If you know anything about my Secret Home Life, you know that I watch a lot of TV series in their entirety and read a lot of young adult fiction (I actually just typed victim instead of fiction, that should tell you how sick I am).
This week I decided to watch True Blood from the first episode since the new season starts next month. Oh. My. God. I forgot how fucking good it was. Pretty much every thing Lafayette says in the first season is flawless (although I love him always, especially when he's with Jesus, RIP), Tara was hilarious and making up stories about her husband killing dudes and her baby daddy who just got out of prison going to beat her bosses ass.
Bill was actually dark and sexy in the first couple episodes (and always accompanied with a string quartet) and Eric was not. What a sad world when you think Bill is better than Eric. Also, let's have a moment of silence for the beautiful episode in season three when Alcide walked into our lives. I'm not usually into super buff tan werewolves, but give me a tall, bearded dude any day and I probably won't be mad.
After the can't-put-it-down can't-think-about-anything-else state the Hunger Games left me in, I needed more. I picked up a few other books that were recommended to read after HG, and although I was doubtful they'd fill the huge Peeta shaped hole in my heart, I had to do something to feel normal again.
Because I'm bad at summarizing - (via hellogiggles) - Lena lives within the confines of her society where, at eighteen, all teens are cured by the government of deliria (ie: love) and assigned a spouse and job. This all sounds good to Lena – whose own mother committed suicide after the cure failed her – until she falls in love three months before she’s scheduled to have the procedure.
So, the writing in the book is great, but a little Too Much. Every little detail is described in so many metaphors and... words. Too many words. Describing a spoonful of broth would take up half a page and you'd forget that the conversation was even happening. It was about 90% describing minuscule details and 10% action. Lena was kind of annoying with how By The Books she was, but became more bearable by the end. But then there was the end, and I didn't like that either. I couldn't get into it until halfway through the book and by then end I was MAD and left with something that doesn't attract me to reading the second book. Bummer.
Divergent, on the other hand, is my new obsession.
Also via hellogiggles - In post-apocalyptic Chicago, society is divided into five factions based on very different and distinct virtues. 16-year-old Beatrice must decide to either stay with her family’s faction or follow her heart to another group and risk being shunned by her parents and peers.
This book totally did it for me. It started out a little unclear whether or not it was going to be able to, but half way through I was all about Tris, fighting for her life (literally), realizing how wrong things were at the same time she did, feeling like you're 13 and not sure if this boy is someone you like or someone just playing with you. It was SO GOOD. The sequel just came out last week (though I have yet to read it, very tight schedule with True Blood and all), but the thought of waiting a year for the last book basically makes me want to die. I have no idea how anyone managed to do it for Hunger Games, my life would've been so empty and meaningless for the year in between books. Yes, I take young adult fiction this seriously, but WHO DOESN'T!?
"You finished the entire Hunger Games trilogy in just 48 hours, existing only on Chinese take-out and your Peeta-loving tears. Congratulations! But now you’re stuck in a post-THG depression, craving more dark, dystopian young adult fiction. Maybe you’re even feeling a little embarrassed about this new desire. After all, you’re a high-functioning, stable and successful adult with great hair and a casual but cool wardrobe*. Is it normal to want to read about angst-y teens fighting oppressive future-governments while making out with each other? The answer is YES"
via hellogiggles
This. This is my life right now. I never really caught on the popular-book-series-turned-movie band wagon, but since I've been trying to spend a lot less time on the computer and I figured I would see the Hunger Games at some point, I downloaded the kindle app for my iPad (best app EVER), downloaded the book and hoped I'd somehow get pulled into this story that is not typically the kind that I'm interested in.
Two days later I emerged, in the exact same clothes, on the exact same spot on the couch, all three books read. A smile on my face with the last lines of the book. Depression settling in at the thought of it being over. Obsessed. I don't really think there's another word that could describe it. I even woke up this morning from a hunger games dream.
I'm dying for the movie. DYING. Even though I don't see how it could possibly be better than the book.
Apparently there's been a lot of upset about the casting, but for the most part, I think it's pretty good. Jennifer Lawrence will make a great Katniss. People are complaining she's too old, too curvy, but she's meant to be strong, and I'd have a hard time believing it if the role went to one of the tiny little things that were auditioning.
Peeta. Peeta, Peeta, Peeta. My problem is with you. I'm trying to find the appeal. I'm trying to accept that you two had the best chemistry together. But you are just not what I was picturing. I knew Hunter Parrish had auditioned, so in my head, he was a cross of him and maybe a little Logan from Gilmore Girls (I'm not really sure why, I don't particularly care for Logan, but it's what my brain wanted). Although I can see they're too old, they have that charm and charisma that Peeta has, the ability to say the right thing, to make your heart swoon, to scream WHY AREN'T YOU REAL LIFE? WHY DIDN'T YOU THROW ME BREAD WHEN I WAS STARVING? And I just can't get that from Josh Hutcherson. I hope he proves me wrong.
I think the rest is cast pretty well. I don't particularly care for either of them, but Woody Harrelson will be perfect as Haymitch. And Lenny Kravitz as Cinna is flawless. I can't wait to see what they do with Finnick in the next movie, but it probably won't matter because it doesn't come out for TWO YEARS and I'll surely die from withdrawal by then.
If you haven't read this book you need to do it. NOW.
