Hunger Games

January was such a blast! Remember my Train Man post? New year's resolution to read more books this year is working out for me! I finished my second book for this year last January 27. I'm serious on keeping track so I know the date by heart. :)

I have heard good reviews about this book 2 years back and the trilogy was mostly compared to the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Being a Twilight fan (GO Team Edward), I didn't pay much attention. Didn't even try to know what was the story line. I thought it was just the same vampire, werewolf, supernatural plot. BUT, I.WAS.WRONG! 

I have to admit - I became curious and most of my friends started reading it. Plus, I saw some clips of the upcoming movie and it was exciting. Aside from the fact that this will be my birthday movie as it will be shown on the actual day of my bday - I cannot discount the fact that my friends told me it was good. They didn't lie! Oh how reliable my friends are! More reasons to read and watch it!

Suzanne Collins is totally brills! Her inspiration coming from the invasion of Iraq and a reality show created a whole new vision of how the next century will look like. With the story happening in the future, her creative genius played with young minds on what to seek. The story is uncertain and progressive which makes it even more exciting. I just finished book 1 and I have 2 more to go. The suspense is actually killing me! 

I love Katniss! She's such a bad ass! I also like how Suzanne made the protagonist a female hero. No more damsel in distress angle. Hooray! And for the movie, they chose Jennifer Lawrence to play the part. A good choice I must say. Trailer looks good and the girl can act. You probably remember her for her role in the movie Xmen First Class. She played Mystique there. Peeta and Gale are going to be played by Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth respectively. I am so excited! :)

Click here for the trailer and the official website.

For now, here's a track from the movie: 

Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift feat The Civil Wars

*Photos taken from the official Hunger Games website.

Train Man

As part of my 2012 New Year's resolution, my goal is to read more books this year. :)

First on my list - Train Man (Densha Otoko). Got this at Fully Booked when me and my girls are sipping in some banana berry Jamba Juice. It was on Fully Booked's something list (READ: cover-was-catchy-I-didn't-bother-if-it-was-on-the-Bestseller's-list) so I picked it up. Read the synopsis, browsed through it and thought it was an easy read. I was damn right! Finished it on my 3.45 hr flight back to Singapore. 

Here's the synopsis from the FullyBooked site:

An instant bestseller when it was first published in Japan, Train Man became a multimedia sensation, generating a smash-hit TV series, a blockbuster film, and multiple manga series. Now here’s the novel that started it all.

Boy–bashful and not overly brave–defends girl from obnoxious drunk on a Tokyo train. Girl sends boy a thank-you pair of pricey Hermés teacups. Boy’s a geek and doesn’t know what to do next. End of story for most nerds–but this one turns to the world’s largest online message board and asks for help, so for him it’s just the beginning. This matchless love story is told through a series of Internet chat room threads.

As Train Man, our hero charts his progress and unveils each new crisis–from making conversation to deciding what to wear on a date and beyond–in return, he receives advice, encouragement, warnings, and sympathy from the anonymous netizens. And Train Man discovers the secret to what makes the world go round–and proves we really do live in a universe where anything can happen.

It was entertaining. I would say, a modern day fairytale where the princess falls for a nerd a.k.a. the prince charming. I have to commend the author's (Hitori Nakano) realism on depicting today's internet works. Not a rocket science type of reading but I surely had fun.

Completely defying Resolution # 11 on my earlier post (read here), I did what I do best and googled the title - voila! It's just not actually a book, it's already been made into a movie, a series and even a manga. Cool beans!