Sure the book costs $5, but what is it WORTH?

The Hunger Games is probably the most popular book in the country right now, which is probably why the movie is going to do bananas business at the box office, unlike the unfortunate John Carter movie, which is based on a much, much less well known series of books.  Which is too bad, because I really like actor Taylor Kitsch, and am bummed that his first major motion picture role is in a movie that's flopping.  (I guess it's telling, though, that I'm not bummed enough to see it in the theaters.  I'll probably fork out $1 to check it out in the Redbox, though.)

Much like what happened with the Twilight series (you can read more about my adventures with Twilight here and here), I'm late to the party.  Many of the same people (read: females) who encouraged me to read the Twilight books have been hounding me to read The Hunger Games.  So I'm finally giving in.  We're going on vacation next week, and I'm going to read them. 

However, I'm not big on buying books when I don't really know the story or the author.  Call it fear of buyer's remorse.  I don't know many people who would buy a movie without having seen it first, or at the very least having seen some other movies done by the director or actors.  So why would I buy a book without knowing anything about it.  (I've done that once - with The Blind Side.  However, it was about football, featured Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock, and had just won a bunch of awards.  Felt pretty confident in that decision.)  Here's what I know about the book (and what I know about the book comes from the movie trailer):  Girl is selected for the Hunger Games.  Girl's sister doesn't want her to go, so she volunteers.  Apparently the Hunger Games is some sort of kill or be killed Olympics.  That's it.  I'm picturing something along the lines of Surviving the Game, only with more attractive people than Nick Nolte and Ice T.

Now, I'd think that borrowing these books would be a snap.  Thanks to facebook, I can ask 250 people at once.  Instead of getting "Sure!  Will you be in Portland soon?" I get "what, you can't drop the $9 for a paperback copy?"  or it's only $5 for an e-copy!"  And granted, these suggestions came from people who live in parts of the country where they can't drop by and give me the books.  But the money isn't the issue.  I'm a big boy with a real job that can drop $10 on a book (so long as I check with my wife first).  It's that buyer's remorse thing.  I don't like to feel like I wasted my money.  My wife will laugh when she reads that sentence, because I once gave $10 to a guy for a postcard of Chicago he was hocking for a fundraiser, but I felt it was WORTH it to get him to go away.  Plus, we still have that postcard, and it will always remind me of our first trip as a married couple.  That's called VALUE.

Anyways, I tried talking to people at work, and one of my coworkers even gave me a money back guarantee - If I buy The Hunger Games and don't enjoy it, she'll reimburse me for the cost of the book.  How's that for confidence?

Given the glowing reports I've received for the books (one friend a male in his 30's even said he was "giddy" about going to see the movie this weekend), I'm feeling pretty confident that my money won't be wasted.  But that feeling of uncertainty about this $5 book is the same feeling I get about buying a $1,500 TV - It seems like an awesome TV, but what if this other $1,500 TV is even awesomer?  Then you just hate your perfectly good television because of what could have been. 

I'll let you know what I think about the Hunger Games when I'm done with it.