On the Bookshelf

This is completely off topic from books but I think that it is a very important subject that more people need to be discussing, especially at this time of year.

This holiday season, as many of us join the maddening dash to find the perfect gift, I would like to ask that this year, if any of you are considering giving a pet as a gift that you give it some long thought and discuss it with the intended gift receiver first.

The purchasing of a pet should never be something that is done on a whim. Taking responsibility for the life of another, including an animal, is a big decision that deserves time and thought. Time must be taken to consider what animal and then what breed is suitable to the lifestyle of the would-be pet owner. Do they have time to walk the pet, to play with it, exercise it, and groom it? Can they afford regular visits the vet, to worm and neuter their pet, and be prepared to go that extra mile if their pet becomes ill? Far too many people do not consider these issues and as a result far too many pets are abandoned shortly after Christmas.

Pets are also NOT fashion accessories. I was reading just today about how the number of chihuahuas being abandoned has sky rocketed after the breed becoming fashionable thanks to the film Legally Blonde and Paris Hilton toting one in her purse only for people to lose interest in them after purchase. I was also horrified to read in another article that some people, in the face of financial difficulty, would rather abandon their pet than cut back on buying Christmas presents and holiday treats. That materialism could take priority over the love and care of a member of your family absolutely stuns me.

This year, one London animal charity is refusing to let people take pups from them after Sunday, December 20. Anyone wishing to adopt one of the pups must wait until January 2nd to take it home. This is a move to stop people thoughtlessly giving pups as gifts for Christmas only for them to abandoned on Boxing Day and I could not support it more.

If you must purchase a pet this Christmas, do not look to the pet stores where your cute new kitten or puppy may have well come from the cruel conditions of a puppy farm (also known as puppy mills), but consider going to the local animal shelter and adopting a pet that really needs that second chance. Pets adopted from, for example, the RSPCA, will have already been checked by a vet to assess their temperament, and will have been desexed and microchipped as required!

Please also be mindful during your seasonal celebrations, to safely secure your pet so that it will not become spooked and escape only to be hit by a car or end up in a shelter itself.

Please, feel free to check out the links below for more information.

Terra

Resources:
Chihuahuas a 'victim of celebrity culture'
Don’t buy a dog for Christmas, Isle of Dogs MP urges
RSPCA condemns pets as presents
RSPCA NSW Website
ABANDONED: Animal rescue centre is full and it needs your support Can you give these pets a loving home
Animal abandonment rising, RSPCA says
Companion Animals Fact Sheet
Leeloo Dog Blog

Yesterday I logged on and low and behold, I have fifty followers! Okay, so I know that some people might say that fifty is not a very high bench mark but it's my first really notable bench mark and it sure does give me a serious case of the warm fuzzies to know that fifty people have looked at my blog and have liked something about it enough to think that they would like to see what else I post in the future.

I also just want to say thank you to everyone for your thoughts, feedback, awards, and just for making my getting this blog started to be such a blast for me.

I would sometime in the near future like to hold my first contest to celebrate but I am not going to announce anything yet. I might wait and see how devastating the holiday season is on my wallet first and decide how exactly I should go about doing it. I do like the idea I have seen around of purchasing something from the Book Depository. Cutting out the middle man (me) means minimizing the amount of travel for the book and hence increasing the chance of a book arriving on someone's doorstep in shiny condition.

Terra

Wishful Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bluestocking at The Bluestocking Guide.

I hear so many good things about Graceling by Kristin Cashore.
Want, want, want!

From GoodReads.com:

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po's friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace--or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Terra

Before I get in to the review I just want to apologise for the delay on getting this review out. I had to give priority to writing out some job applications as I would really like (read need) either some part time or full time work, which, unfortunately, is not very easy to come across at the moment. Much to my frustration, today the Word document for my selection criteria for one position was somehow corrupted beyond recovery and I now have to start over from scratch meaning I will probably be fairly quiet over the coming few days as well as I try to catch up.

Now, on with the review.

