Support Your Local No Kill Book Shelter

The No Kill Book Shelter for Books I Didn't Like

Just because one person didn't appreciate a book doesn't mean that someone else won't absolutely love it. The books you'll find here in the shelter have been badly neglected and unloved. In some instances they've even been verbally abused. Book violence is a very serious issue, one that we should all do our part to remedy. Support your local No Kill Book Shelter and give a bad book a second chance.

Books currently living in the shelter:



We will begin accepting applications for adoption on Monday. Details on the adoption process will be posted then.

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Now before you throw a fit, these are books that *I* did not enjoy, not horrible pieces of crap that I'm trying to pawn off on you. These stories had merit, it's just that personally I didn't find them appealing. So far, I'm aware that the four current books in the shelter were books that many people loved and I bet one or two of them you actually want to read or did at one time. It's a fun way to win a book and give it a review that shows some love!

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Once again I am amazed and in awe of the depth and magnitude of Collin's imagination. It's nothing to create a fantasy world that takes us away and makes us wish for a bit of the miraculous in our everyday lives but it's quite another to conjure up a vivid, vibrant world so detailed that it becomes almost tangible and then make sure you never ever want to go there.

In this sequel to The Hunger Games we are once again the spectators- the downtrodden hopeless plebs of the Districts and the spoiled, sadistic privileged people of the Capitol. Only this time, instead of being sold on a victor by means of carefully timed and planned marketing and strategizing, we our watching Katniss and Peeta, our victors- the ones we chose, the ones we wanted to win. When a tribute is victorious in the Hunger Games, and survives the grueling ordeal of a televised, free-for-all murderous battle in which children from each District slaughter each other in an effort to stay alive he or she is sent home to live in comfort and luxury for the rest of his or her life. Until last year, the 74th annual hunger games, there has traditionally been only one victor. But when Katniss and Peeta, the seemingly star-crossed lovers from District 12, in an act of defiance against the very game they're forced to play, threaten a double suicide, the nation of Panem demands a last minute rule change that allows both tributes from a District to win. Now Katniss and Peeta reign as the nations sweethearts, the boy and girl who survived the game due only to their love for each other. To the brats in the Capitol they are the latest fad, and to the withered people of the Districts, their manipulation of the Games is the stuff that can spark rebellion.

The system of government in place in the nation of Panem and the Hunger Games themselves, are all meant to be reminders to the people of the District that they are at the mercy of their government, and at any moment they can crush them. In a place where such a constant show of force and brutality is needed to dim the people's rebellious spark, would Katniss really be left alone to live out her life in the comfort her new title brings? Or will the nation of Panem place new demands on their hero? The government demands that the people's hero helps quell the threat of rebellion. The citizens demand that their hero, the girl on fire, set the nation ablaze.

Oh wow. I just loved it. Best cliff hanger in a book, hands down. I love that Collins is letting her character explore various different types of love. I know a lot of people are unhappy with the Peeta/Gale struggle but I think what the author is showing is very valuable. Katniss is a teenage girl who is learning that one love is totally different from another. That she can love Peeta the way she does and yet feel a romantic love for another. I don't feel that she's written a love triangle at all. And oh I love Peeta! All of the big surprises in this story came from him!

You must read this and then join me in pining for the third book.

Bookwork 09/05 and a note on Shiver

Ok, this is a total no-no BUT the fact of the matter is, I wrote my review of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater at work and well...I washed it. Here's the thing. I didn't like the book enough to sit down and write another review of it. That's all kinds of wrong but the book was barely a three for me, and that goes to Ms. Stiefvater's writing and use of language which is beautiful and very melodic. The story on the other hand, bored me to tears. It was promising until half way through where I felt if I had to read ANOTHER description of Sam dropping Grace off to school in the Bronco I would have to permanently subtract IQ points. Sorry. I know it was a big to-do book and while it was very original (as original as vampires and werewolves can be in this Twilight age) it was boring and drawn out. There you have it. When I wrote the review I had to really struggle with my feelings about the book. It was one of those that the reader is expected to like given the hype and wealth of good reviews. It just wasn't for me.

So I picked up Catching Fire by Ms. Suzanne Collins and I am almost finished devouring it. You WILL get a review of that one. I owe it a bit of thanks too because it made me realize something about my lack of reading here lately and I have discovered that it's not that I'm not really reading much these days, it's just that I'm reading things that suck. I made myself finish Shiver and it took two weeks. I'm making myself read the second Sookie Stackhouse book and so far I don't like it. With Catching Fire I want to drop everything and read read read. There's the difference. It's a great book and the other books I've been making myself endure have not been. So go and buy it, read it, love it, live it and miss it.

That's not my review though :P

My first contest went well. I had far more entries than I ever thought I would and I now have 73 followers who all exhibit various different traits of awesomeness. I do appologize for my lack of involvement in the book blogging community here lately. I'm a new RN, and it's kicking my butt just as my instructors said it would. It's been difficult trying to balance work life and book life when work life takes up 80% and I have to sleep sometime. So thank all of you for sticking with me.

