I bought the first Hunger Games book at the same time the movie hype was building up and I wanted to know what all the fuss was. I think it was totally the best choice to read the book first before seeing the movie, if you did it the other way around I don't think you would have gotten quite as much out of the movie.
I think the strongest feature of the Hunger Games novels is the fact that Katniss is a strong female character that women of all ages can aspire to but isn't so over the top “girl power” that she becomes off putting to men. Suzanne Collins has written a female character with the perfect balance. Very reminiscence of Joss Weadon's Buffy.
I loved the speed at which the book read, it was exceptionally well written and all of the characters were well formed and not just caricatures of people.
All in all simply an AWESOME book!