Do I Hunger for the Hunger Games?

To read or not to read?  That is the question.  My daughter is just about to finish reading Mockingjay, the last installment in the Hunger Games Trilogy.  She has been hounding me to read the series myself.  I haven't decided if I hunger for the Hunger Games or not.

I remember when the Harry Potter series came out.  All of my students were reading them and proclaiming their greatness.  My step-son read them all, and I remember buying the Goblet of Fire at Target for him as soon as it came out.  I even took him to see the first Harry Potter movie as soon as it was playing in theaters.  After that I only saw the next two when they were playing on HBO.  To this day, I have not read any of the books in the series or seen the other movies. 

Fast forward a few years, and I found myself buying my step-son the second book in the Twilight series; I know de ja vu, right?  My best friend called and told me I should read them and that I would really like them.  Vampires?  Not really my thing.  I never read any of the Ann Rice vampire novels and I didn't care much for Interview with a Vampire, even if it had both Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt (before I decided that I didn't much care for Brad Pitt) in starring roles.  So, I still haven't read any of the Twilight books, nor have I seen any of the movies.  No Team Edward or Team Jacob issues for me.

So now, we have the Hunger Games.  My daughter just had to go see the movie.  Because I knew it had violence and teens killing teens, I was just a little concerned.  But, she had already read the first book and she pulled her "all my friends' parents are lettling them go" sulk.  I talked to others who had read it and was told that a twelve-year-old would be fine seeing the movie.  So we made a date, and she and I went to see it together.  By the way, some, not all of her friends were there.

After all the hype, I told her we better get there early in case they were sold out.  Turns out they weren't sold out and there wasn't even a line.  We bought our popcorn and sodas and easily grabbed our seats.  She was simply beside herself.  I figured if it impressed me as much as it impressed her I would probably read the book.  I thought it was a decent movie.  I still can decide if I want to read the book/books.

When it comes to recent trends, I have found that I'm just not much of a joiner.  It took forever for my vampire loving friend to talk me into joining Facebook.  I finally did.  That is a whole-nother story by the way.  I have never tried to tweet; I never planked; and, although I respect the guy imensely, I still haven't Tebowed. 

When you think about it, I have become a bit of a nerd in my old-age.  Which is funny because I was quite trendy in my youth.  At least I thought I was.  Now I just like to find and do the things that I enjoy simply because I enjoy them.  Lately, I have developed a passion for reading history and political books.  I love to watch the news and listen to talk-radio.  When it comes to music, I have turned into my father.  We both think our generation had the best music ever.  I have learned that we both may be right.

Anyhow, back to the topic.  Do I hunger for the Hunger Games?  Not yet.  We will see if I develop an appetite for them or not.  For now, I am satifying my literary appetite with a great book on American History.  Who knows, maybe this summer I will read them, not because of the trend, but because I feel like it........