The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

At our September meeting, we discussed The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Our meeting was very well attended (thanks to all our new readers for coming too!) and everyone had something to say about this book! There was a lot of discussion about the plot of the book.  We agreed that the whole idea of the Hunger Games was revolting and that you had to find something else (the love triangle, friendships, the family relationships, etc.) to focus on to get past the horrifying elements of the book.  Some of our readers loved the book and others hated it.  We had an interesting discussion about the new movie they are making of this book (and subsequent books in the series).  We wondered if our culture and country were acting like "The Capital" by wanting so much to see this book dramatized in a motion picture.  We discussed how much harder this book would be to see in a movie than even to read.  Our thoughts were that the images would be hard to erase from your mind, while when you read you can gloss over them without fully forming them into images. 

Several our our readers had read all three books by the time we met and others were not sure that they would read more than this first book.  All in all it was an excellent discussion filled with differing opinions and viewpoints.  Thanks to all the Rexburg Readers for a great discussion!

At our meeting Kate treated us all to "Peeta" (pita) chips with Tiffany's excellent artichoke dip.  Also featured was mini cheesecakes with "poison" berries. 

For those of you waiting for the recipe for Tiffany's artichoke dip...here it is!

8oz. cream cheese-softened
1 C mayo
1- 14oz. can or jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 C grated parm
1 C grated Motz.
Dash of hot sauce
Dash of worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper
*beat all ingredients together. Transfer to pie plate and bake at 350 for 30-40 min.

Carrie selected our next book:  The Great and Terrible, Vol. 1: Prologue, the Brothers by Chris Stewart.  See you all in October! :)

The Last Promise by Richard Paul Evans

Thanks to Conna for sending this report since I wasn't able to be at the August Meeting!

From Conna:

So, last night we enjoyed a wonderful evening at Camille's home with her yummy "Lemonade Party Cake" and fun discussion. We summarized the book for those who didn't quite get their hands on a copy. We talked about whether it was a true story or not but came to the conclusion that it probably is real. Dacia said she may try to contact Richard Paul Evans through Facebook so we'll see. Some of us thought that the main character Alina (sorry I don't have the book and forgot how to spell her name) was walking a fine line and emotionally crossed it with Ross to be unfaithful to her idiot husband. We did find it interesting that the jerk of a husband did finally let her go and she found her "true love".

We are excited to start the next book that Kate picked, "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Half of us have already read it but haven't for awhile so we are going to read it again. But in part because the third book in this series is coming out soon.