THE HUNGER GAMES 

By S. Collins 

Is there a person left who is yet to read The Hunger Games, New York Times best selling, post-apocalypse series staring Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mallark? 

This magnificent trilogy has taken me by storm, and I find myself thinking about it at every spare moment. 

Unfortunately, it does not claim the title of my 'favorite trilogy ever' (The Chaos Walking books by Patrick Ness get that title) for one simple reason. And that reason is the final book in this series, Mockingjay. 

Personally, I did not enjoy the final installment. Perhaps it just wasn't a good book. Perhaps my expectations were just to high following the epic cliff hanger at the end of Catching Fire, but I just wanst satisfied with the book.   

It lacked too much detail. In a nutshell, that is the issue. There was no detail! All the juicy, action packed scenes that the trilogy had been building up to where taking place "off-screen". 

And the death scenes! Dont even get me started on those. I did not even tear up a little bit in any one of them.  

I will not go deeper, in fear of spoiler, but if you want to see my full review click here: 

My Review  

Mind you, The Hunger games and Catching Fire were both mind-blowing exceptional, full of suspense, action, adventure, mystery, romance, and few laughs. But, as I was telling my humanities teacher today, the strongest point of this series is believability.  

Mrs. Collins creates the world of Panem so brilliantly, that one eventually starts believing in it. I, for one, found Panem a little to realistic. What, with all the rules and the the Reaping Process? The Captiol Citizens, the interviews, stylists and members of the Government. 

I found it all exceptionally well created, and that redeems the woeful conclusion to the trilogy. 

To finish, some quick stats:  

Favorite of the Trilogy: Catching Fire (#2) 

Least favorite: Mockingjay (#3)

Best character: Haymitch Abernathy, he was the most in-depth and interesting character for me

Least favorite character: Cato. Dislikable and 1 dimensional. 

Team Gale or Peeta? Peeta. Though Gale did grow on me in Mockingjay

Favorite scene? The final battle at the end of Catching Fire

Who would I like to see star in the movie? Robert Downey Jnr as Haymitch, Ian Somerhalder as Finnick.  

So, tell me: What did you think of the trilogy? 

Who would you put in the film? 

Who was your favorite character and scene. 

NOTE: comments will contain spoilers, so if you havent read the trilogy, look away now! 

Book Abroad!

On September the 18th-a Saturday here in Australia-I will be leaving the country for the second time in my 14 years. 
I will be visiting Europe. More specifically, this route: 
-9 Days in London + day trip to Windsor 
-4 Days in Amsterdam
-10 days in Paris + day trips to Mont Saint-Michel and Disneyland 
-7 days in Rome 
-6 days in Venice. 
So, in the lead up to my much anticipated holiday, I have decided to read books based/set in the countries and cities that I will be visiting later this month. 
The "Books Abroad" list I have made is as follows. 


1) The Diary of A Young Girl, by Anne Frank  
Surprisingly, this book is talking an awful long time to get through. I am about half way finished, and have been reading this for almost twenty days now. Mind you, in that time I have been able to finish two other books. 
I am reading this because My second stop is Amsterdam, and whilst there I will visit The Anne Frank House, and the Secret Annexe, where this non-fiction book actually took place.  


2) Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown 
This best seller is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, (which I read back in 2006) and is a thriller/mystery set within Rome-more specifically Vatican City. 
I will be visiting these places fourth on my holiday, and look forward to seeing the real Cathedrals and sites where this book was set. 
I must admit, it was the Tom Hanks movie that first brought this book to my attention, and if the film is anything to go by, the book should be remarkable.  


3) The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo  
This is one of the two books on the list that I do not already own, so I will have to find it ASAP, because I do not intend to take a library book over-seas.  Obviously set in Paris, especially Notre Dame, I would adore having read this by the time I actually get to the magnificent Cathedral, but once again-I doubt I will have the time 


4) The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux  
 The other book that I do not own at this time. Set in Paris, at l'Opera Garnier which I will also be visiting, It would be amazing to see inside this Opera House right after completing the famous novel about a Phantom who haunts there.    



5) The best of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan-Doyle 

Obviously, set in London which happens to be the first place I am visiting on my trip. I doubt there will be much scenery mentioned in these short stories, but I am certain this will be a brilliant way to keep me amused on the long plane ride (where no doubt I will have a short attention span, so short-stories must be ideal)


6) The Red Necklace, by Sally Gardner 

This book, set in Paris, originally came to my attention when I saw its sequel The Silver Blade in the local bookshop. 

I must admit, I know very little about the plot of this one, and am curious to how much scenery and how many sites in Paris get a mention. Regardless, I am excited for reading this.

This list is in order of priority. Naturally I would love to read them all, however I strongly doubt I will be able to complete such a task. On the brighter side, I have over forty hours on planes (excluding trains and being stuck in airports) so hopefully I will be able to knock off a few pages then. 
So tell me, do you agree with my list? 
What books would you have on yours?