Getting excited for Catching Fire

Our local AMC is showing Hunger Games tonight as a double feature with a preview of Catching Fire. You can be absolutely sure that I already have tickets to it. My daughter and I are both going, me because I can't wait until this weekend to see CF and her because she loves the idea of the double feature. She's only thirteen and has never had the chance to see one at the theater before.

I know it's a little silly to be so excited about it, but I love those books so damn much. I read very little YA. Most of it doesn't interest me, and I find it difficult to relate to a lot of the themes. HG is the exception to that. They're far from perfect books (don't get me started on how clunky all of the final chapters are in each of the books), but the characters and ideas presented resonate so strongly with me that I don't care about their imperfections.

While some readers find it difficult to accept movie versions of their beloved books, I rarely have that problem. It's easy for me to see each as it's own entity and accept that movie versions, by their very nature, cannot and will never be the book experience. I was a little luckier with the HG franchise because I didn't actually read the first book until after I took my daughter to see the movie. I was so provoked by the themes in the film that I zipped through the series in the week afterward, sobbing after each one ended.

They are not the same. Changes have been made. And I'm okay with that. I love them both, and if I can have a visual escape into a world like the one created for me by the books, I will jump at the opportunity. I certainly did with the first movie. My daughter teases me that I saw it seven times in the theater, but she fails to remember that I'm one of those people who will watch something over and over if she loves it enough.

I'm pretty sure the same will hold true for Catching Fire.