Overcrowding!

I really hate to do this but I just hafta! I had to weed through some of my books. It was hard to do but it is really getting outta control. I have well over 800 books and not counting the books I get for my girls! People give them to me, I find them , swap/trade them, and buy them. They are everywhere. I don't even include my text books from school. These I keep as references. The above pic is not mine but it really could be. I have really no where to put them. I have one very large wall bookcase in my living room and then I got a 2 shelf one, a headboard, and a tall skinny one in my bedroom. They are all front to back and piled everywhere! I truly believe it is an addiction!

So I went through a lot of my books and got "rid" of a few of them. I left some in the hallway of where I live and these are for the taking. They weren't the best books but I knew I had no other home for them. I put many of them up on Goodreads swap and many of them already went and I just give them to people that I know would enjoy them or just to take them off of my hands. Many of these books I knew I would never read or I have read and thought it was OK or I hated it!

My husband is proud but I think he is addicted too. He doesn't read them but I think he buys me more books than I do myself! Oh well, stay tuned to my GR Swap list and maybe you will find something there! http://www.goodreads.com/swap/user/1334924-donna?tab=available

Room - Emma Donoghue

Genre: Fiction

Format: Hardcover / Library

ISBN: 9780316098335

Rating 3/5 Stars

*Potential Spoilers*

I am not too sure on how to rate this book. I like the lot but I just could grasp...something. I guess I was waiting for this wonderful great story because of all the reviews and ratings but I guess I was just not one of those people. I did enjoy it and it was a quick read but there was something I just didn't like. Of course there were things that didn't sit well with me but that's because I am a human but those are the parts I liked most about the book. I did love Jack and his innocence and I don't blame Ma for anything. I loved the grandparents and everything did seem believable but yet I guess I just didn't think it was as good as everyone else but that is what makes a great book I guess.

I would have loved to have read about the court dates and of Ma's reaction to Old Nick when they were face to face in court. I kinda wanted to hear his side of the story. I kept playing it in my head. How he had his own family and how they didn't know and all that. I guess that would have made it more intense and shady. Oh well. I still liked the book and just wished there were more but Emma did a great job at adding in the small things like masks at the hospital and of how people looked at her funny because Ma still breast fed. I think her line went something like" that is what you think about?" It's kinda funny because it is true. We are all concerned about her breastfeeding a 5-year-old meanwhile she just spent 7 years in hell! Well, that's the human race I guess!

The Lotus Eaters - Tatjana Soli

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: Hardcover / Library

ISBN: 9780312611576

Pages: 386

Rating: 3/5 Stars

We read this book for our October book club read at work and I think we all had the same feelings: it was OK. Nothing so fantastic about it. We were all wondering where all these "great" reviews were coming from. I did love how the beginning was the end and you had to keep reading to find out how it got to that point but a lot of it was"really?" I just could imagine a woman going to Vietnam and taking pictures with no real inclination of what war can be, how to load a camera, and let alone culture shock. I understand that she needed adventure and needed to find out what happened to her brother (who died earlier) but I just don't understand...

I did really like the story but there were just things that were hard to believe but then again I don't know Vietnam like others may have. I was the youngest in my book club and they all remembered it and I wasn't even born yet! I did love Linh though, he was by far my favorite character. Helen was OK, and Darrow was unpredictable. At first he was supposed to be this standoffish guy who was a bad-ass per say, but then he was poetic and lovable. I dunno I really did enjoy the story and probably would have gave it a higher rating but because of the above I just couldn't.

The Dead and the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Format: Softcover / Library

ISBN: 9780547258553

Pages: 308

Rating: 3.5 stars

I loved both books in a strage way but this one bothered me more so than the first because it was a little too close to home. I liked how it wasn't as a journal as it was for Maranda's story but it was just Alex's account on everything. Of course for the first few days of reading this i had to put it down because of fear of continuing on reading it. I actually had a nightmare about a tidal wave coming at us. I had to get over my fear and tell myself that it was only a story and to read it as just that.

There are parts of the book that I simply hated. All those deaths of the people that they loved and having no idea if they were dead or alive or even to see people that you care so much about die. It was just sickening but it was a good story all the same. I am not sure if I am selling the book or making you run away from it but I really did think it was a good read. You continue Reading on in hopes that they get out of the City and to safety. You wish many things but you really want to know what happens at the end and that is what keeps you going and makes a good book. I can't wait to get to the third book, This World We Live In. I know that both of the main characters come together in the book and now they have to figure out how to survive yet again and move on with their lives. I wonder if this is the end of the trilogy????

Wedlock - Wendy Moore

Genre: Historical non-ficiton

Format: Hardcover / Library

Pages: 324 (not including awknowledgments, notes, and bibliography)

ISBN: 9780307383365

Rating 3.5/5 stars

It took me some time to read this book for 3 reasons:

1- It didn't grab me in the very beginning

2- It's summer. I am always tired and lazy

3- I was reading 4 books at once.

After all that I started to get into it and dedicated more time into reading it. I feel that it was a good read and a nice change. It shows you had it really was in the 1700's. I just couldn't believe the maddness and the choas it all became. Stoney was just an unbearable human being and he was such a conniving A-hole! But I am glad that Mary was so smart and it may have taken some time but she got to help herself from going truly insane! I just love that it was a true story, I mean I wasn't happy to find out that people (especially women) were treated as such, but I did like how the author tied in facts and dug deep to gain more insight to the truths and she did a very good job. She writes beautifully and sophisticativly. I wish that there were pictures but it may have been a copyrighted issue but she explained it to where you could see it in your head.

I was never really into reading about the 18th Century but I do enjoy watching films based on this time period so when reading this I played it all in my head. I searched Wikipedia and Google to gain images and to compare notes and I found it all fascinating.

Here is the link to the Wikipedia pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Eleanor_Bowes,_Countess_of_Strathmore_and_Kinghorne

Here are some images:

Mary Eleanor Bowes Andrew Robinson Stoney Bowes

The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan

Genre: YA SiFi Fantasy

Format: Softcover

ISBN: 9787423101482

Pages: 312

Rating: 4/5

Of course I loved it! Why wouldn't I? I never really was one for sifi nor fantasy but once I started this series I just had to continue on. This one was just as good as the first. I wasn't crazy about the second, The Sea of Monster, but all in all it didn't stop me. I am sure I mentioned this in another post, but I really enjoy this concept of Greek Gods and young people being in charge , believe me, it makes sense!

I really am falling in love with Percy! He is just a great kid and he will grow to be an even greater person or a cocky one. It can go either way and after reading the ending of this book I am leaning more towards the cocky! Not so much a Luke, maybe Percy will stay good but I can tell you he may turn arrogant but hey, this is just a thought! I really think his personality will change though.

I can definitely read between the lines and I kinda predicted what will happen at the end but it still kinda had a good shock value and I know what will happen in the other books and yet I still want to read it! I love books like that. It still makes you interested even with it's predictability. Reading this makes me feel young again and whenever I read books like this I get annoyed by the language but then I keep telling myself that it is meant to be written for younger people and then my brain goes into young world and it's kinda nice!