I finished Summon the Thunder (review in thread soon) and then took a short break from Vanguard to read the first book in the The Hunger Games trilogy, since I like stories with strong female protagonists and survival situations (one of the "sins" of my youth was co-operating one of the then-largest websites covering the Tomb Raider franchise, incidentally, and one of my favorite movies is Touching the Void) and thought I might go like to see the movie, but always prefer to have read the source material first.
I found its premise to feel very derivative (Battle Royale, Running Man, Das Millionenspiel, various others came to mind) and logically flawed (oppressing a people by keeping its most-likely-to-rebel adolescent generation in constant battle-readyness seems like a bad plan), but the book is nonetheless quite entertaining. Collins' prose is clear, effective and not without wit, and her protagonist does come alive very well and is ultimately the story's saving grace. I guess I will go see that movie.
Next it's back to the Taurus Reach for me with Reap the Whirlwind.