So if you've been reading my blog you know I tend to be rather direct in my book thoughts. I can be a bit verbally abusive when a book lets me down and I tend to hold book grudges. Like the one I hold against Stephanie "T" Meyer for her butchering of the Twilight saga when she wrote Breaking Dawn. Books in a series that disappoint seem to get more abuse than stand alone stories. Having said that, there is no cause for book violence, children. For every book we feel is bad, there is a reader out there who will love it, appreciate it's existance and take away someting valuable from the story. On my shelf are several books that are neglected and unappreciated. Poor pitiful, lonely little things that want only to be read and enjoyed. In an effort to match LA Jane declared "bad" books with owners who will rehabilitate them and love them, I am opening the:

The No Kill Book Shelter for Books I Didn't Like
Support for the No Kill Book Shelter comes from readers like you. Once every few weeks a lonely little book will find it's way into the shelter where it will have an opportunity to be matched with a new owner who will love it. Requirements for adoption will be standard contest entry stuff.

As of right now there are three books living in the shelter (who are they??), awaiting adoption. Details soon.

Eyes Like Stars Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Ms. Wanda B. for being the very first winner of my very first giveaway! I hope you're as freakin' excited as I am because this has been so much fun. Thank you all for entering. I've been rather out of touch with the book blog community lately due to work and you just don't know how much these emails and comments have meant to me. I'd also like to thank my blackberry for being able to handle the increased email load.

I really didn't expect as many entries as I got on this debut giveaway. Welcome new followers, here and on twitter. I will return the favor soon. Also be on the look out for an upcoming silly little giveaway.

Bookwork 08/12-08/15

Once again I am apologizing for being a bad book blogger. Starting to feel like a broken record and once again I blame work. Although my reading has certainly slowed down my TBR has continued to grow.

1. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
2. My copy of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater arrived in the mail and it made me giddy.

I keep hitting refresh on the Kindle addition page on Amazon for Meridian by Amber Kizer but it's STILL NOT THERE. I remain hopeful and will just continue clicking.

I'm currently on my second Sookie Stackhouse book and the VIVs meet this Friday to watch the last two episodes. My vampire addiction is out of control at this point. Is there a support group for that?

26 Entries for my Eyes Like Stars Giveaway! If I had known how much fun contest were I'd have held one weeks ago. In fact, I lurve it so much I've got another one about to show up. It's a really SILLY one, so stay tuned.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

     I was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting us blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. at this rate, we'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice.
     What had Medusa said?
     Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.
     I got up. "I'll be back."
     "Percy," Annabeth called after me. "what are you-"
     I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. I folded up the bill and stuffed it in my pocket.
     In the cash register I found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. I rummaged around the rest of the office until I found the right-size box.
     I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:

The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New Your, NY

With best wishes,
PERCY JACKSON

Percy Jackson simply can't stay out of trouble. He's been kicked out of six schools and in just a moment, he's going to get kicked out of his current one. Odd things just seem to happen around Percy, things that can't be explained or even believed but Percy never fails to get the blame for them. When he accidentally causes the evaporation of his math teacher with an ink pen, it occurs to Percy that the things happening to him may be more than just rotten luck.
Following his most recent expulsion, Percy and his mother take an impromptu trip to the shore, a place that his mother has always had a fondness for. It was at the seaside that she fell in love with and had a one time whirlwind romance with Percy's father, a man he has never met and who his mother won't tell him anything about. Their trip is cut short by your average random Minotaur attack that leaves his mother missing and Percy, at his mother's command, running for the safety of Half Blood Camp, a sanctuary for children who are in the same unique situation as Percy- they are the children of gods.

I loved this book! It was cute and funny and very entertaining. Can't help but compare it to Harry Potter but I don't feel that it was merely riding on HP's coat-tails so to speak since this book had a feel that was very much it's own. For one thing your heart doesn't break for Percy the way it did for Harry, so so far, no tears. I love that it is based on Greek Mythology. Who didn't love studying the Greek myths in school? I think that spin, along with it being a great children's/young adult adventure fantasy, really adds to it's appeal. Percy kicks butt and shows no fear, just as a hero should. The story is written with a great sense of humor, making it just a really great read. Totally on board to read the next one and I can't wait for the movie!!

Bookwork 08/03-08/08

I haven't done a Bookwork post in awhile because truth be told, I haven't fed my TBR lately. I'm so proud of me. I feel like I'm standing up and announcing that I've been book clean for two weeks.

Well...that is until this week. It's not my fault. So many good books came out that it was just too tempting. I blame the authors.

Picked up:
1. Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink (Who's publisher gets bonus points for making it immediately available on kindle)
2. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange. I know I know...SHAME ON ME and I'm pretty sure my dear Jane would not approve but I'm still addicted to vampires. I'm beyond tacky.
3. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I won this from Goodreads so it's not exactly here yet but I say it counts.

Well the Very Important Vampire Society (VIVs) has finally caught up with True Blood. We will permanently be one week behind the show though since we don't meet until Saturday nights but at least we are semi in the know now. I love this show. It's all kinds of wrong and it's oh so good. Can't we please just clone Eric Northman so that everyone can have one? He'd make a great Christmas present. Write that down please.

Reading The Lightning Thief when I can. Work is taking up valuable reading time so it's slow going. Enjoying it so far. Then...back to Sookie! Book Two!