It's so odd to be into the next THING. I mean, I never got into Harry Potter or Twilight the way my friends did. I never loved either of those series, although I did read all of the Harry Potter books. They didn't have the BAM WOW KAZING connection with me that other books did.
The Hunger Games is a different story. I read it, and it was BAM WOW KAZING. I loved Katniss. I cried. I screamed. I stayed up until 3 a.m. I was left gasping at the end, feeling like I wanted to throw the book across the room and scream, and at the same time go right back to the first page and read it again.
At first I was dead set against The Hunger Games becoming a movie. What if they ruined it, like the Ella Enchanted movie? I loved the books, but I didn't want them to become the next THING, like Twilight, where you read it and love it because that's what popular.
Once I saw the trailer, and found out the Suzanne Collins was collaborating with the screenplay, I began to get excited. Maybe they wouldn't ruin it. Louis Sachar wrote the Holes screenplay, and just look how awesome that movie is. Right?
And The Hunger Games movie was awesome. It followed the book so well, and I loved that we were able to see other things, because we weren't limited to just Katniss' experience. Although there were things about it I missed, I did think it was a wonderful adaption and a great companion to the book.
But here's the thing - when I'm reading a book, it's such a private experience. (Unless, of course, I'm reading out loud.) Especially when it's written in 1st person. I become the main character, I experience the world with her, and it becomes a part of me. It's an odd feeling that so many other people have that same world as a part of themselves - but at the same time, it's amazing. I loved overhearing the conversation in the theatre before the movie, and after the movie was over. I loved the chuckles and squeals as certain characters came on, or when THAT LINE was said. And even though sometimes I feel snooty because I read them before they were THE THING, I'm also so glad they became the next thing. Because I feel like they deserve it. They're definitely not perfect books (what books are?), and maybe sometimes I get exasperated with the number of dystopians following along in the wake of The Hunger Games' success. But that there is this enormous community of people who have all fallen in love with the same book is amazing. Watching The Hunger Games spread across the internet was so cool, and giving the book to friends or lending my copy and watching them fall in love as well is so amazing.
Good books need to be shared. So I'm okay with being apart of today's big THING.
Happy Hunger Games, people.
P.S. Aren't capitalized words SO FUN?
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