Kid builds fusion reactor

O.K. maybe I'm not so pessimistic anymore.

The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My 27-year-old daughter passed The Hunger Games trilogy on to me and told me she thought I'd like them. I had seen some of the marketing for the film, so I was familiar with the title, but little else. By the time I was half way through the first chapter, I realized I was reading a YA book written for teenage girls. It didn't matter, I was already hooked by the story.

Suzanne Collins is a good writer. Real good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say she's a proper heir to Anne McCaffrey or André Norton. Her spare and straightforward sentence and paragraph construction is packed with subtle meaning, emotion and action.

Aside from simplicity of vocabulary the only other clue that these are YA books is the propensity by Katniss Everdeen, the 16-year-old girl protagonist, to be overwhelmed by emotion and want to shoulder the blame for everything that goes wrong. These scenes are awash with teen hormones but, instead of being a cliché, they ring very true.

I thoroughly enjoyed these books, perhaps volume one and three a bit more than two, and would recommend them to anyone of any age. In fact, if you are a local friend, I have three volumes I'll lend you.

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The Best Candidate You Never Heard Of

He's a character? The kind of character I'd like to see in the White House.

Saving The California Dream: Buddy Roemer: MyFoxLA.com

Learn more about Buddy Roemer on his Web site

If you like his positions, you can help make him the first Web nominated independent bi-partisan candidate for president at AmericansElect.org

Frankly, considering the mood of the country, I think somebody like him has a chance of winning, or at least pushing a reform mandate that will effect Congress in the following years — like Ross Perot did.