I went into this franchise kinda with hesitance. While I liked the concept when I learned about the movie, it took me about 8 times of picking up and putting down the book before I finally committed myself to the first one. The Stephenie Meyer Stamp of Literary Approval is one of the deterrents that I remember from earlier this year. But, when I sat down and read the book, that locked my desire to watch the film. While I liked the broader picture that was painted out (ie: watching the games, not just getting Katniss's perspective through it, learning the back story in an ESPN like setting, and so on), I didn't care for certain portrayals that the film skimped on. Such as, those beasts during the last battle should have remained as significant as they were in the book. Not once did they speak that significance and had they done so, I feel that at very least the games would have been revealed to the viewer to be a lot more wicked than the sacrificial rite that at least Katniss knows them to be. Another huge thing was how they played out the Katniss x Peeta ship because it was not as romantic as the film lead the viewer to believe there either.
Either way, I look forward to reading Catching Fire before its film version comes out because I think I'll continue the trilogy. But definitely read the books, OP. I read the first one in about a week or less because it was just that good and the ending is a bit different.