The Life of a Reader

It being Wednesday, and tomorrow being Thursday, and Friday being, well, Friday, but not just Friday, but THE Friday, the Friday that boasts a movie release to rival Harry Potter {I hope}...I think it's time to talk Hunger Games.

I'm very hipster about the whole Hunger Games thing. You see, I read it before it came out. It was an ARC--back before I knew what ARCs were--and somehow, I'm still not sure how, it had landed on the shelves of my small-town even smaller young-adult section.

I didn't pick it up because I was a young-adult addict. I didn't pick it up because someone recommended it to me. I picked it up because I was a Suzanne Collins fan. Because of Gregor the Overlander. {Do not get me started on how all these crazy HG fans have never even heard of poor Gregor.} I had been recently saddened to see the Overlander series end, and was like, "Oh, is this that Suzanne Collins? I've got to read it!"

Because of Gregor. Not because of hype.

I remember finishing the book and wondering why on earth no one I knew had even so much as mentioned this book. It was awesome! I realized later that the reason was because it wasn't out yet. Though honestly, very few people even mentioned it to me...until the movie stuff came out.

I try not to be annoying about it. But I think my friends think I'm crazy. "Don't you love it?" they want to know. "Aren't you excited?"

I am excited. I've been excited ever since I heard it was coming out.

But that's the thing. I read the books before the movie was even in the works. I heard that the movie was coming out, and I was thrilled.

And then everyone else started reading the books. Because the movie-hype thrilled them.

Is this how the LOTR fans felt as they watched me ignore the first two movies, then devour the books just so I could see the third movie {three times} in theaters? Probably.

Is this how I'm going to feel when Lionsgate actually starts filming the Chaos Walking trilogy? Probably.

There will always be books being made into movies. There will always be people who haven't read the books. Sometimes that person will be you. Sometimes it won't be. Either way--get excited about the movie, and go see it. And it's okay to be a little bit hipster in your heart: sitting in that theater seat with popcorn in your lap, knowing that you read the book before anyone sitting beside you. Such is the life of a reader.