The Hunger Games

Hello there,
How are you all? I've been doing pretty good. Just very tired. I guess jetting through a few time zones was a little too much. Oh well, it'll get better.

I did take my social studies final on Monday and I really don't think it went that well. I didn't have enough time and I didn't understand the text we got to analyze right away and it just didn't go that well... Well, we'll see how it goes.

Anyways, it's weekend!! I have a lot of homework and studying and catching up on other school stuff to do but I am also planning on baking Christmas cookies with my grandparents this weekend! Yay! :) Also I found a "Bratapfelkuchen"-Backmischung (I suppose you could call it a baked apple cake mix, I'm not sure though). I'm really excited to try that and see how it tastes.

While in the States I bought a book called Fire by Kristin Cashore in the amazing book store Barnes&Noble. So obviously I read it in English and let me tell ya: It is literally fabulous! I love it! Already finished it Wednesday night and I was just shocked that it was over. I don't mean the ending because it was a great ending, just how I like it. But the fact that I couldn't keep on reading really crushed me. I am still very sad. I might have to start it again. ;)

What's the book about? Here's a summery I found on-line. I'm too lazy to write one myself ;)

  It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. The young King Nash clings to his throne while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. The mountains and forests are filled with spies and thieves and lawless men.
This is where Fire lives. With a wild, irresistible appearance and hair the color of flame, Fire is the last remaining human monster. Equally hated and adored, she has the unique ability to control minds, but she guards her power, unwilling to steal the secrets of innocent people. Especially when she has so many of her own.
Then Prince Brigan comes to bring her to King City. The royal family needs her help to uncover the plot against the king. Far away from home, Fire begins to realize there's more to her power than she ever dreamed. Her power could save the kingdom.
If only she weren't afraid of becoming the monster her father was.

This book is just amazing and I can recommend it to pretty much everyone. I think the German version is out already, too. I think it's called "Die Flammende". Personally I rather like to read books in English, when they were written in it. By translating books, a lot of things and especially emotions get lost.
Yeah... So go out, buy it, and read it! ;) You won't be disappointed!

This blog's title was actually dedicated to the amazing author Suzanne Collins and her amazing triology The Hunger Games. I suppose a lot of you at least heard of them. In German they're called "Die Tribute von Panem". So anyways, I love these books, too. I love the language because just like in Fire, it is different from most other books. I can't really explain it. Just check it out ;).
Here's a summary:
   The Hunger Games is set in an unspecified future time when things have gone pretty spectacularly badly for humanity. The world, or the bit of it we can see, is dominated by a ruling caste who live in luxury in a city called the Capitol. The rest of us live like peasants in 12 districts that are strictly cordoned off from the Capitol and one another. Life in the districts sucks: it's mostly hard labor--mining coal and farming and working in factories--in dismal conditions.

To make things even dismaler, once a year each district is required to give up two of its children, chosen by lottery, and enter them in the Hunger Games. The kids are dropped into an enormous arena strewn with traps and hazards, with a heap of weapons and supplies in the middle. The last child alive wins a lifetime of luxury and celebrity. The action is filmed and broadcast to the entire world.
We experience this ordeal through the eyes of Katniss, a resident of District 12, a harsh, cold region mostly given over to coal-mining. She is a passionate 16-year-old who hates the Capitol and is devoted to her family; she volunteers for the Games to take the place of her sister, whose name came up in the lottery. Katniss is a skilled hunter and sheer death with a bow and arrow. She doesn't like to kill. But she doesn't want to die either.

So now a movie has been made of the first book. I was freaking out when I heard of it but since the trailors are out I'm not so sure of it anymore. Here it is.
Most of all I am disappointed of the actors they chose for the main characters Katniss, Peeta and Gale. They are not what I imagined at all. And also the whole layout and the feel of it that I could catch from the movie are not really what I expected. I'm probably being too judgmental too early but I'm honestly not sure if I'll watch the movie. Usually movies aren't as good as the books their stories are from and I really don't want to ruin my own perfect version of it. So we'll see but the chances that I'll watch it are pretty slim...

Well, that's it for now. It's been too long, I know.

Love, Eileen