Day 057 - The Hunger Games

Currently Burning: Red Velvet Cake

I finally decided to join the bandwagon. I was told to read this book back in 2009, but I pushed it off because I really didn't want to. I finally broke down and decided to buy all three of the books. On Thursday, I started reading the first book as soon as I got home. I could not put it down until I finished it. While the book only took me about 6 hours or so to read, it was incredibly good! I was really surprised. I'm planning on reading the other two at some point and will definitely post a review once I read them.

In case you are living under a rock like I was, the Hunger Games is a book that takes place in a fictional nation a few hundred years in the future. Panem is divided into 13 districts and the Capitol. The 13th district was destroyed 74 years before the story begins due to an uprising and attempt to overthrow the capitol. The Hunger Games were created at this time to remind the 12 remaining districts that the Capitol remains powerful and rules them.

The whole process is very reminiscent of ancient Rome, with names in the capitol like Caesar, Flavius, etc. The Hunger Games are an annual reality show in which the 12 districts are required to submit 1 girl and 1 boy between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in a fight to the death in the arena. The arena is different every year, but essentially it's a very large outdoor area with lakes, forests and open fields. The last individual left alive is the Victor.

The main reason I couldn't put this book down was the book forms a continuous narrative. Chapters aren't divided in a way like other books. Typically there's not even a pause in the dialogue at the end of a chapter. It makes it very difficult to find a stopping place when reading these books. I was also reminded of the style of writing of something like Twilight where single words make up an entire sentence. Seriously. The font is pretty big so even though it's over 300 pages, 6 hours was more than enough time to read thorough it all.

I definitely recommend that you read this book if you have not yet. The movie comes out on March 23rd, so I'm definitely going to have to see that!

Now onto the daily review!

Red Velvet Cake (5): When I first got this scent, I wasn't really blown away. It did smell like cake, but it wasn't super strong. Now that I've had this since July 2011 so it has cured wonderfully! This is a really good cake scent. I definitely get a hint of cream cheese frosting in the back of this one. I wouldn't necessarily say that it is specifically red velvet cake, but it definitely smells like a chocolate cake that just came out of the oven that is in the process of being frosted. SO GOOD! The throw on this is medium. I'm not sure if I would order this again since I have it in a 9 oz that I haven't burned much, but I would definitely consider it!

Remember to keep those wicks trimmed!

Jason