Stephen King "couldn't stop reading" it. Stephenie Meyer was so "obsessed . . . I had to take it with me out to makan malam, majlis makan malam and hide it under the edge of the table." Publishers Weekly called it "the best book of 2008."

What is it?

The Hunger Games!

In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed and been replaced sejak Panem, a country divided into 12 districts and ruled sejak the Capitol.

To keep the districts in line, the Capitol has required that annually each of the Twelve Districts send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death. Sixteen-year-old Katniss, whose family's survival rests on her since her father's death, has been forced to represent her district in the Games. To survive, she must kill others. But to kill others is a test Katniss is unsure she will pass.

Part gladiator-like adventure, part romance, part survival story, part political commentary, The Hunger Games asks the question: How far would anda go to survive?



Book #2, Catching Fire, was just released in the U.S. as of September 1st and there will certainly be at least a third novel, but I suspect the true craze will begin once the movie is revealed 2011 -- much like Twilight's frenetic audience arrived when the first movie premiered. But ladies and gents, get on this bandwagon as soon as anda can, 'cause "The Hunger Games" is just plain awesome. The novel has combined the passion of Twilight with the "whole new world" imaginings of Harry Potter to create a whole new reality --- a dark, brutal, unforgiving reality.

If anda still hesitate despite all my praise, just read Stephanie Meyer's raves about book #2: "I also got an early look at a book I’ve been eagerly awaiting: Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins’ phenomenal The Hunger Games. It not only lived up to my high expectations, it surpassed them."

Read the books. Follow the mockingjay. Live & die with the Hunger Games.