenge - it hits LOTS of shelves."

yay, I can't wait to see how much you love it ;)

Laura, it's one of the books I read for the first Shelf-a-Thon. :)

When I got to the end, I almost wished I would have waited until the second book was already out! WHY do I let authors suck me in to their amazing worlds and then give me those types of endings!!?

Have any of you read her Gregor series? They are very good as well - for a younger reader than The Hunger Games. Some of my 5th and 6th graders have LOVED them. So far I've read the first three.

Aha! I missed that this thread was here earlier when I was posting my thread on this book. I have to agree that this book will suck you in and not let go. I was a little afraid at first that it would be a little darker than I was looking for, but it's really not. I managed to get my hands on this one from the library. :) If anyone doing the challenge is looking for a book to be pushed to, then consider this your friendly shove.

Commenting on a post from the other HG thread...

Luann, that was a great list of sci-fi subgenres. Thanks for posting it. Lately I've been reading a lot of post-apocalyptic or dystopian novels, and I would definitely classify them as sci-fi.

I really enjoyed The Hunger Games, but it did remind me a lot of Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, a Japanese novel with many similar points. Battle Royale, however, is an adult novel and far more brutal. HG is clearly YA, and therefore far more accessible. It's also a good social commentary. I went to town analyzing it in my review, so rather than rehash all that here I'll just post the link here in case anyone is interested.

Jennifer wrote: "If anyone doing the challenge is looking for a book to be pushed to, then consider this your friendly shove."

I wholeheartedly agree, Jennifer! Consider this a push from me, too.

Alexis wrote: "I really enjoyed The Hunger Games, but it did remind me a lot of Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, a Japanese novel with many similar points."

How funny. I just read someone else's review saying how much they thought Hunger Games was like Battle Royale. I guess I need to add that one to my TBR list!

Here's the link to an article about the subgenres of science fiction, in case you are interested and didn't see it on the other thread:
http://www.writing-world.com/sf/genre...

Becky wrote: "I loved this book. It's funny, because I'm now reading "The Long Walk" by Stephen King, and I keep comparing it to "The Hunger Games" because of the whole 'last man standing' theme and the fact tha..."

So funny - I just read Running Man by Richard Bachman (a/k/a Stephen King) and I am trying to read Battle Royale (it's emotionally turbulent) just to compare because I loved Hunger Games so much.

Oops, posted before I read all the way down. Yes, I heard a lot of comparisons of this book with Battle Royale, but I have to say that I think they are eons apart in their treatment of the situation. BRis a harsh and unforgiving barrage on your emotions with a p.o.v. that jumps from character to character, whereas HG sticks with the main gal and leaves room for hope. I don't think that one is a "better" book than the other - both are thought-provoking and well written - but, for me, HR has proven much easier to read.

Can you believe I didnt even want to read Hunger Games? It didn't sound like something I would like. However, my daughter had it and I needed something different for the reading challenge. Thank goodness for the challenge because otherwise I would have been really missing out. I LOVED IT! And I can't wait for Catching Fire to come out. Hunger Games was so good. So original yet not "out there". Collins is a great writer and sucked me in from the first couple of pages. I started it (again for the 2nd time) on Friday night and finished it Saturday. Easily one of my fave books ever.

I sort of avoided finding out what this book was about, I think just because so many people had been talking about it. But now that it's the book o' the month....

I started reading now, didn't even read the back to find out what it was going to be about. When you don't know it's coming, teen death match is really startling!

So, is there going to be a new book clb discussion, or will we continue here?

Fiona will make new threads, she is probably just waiting for August 1st.

An exciting trilogy. :)