“I read a lot – and I read a variety of genres” – Nora Roberts
The young man ahead of me in line at the movies had his nose in one book and was holding another one.
Hunger Games, I asked, fairly certain of his answer.
He grinned and said, “Yes, I am reading Catching Fire (book two in a series of three), but I am almost through with it so I brought along the last book Mockingjay.”
“Ah, can’t wait until you get home, right,” I offered.
And thus began a rather engaging conversation about how we both could become so absorbed in a good book that nothing short of Mega Millions would entice us to stop reading. Perhaps, not even a slapstick, side-splitting movie like The Three Stooges, the one we came to see.
The young man’s sister laughed and explained that he did the same thing with the Harry Potter series.
“So did I,” I admitted, “I read them during dinner and once or twice on trips across Kansas, but I don’t believe I ever read any book during a movie.”
As we laughed about that, it occurred to me that the wildly popular Hunger Games series had a familiar ring to it. Reminds me of a short story I read in high school years ago, I told the young man.
The story I remembered was titled The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson and first published in 1948. Initially, it was not well received, no doubt because of its shocking subject matter in which the ‘winner’ of a lottery drawing was stoned to death.
Similarly, Hunger Games is about a lottery in which people must die. However, unlike The Lottery, the Hunger Games trilogy was well received and quickly became a runaway blockbuster.
I can see why The Lottery upset folks because it haunted me for days after I read it. By the 1960s, however, it was considered to be a remarkable short story, one that high school English classes studied.
No, he had not heard of it, the young man said: “I pretty much just read young adult science fiction.”
“Well then, you might like that short story”, I suggested and began to tell him the plot.
The head of each family in a fictional small town drew a piece of paper from a black box. If the slip had a black spot on it, that family was selected as the winner of the town lottery. The family members then drew slips of paper among themselves until one slip with a mark on it was drawn. Sadly, the mother in the ‘winning’ family drew the marked slip. Immediately, she was led to the center of town where her children and husband were expected to stone her to death along with the rest of the townspeople.
“That is one shocking story,” the young man said, clearly horrified.
“So what else do you read,” he asked, changing the subject.
“I read from a lot of genres,” I answered. “ Lately, I guess you could say humor, guidebooks and cookbooks are my favorite genre.
“What, they are all one genre,” he asked?
The young man stared blankly at me and nearly became comatose when I related, from memory, the titles of three books I am currently reading and enjoying so much they make me laugh out loud (Authors: Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays).
Title 1—“Being Dead Is No Excuse, The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral.”
Title 2—“Somebody is going to Die If Lilly Beth Doesn’t Catch That Bouquet: The Official Southern Ladies’ Guide to Hosting the Perfect Wedding.”
Title 3—Some Day You’ll Thank Me For This, The Official Southern Ladies’ Guide to Being a Perfect Mother.”
The young man’s nose went right back into the Hunger Games book when I told him about the recipe for the perfect egg salad sandwich that I found in the some-day-you’ll-thank-me book.
I think we might have a generational gap here, although we both loved The Three Stooges movie, and I have no idea what to make of that.
