"May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor"

Hi friends! First off, I have to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to the tremendous amount of support + love I've gotten from you about this blog recently! How precious and uplifting you are! You are all magnificent!

Now to head on in to said challenge, I regretfully admit that I cannot give you a picture today. Why? Because day 4 is "a picture of your favorite memory." Luck would have it that my favorite memory is of my wedding day (duh) and my favorite picture from the day is prominently displayed on the top of my blog. Go ahead and look, it really is a marvelous picture of me and my love ending out our fairy tale day.

Now for what I really want to say. I finished The Hunger Games trilogy. It is fabulous. From start to finish, each of the three books are excellent, and I promise once you start you'll be sucked in completely. I definitely was. Let me set the scene for you:

The first novel takes place in futuristic North America which has now become Panem. Panem consists of 12 districts and a powerful capitol appropriately called "the Capitol." Each year, for punishment over an uprising of the districts against the Capitol years ago, each district holds a lottery which chooses 2 of its teenage citizens (one male, one female) to go to the Hunger Games. What are the Hunger Games? A gladiatorial competition where each competitor must fight to the death--with the last one standing as victor.

And that's all I'm going to tell you.

Except that its much better than I can make it sound. Suzanne Collins is absolutely brilliant and terribly captivating. Her characters are vivid enough that I feel like I'm right there with them, and as I've mentioned earlier, have caught myself both dreaming about them and praying for them.

Here's something that might sway a few more of you--I would easily say it dominates the Twilight series. Yes, I said that. I loved Twilight, but I loved The Hunger Games much more. Plus the heroine, Katniss Everdeen, makes a much better role model for the "young adult" target audience than did Bella Swan Cullen. Not to mention the classic love triangle that's involved has a lot more depth. Move over, Edward Cullen, there's a new sheriff in town and he bakes...need I say more?

My only problem is that I'm left trying to follow up that trilogy, when nothing compares. Most certainly open for reading suggestions, folks!

Please keep praying for me on the teaching thing, I'm still unsure of what's best.

XOXO,
Hannah