The Hunger Games Trilogy: Audiobook Series

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We  are huge fans of audio books. Listening to audio books lets us still work, drive, or do other things. Some audio books will even teach us a thing or two (Genius In All of Us, Buyology). Our favorite is the Harry Potter series as performed by Jim Dale. We have listened to the entire seven book series (117 hours) three times already. A close second is the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. Last weekend, like millions of other folks, we saw The Hunger Games. We liked the movie so much we decided to read the book, or rather, listen to the entire series (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay).

Like the other two (Harry Potter, His Dark Materials) series, The Hunger Games is about ordinary children doing extraordinary things. Unlike the other two, The Hunger Games is a lot more unflinching in its commentary on violence and politics. While we thought the movie was good, the screenplay must have had to pick and choose from the book. We wanted to learn all the back stories, the thoughts inside Katniss, and everything about this dystopian world of Panem.

All three of the books were read by Carolyn McCormick. With over 35 hours of audio on 29 CDs, it will take us a few weeks to work our way through the series. The way we like to listen to an audio book series is to import everything into iTunes and transfer it all onto an iPod. Each book in the series will take up less than 2 GB, so the entire series (3.49 GB, 408 tracks, 1.3 days of audio) should fit on our iPhone.

There were some doubts before the release of The Hunger Games movie whether Lionsgate would follow up with Catching Fire and Mockingjay. With the first of the trilogy grossing over $150 million during its premier weekend, it is safe to bet that they will start production pretty soon.

All three series of audio books are great listening for the Summer, especially on long trips with the kids. They are so good that repeated listening is recommended. Just make sure your iPod storage is up to the task.