The Midnighters of Bixby finally have some of their hard sought answers about the secret hour in their town. But the answers have come at a price - Rex is left damaged, somehow different, after his horrifying experience in the desert at the hands of the Darklings and the delicate bond in the group is strained after Melissa's violation of Dess's mind. With the Greyfoot's ability to communicate with the Darklings severed the Midnighters might finally be safe enough to spend time to recuperate and regroup. Except, history may not be as black and white as they thought and then comes the day when the blue time arrives in the middle of the day.

Soon the Darklings will once again be free to prey upon humans - unless the Midnighters can find a way to stop the secret hour and real time from crumbling.

What an amazing end to great series. Blue Noon really sees the characters of the Midnighters series fulfill their potential. Rex struggles with the Darkling part of himself and Jonathon, even though he knows that it is wrong to want it, cannot help but wish that the Darklings plan really does become a reality so that he can have the freedom of being able to fly all of the time. Dess cannot forgive Melissa for violating her mind while Melissa begins a transformation into an entirely different person as she finally acquires the knowledge to be able to deal with her Midnighter ability. In some ways, this book is the opposite of the first in the series, The Secret Hour, and Jessica is the one that is left behind a bit on the development scale. Rex really becomes the most fascinating character to follow here. He is in conflict with the Darkling part of himself, a part of himself that might even want the Darklings to succeed, but also in the changes in brings in him he is finally able to question the Lore which he had previously regarded so highly. He is finally able to question the history of Bixby as written by Midnighters past and realise the bias there.

Blue Noon is packed with action and suspense but goes above and beyond being merely a "final battle," going on to ask further questions. I really liked how Westerfeld chose to end the series and how the extent of their possible success was uncertain and that no matter what their would be consequences. Right up to the end of the book the characters were continuing to develop and be impacted on by events, setting them up for what directions they choose to take after the story comes to its close. I also liked how some seemingly insignificant idea that he had slipped in over the course of the past two books turned out to be very significant in the end. Something that was previously just seemingly a little something to ponder suddenly becomes the big "aha!"

My one complaint, might be the overuse of certain similes throughout the course of the series. This is particularly in reference to the 'tastes' that Melissa picks up using her psychic ability. For example, things are often described as being like a battery or the tip of a pen or lead pencil pressed against the tongue. Did Westerfeld go around licking pencils and batteries in preparation for this book because he sure seemed to reference it quite a bit?

Midnighters has been a great series and Scott Westerfeld really is just a wonderful young adult author. I definitely recommend that you give this series a try.

Terra

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From page 41 of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

Okay, so yeah, that is a mite bit more than two sentences but I could not possibly write only half of the song.

I may be only ten chapters in, but I can tell you already that this is turning out to be an amazing book.

Terra

I got home from a long shift at work today to find this delightful package from Nancy who runs the fantastic blog Tales of the Ravenous Reader. Nancy hosted a great zombie themed contest for Halloween.


If you cannot tell clearly from the photo, I recieved:
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
Never Slow Dance With A Zombie by E. Van Lowe (ARC)
Zombie Blondes by Brian James
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Breathers: a zombie's lament by S.G. Browne

And let's not forget the zombie mints with brain flavour! They taste... slightly disturbing. A kind of meaty taste. I have been sharing them around the house with some great mixed reactions.

A massive thanks to Nancy for hosting her zombie competition and for sending this awesome prize my way. Such a great selection of zombie books! How can I possibly choose which to read first?

Furthermore, looking at the prices on some of these books, Aussies pay so much more for books in comparison to prices in the US. Hence why I heart the Book Depository. As I understand it, we pay a lot more for video games too.

I think that I have recovered from November now. I have some job applications (eeek!) to work on but I will try to get my review of Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld written up tomorrow.

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Go here to find out more.

Terra

Wishful Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bluestocking at The Bluestocking Guide.

I absolutely loved the Study series by Maria V. Snyder, so I am really looking forward to the day that I get my hands on Storm Glass, the first book in her Glass series.

Summary from Snyder's website:
Terra

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From page 133 of Blue Noon, the third and final book in the Midnighters trilogy by Scott Westerfeld.

This one was hard to find a teaser for. Lot's of the pages I let the book fall open to seemed too spoilerish as opposed to teaserish. It doesn't spoil anything that the blurb on the back cover hasn't revealed already. Well, except for the fact that some people are massive pigs. Throwing food? Chewing with their mouths open? Nose picking? Eeeew!

Terra