The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ****

If your cable was cut by werewolves and satellite dish destroyed by vampires, I might be the first to let you know The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is about Katniss Everdeen: a teenage girl, who has a healthy disrespect for authority, an analytic mind, and neatly poaches game with  arrows that always go through the eye socket, making her the best trespassing archer since Robin Hood.

For reasons that are often explained but rarely clear, each year a boy and girl, from each of 12 districts, gather in an arena as modern day gladiators. The winner is the last one alive. In this near-future YA novel, the entire event is televised with high-tech cameras following each participant.I don't consider it a spoiler to report that Katniss wins, after all she is too wonderful and there are already three volumes in this series.

 As a lone hunter, it is not surprising that Katniss tends to spend much of her time in introspection, which is a good fit for the target audience of traditionally introspective teenagers. For the more mature readers, Katniss is presented with a series of puzzles as different opponents corner her and she cleverly figures out a way to emerge victorious ... once again reminding me that the voyage is often more interesting than the destination.

If you've avoided this book so far, I can recommend it as a nice summer read to kill a few afternoons - in keep with the YA genre, the book is short.