The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I asked my library to bring The Hunger Games in, so they put it on the purchase request list (which doesn't guarantee they'll get it in) and said if they got it, I'd be the first on the waiting list. But I couldn't wait. I bought this book last weekend because so many book bloggers were so excited about the sequel being released in September.

I read The Hunger Games immediately, in a matter of hours (split up by grown-up things I had to do). And then I reread the end.

I tried to move onto another book a couple days later, but I just couldn't. My head was still stuck in The Hunger Games. So I read it again. (My husband thought this was very odd bevahior.)

On the second reading, I noticed a few errors (copy editing) that I didn't notice the first time through. For those who don't know, I almost always spot these mistakes the first time through. That I didn't notice a single one should tell you how engrossed I was in this story.

This book is Survivor meets the Roman Colloseum, and it has the feel of The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King) with a teenage love triangle. Seriously, how can you go wrong?

Now I'm one of the people eagerly awaiting Catching Fire, which you can pre-order at your favorite bookstore.

If you are also eagerly awaiting the sequel, you should bounce over to BookWorming in the 21st Century and enter her Catching Fire giveaway.

Did I mention this is the best book I've read this year?