(I'm going to write more after 6th of July, but without spoiling anything I wanted to talk about how I feel about the book so far)
I haven't seen the movies before and personally I thought their setting was a bit bizarre... But after reading the first five chapters I must say that there's so much more dept to the story that I first thought! I read all kinds of books but the previous one I read concentrated merely on description rather than actions... so the action-filled narration in the book is a real nice change! I will probably watch the movies after reading the books, even though I'm still a bit skeptical... The book is great so far and I can't wait to read more! :-)

Mistress : You're probably right. hehe. But I think we can discuss generic things like I did and like sillsoul did, without much worry?  I guess I was just a bit excited and also didn't want people to forget about this. XD

sillysoul :  I'm so glad you haven't watched the movies, honestly!  We can get a fresh perspective from you. hehe

I'll start reading it tonight, your afternoon, and then I'll be posting in the morning. (Your night.) I'll post here soon. I have read the book, and watched the movies. If you really follow the story it is pretty accurate, except for a few motivators... I won't spoil it... But is in the Hunger Games, towards the middle/end.

Singelli : I'm not too sure about whether I want to join in, but I just wanted to reply to something you mentioend a few posts ago about how you dont read the book after watching the movie. I wanted to say that most of the time watching the movie and then reading the book is a lot better because you get to notice the changes more and have more time to think about them. In some cases, you would miss a lot of the info that was left out of the movie.

This is even a bigger case if the movie isn't based on a book, but a book comes out alongside the movie, a lot is going to be missed.

I might think about joining in if there will be other books later.

If you did not read the first three chapters yet, this post may or may not have spoilers (but I don't think they're pretty big ones anyway).

I read the book about two years ago, saw the movie, and now re-read it. And in light of that, my experience was rather biased with the text. I was surprised to see how much I had forgotten of the book thinking I recalled everything from the movie, and one of the biggest was her (apparent) lack of feelings for Gale in the romantic sense. She even notes she'd be jealous if he got married but "not in the way you'd think- good hunting partners are hard to find." So I wonder when these feelings start turning around?

I'd like to point out the completely fundamental to the plot, absolutely how-could-they-leave-her-out, best and only friend to Katniss, Madge. Her absence in the movie was a travesty (okay, not really- honestly, she doesn't do much except provide Katniss some emotional support). I did like Madge, though, and the fact that she gave her the pin really felt a little nicer, if that makes sense, than Prim regifting a pin Katniss gave her that morning like she did in the movie.

Dragonlord Stephi : If you don't want to hear it, don't read the rest.

I can't believe nobody has posted any thoughts yet!!! Where is everyone? Oh my gosh.. I'm so excited to start talking about this!  It's been so long since I read a book, and furthermore.. fiction!  There's a lot I want to say, but I'm not sure where to start. Shall I start with how I couldn't stop crying during the first three chapters?  lol Maybe I was just tired or maybe the book is written that well. I mean.. I've seen all the movies that have been made so far but... that didn't stop me. I just felt so many emotions from Katniss' narrative!

For me, if I were just to start talking about random things though, I guess what was most interesting for me was seeing the differences between novel and book... since I've never watched a movie before reading the book.  I also don't want to spoil the movie for anyone that might want to see it.

So how about you guys?  Any better ideas?  What were your thoughts?  I love, personally, how the author ends chapters with a cliffhanger. Back when I actually had the time to write, I used to do the same thing, but I don't think I did it as effectively.

What's been your favorite part so far?  (Remember, only discuss the first five chapters.)

I've really found Katniss' relationship with Gale interesting.  She doesn't have any strong feelings of just about any sort for him, except for trust.  He seems to act as her conscience in a sense, and the fact that he won't be there with her in the games makes her feel more alone, even though Peeta will be there with her.  I'm interested to see how it will all play out!

hellno163 : Are you joining the book reading, or are you  just commenting on the movie? I suggest you read, if possible, all comments above, up to page 1. Thank-you, and sorry if I am doing a false guess here.

"As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve." (p. 52). I found this memory of her father to be the most poignant, touching moment in the entire book (at least so far).  Katniss was named after a potato-like plant, but this connects on a much deeper level than that as a truth for all of us.

Because of all the hype for the movies I haven't missed the fact that there could be a bit of romance going on between Gale and Katniss in the future and I'm actually looking forward to seeing how this all happens. Gale wasn't chosen for the competition so for now I can't think of how and when their relationship starts to develop... I hope that we'll find out soon!

Also I've so far been very impressed by the immensity of the world the book takes place in. Every little detail from social statuses and hunting has been explained thoroughly. Even though it's a rough world our book characters live in, I really like the whole setting.

EDIT: Also, when is our next deadline? Five chapters again?

Guys, next week I may be able to read with, but I'm not sure. I'm going on a weeks vacation, did anyone notice how they use (they refers to the Capitol) the rich, and poor to keep people from cooperating against the Capitol?

darthyoda : Yes, it is an us versus them paradigm at play. Because the poor and rich are too busy being at odds with one another, they never think about the Capitol and how it is mistreating all of them. Even in District 12, I got the impression a lot of people blamed the rich for their problems, not just that the government mandated that they mine coal or that their policies made them poor. Whether Katniss or not shares this view is something I think would be very interesting to expand upon, but to me, it seems that Katniss saw the bigger picture, though she was a bit envious of the merchant's food. In fact, I believe Katniss once said that the rich are sometimes some of her best customers in buying her poached meat. 

darthyoda :

I think it's some sort of psychology thing. You know that saying: "Out of sight, out of mind"? Well, the Capitol may be favoring the rich in front of the poor's faces to distract their (the poor) anger and have them directed towards the rich instead. Even Katniss feels this way, I believe, whenever she wonders what the rich do when they don't have to worry about feeding themselves. And the rich, being spoiled by the Capitol, are also being distracted. Not with anger, but with political reasoning or whatever it's called. They (the Capitol) want to make the rich believe that the poor deserved to be poor. So it's all a play of emotion.

At least, that's what I got out of the first five chapters.

I would actually be interested in this, surprisingly. This would give me a reason to start reading again, since in the past few years, I have stopped reading almost entirely.

thing1 : You can join in, I think. You might have to do some catch up reading... Do you have access to the First Hunger Games book? If so, start reading!

thing1 : darthyoda is right.
sillysoul :  The deadline -should- be tomorrow (the 13th) , but I've been kind of busy with my first work deadline and I wasn't able to post here. I'm wondering if anybody kept up with the reading?  I actually did, but just in case, let's say the 16th?

Dragonlord Stephi :  Katniss has said that several times, yes.  However, I don't think people never think about how the Capitol mistreats them. I think they're just too afraid to say anything.  I get this sense of extreme tension from everyone, because everyone knows about the abuse, but they pretend it doesn't go on.  (There's a good example of it in the next five chapters, if you've gotten that far).

Speaking of which, at the end of her training session, when Katniss shot the apple and bowed? I didn't think that scene was very strong in the book, and I actually enjoyed it a lot better in the movie. I think part of the reason is the pure anger you can see in her face during the scene.  In the book, she seems to waver on her feelings a lot, like when she started to enjoy being in front of the crowd, blowing kisses at them and smiling.

That being said, the emotions are very well portrayed.  There were a few other things I wanted to bring up, but I can't remember them at the moment.  I'll go and look back later. XD

darthyoda :
Singelli :

I actually have the entire trilogy set on my Amazon account... how much do I need to read to get caught up?

thing1 : We are just getting started on the second set of five chapters... So pull out the tablet/phone and enjoy reading!