Well here it is Cinco de Mayo and it's not a big deal down here. I was surprised because there are so many Hispanic people, but then I realized that Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican Holiday and these Spanish people here are just that Spanish and not Mexican, so in the VI it's plain old May 5th.

BUT, here we are into May and only ten followers. I am glad to have made it into the double digits, but come on folks in order to have the drawing for the contest we need to get to twenty-five (25), is that too much to ask. I know your reading, just push yourself and sign up to FOLLOW!

I posted on Facebook a while ago that I was reading "The Hunger Games", a few people asked me to tell them what I thought when I finished so I decided to do that here. I'll try not to include any SPOILERS, so it will be more MY general impressions. I had resisted reading these books for awhile; I mean come on I could not imagine being entertained by stories about a civilization that resorts to the gladiator ring with children. This was a real big Are you kidding me?, for me. Alas, I gave in. I might add that I was the same way about the Harry Potter Series and he Twilight series.

I have only read one other book that should have come with a MENTAL HEALTH WARNING, that is "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, I do not recommend this book to anyone. I still have nightmares about it if I think on it for too long. It was probably one of the most disturbing things I have ever read,(not the least of which, is that it relates directly to some very real prophecy) so now that I have mentioned it be warned and take my advice and DO NOT READ "THE ROAD". I mentioned that because I was feeling a little the same way when I finished the first book in the "Hunger Games", (Mental Health Warning, not a direct warning not to read) once I got through all three and had some time to digest them, it was not as bad, but still somewhat disturbing.

By the time I finished the whole series I was a little horrified to think that this is 'young adult fiction" as in kids. The protagonist is sixteen at the onset of the book and since in YA Fiction that would mean that the readers are generally about two years younger or fourteen, I'm thinking "oh my"! I've also heard of many parents reading it with/to much younger children. To me this was NOT a bedtime story, but then neither are most Fairy Tales.

At the end of the trilogy I felt like I was wading around, at least, knee deep in pure gore but then I was reminded of the scene in "Parenthood", the movie with Steve Martin when he dresses up as Cowboy Bob the balloon man for his son's birthday. He gets a round of applause from the kids when he tells them that most days after lunch, he shoots a few bad guys and then likes to slip around on their guts . OK, I get it, kids love this stuff and it's not as real/horrifying/nightmarish (supply whatever word suits you) as it is to parents or "gasp", grandparents

I will admit, I read all three books in less than a week (thank you kindle). No matter the subject Ms.Collins knows her stuff and it was riveting. The last night I was up until 2:30AM and the battery had died on my kindle, so I was finishing it up while plugged into my computer for a recharge. The characters were vivid and just real enough to get you involved. The lying, plotting, completely controlling governments on both sides were believable to me (that may just be me, see my earlier posts) and the ending was inevitable, if not scary. A damaged world filled with damaged people. I just felt so little hope through it all. I'm tempted to mention something abut the ending, but I promised no spoilers.

I would be hopeful if stories like this and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's" series really made a difference in future generations but only time will tell on that one. If it's pure entertainment and fun your after, I'm not sure it's here. I know some of you loved these books and about this time, might want me to be sent to one of the outer districts. I can't say that I loved them, but I won't say that I'm sorry that I read them and all things considered I would give the series a 4 stars out of a possible 5 (and I only subtract that one star because personally, gore bothers me, a lot more than most things) on the babs-o meter.

REMEMBER ~ Just my opinion. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you thought of "The Hunger Game" series. I am wondering how all of this is going to play in a movie and keep a PG-13 rating to satisfy most of the readers. One interesting thing about the movie. Suzanne Collins the author, is also a screenwriter, so she is writing the screen play for the movie. That should be interesting, as so many good books are butchered by the screenwriters.

ONE LAST WORD: All through these books I kept thinking of a popular phrase from the 60's; "Don't trust anyone over 30".