Mockingjay Madness

Okay, so I still haven’t finished reading Mockingjay. I had a legitimate excuse so no one should be shooting arrows at me or anything, even if I went out on midnight to get my copy…

Speaking of which, I had tons of fun at the Books of Wonder Mockingjay Madness event this past Monday. I had my first day of college orientation that day, which meant four hours in a torrential rainstorm delivering lunch to the elderly (Meals on Wheels) and another four hours at a poetry workshop. All in all, by the time I got to my dorm, I took the quickest nap known to existence and walked the twenty minutes it took to Books of Wonder.

The line was insane. At half-past six, I was already several stores down. It was only halfway through my walk that I realized I forgot my camera back in my room so I took no pictures that night. I heard that people had been waiting since four! There was no way I could have gotten that early. I was still tired, though wired on espresso.

Once I finally did get my golden ticket (143!), I still had a long wait until midnight. I couldn’t believe how many people just kept coming. The place was packed. To use an awful cliche, I felt like we were in a can of sardines. People were invading my personal breathing space and there was just no place to move about.

Finally, the awesome author/editor David Levithan (who I was lucky enough to meet previously at internship) introduced Suzanne Collins for the reading. It was so much fun to hear her read, especially because she read it with an Appalachian accent. I felt that I got a better sense of Katniss hearing her words come out of the author’s mouth. That first chapter definitely set the pace for the rest of the book, and I was just itching to get my hands on a copy. As the clock struck midnight, the whole store was buzzing with excitement. Books and stamps were given in numerical order. As the 143rd person in line, it was an agonizing wait seeing so many people ahead of you get their copies.

I did get to see my mentor, Jen Rees, at the event. I saw her in between people’s heads near where Suzanne was sitting. Unfortunately, she left before I got a chance to say hello. (Long ride back to Jersey…).

Lucky me, I was out of the store a lot earlier than I expected. I thought that at 143, I would be at Books of Wonder for a while, but it was a lot quicker than I thought it would be. I was back home before one, but by that time I couldn’t do more but crash into bed and sleep.

Day three of orientation had just concluded. I’m halfway through Mockingjay. I need to finish the book now so bye. Review coming sometime this week. I hope.