I'll think of a damn title later

Reblogged from Silver Thistle 

Christmas is only six weeks away!!  I'm getting excited!!  I'm a little late to get started on my shopping this year, I usually start in October to try and spread the cost a little but better late than never.  Online is still my favourite shop so I thought I'd give a few idea's for anyone looking to buy for a booklover.  Some of these gifts I'd have to take out a small mortgage to afford but maybe my hubby can get some tips on the more modest offerings :D  (if you're reading this, hubby.....*hint* *hint* )

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Never forget the price that others paid so you could call yourself free.

A suitable, heartbreaking, yet uplifting ending to a beautiful series. A must read.

If you're going to read this, read Once first.

It is astonishing how heartbreaking this series is. A must read for everyone.

AWWW YEAH I WON TWO BOOKS ON BOOKLIKES!

One of the things I love about Campbell's writing is that she keeps the pace up without bogging it down with navel-gazing prose or "poetic" asides. While these books (and their characters) may be too gritty for some (or many, let's be honest here), the IMA series is worth your while if you like your fiction dark and your thrillers unpredictable.

I will say that there were some typos, and a few plot points seemed bizarre, but nothing that made me roll my eyes or scoff in disbelief. I will also say that if this is the last book in the series, I will hunt Nenia down and court her with pizza and booze until she keeps these books going.

And yes, there's sex in this book, and yeah, it's hot. Let the good times roll, as Michael would say...

But the reason it's hot is the same reason why I'm hooked onto this series: Campbell makes you care about the characters. Even those that are truly detestable are fascinating, so you want to know what happens next, and why.

L&L left me with questions unanswered, and with me wanting more. I cannot wait for the next book (because there damn well better be another book, Nenia).

I know I'm dorky, but I get excited when a character mentions Chile in a book. I was born in Santiago, so it's like "w00t!"

Yeah, I'll shut up now.

Fairy tales and fables are fascinating, and authors are often tempted to put a different spin on them, or use them to enhance an otherwise dull plot (cough, cough, The Red Queen Dies, cough cough). 

Ron Koertge reimagines the fairy tales by telling the stories from other viewpoints, adding bits of humor and darkness. Sometimes the moral is questioned, like for Little Thumb:

Everybody says the moral of the story

is that short guys can be cunning

and brave.

But I think the moral is that children pay

for the sins of the parents. Ask anybody

who hates to go home after school.

Koertge is a master, adding sympathy to established villains and questionable motives to so-called heroes and heroines. 

If you're still unsure if you should read this, take a look at the last poem, in which The Wolf finally is able to speak his mind:

Wolf

Let’s get a few things straight. Only a few of us like to
dress up like grandma and trick little girls. Those who
do belong to what we call the Scarlet Underground.
It’s not their fault, so they’re tolerated if not embraced.

The rest of us are wolves through and through. We enjoy
the chase, the kill, a nap in the sun on a full stomach.

Our enemy is man with his arrogance and greed.
The woodsman in particular. Destroyer of trees.
Clearer of land. Owner of fire.

While he drops and burns and builds, we terrorize his
wife, surrounding her as she goes for water. We howl
outside his windows half of the night, and if that doesn’t
drive him away we take him out, leaving just a few
bones so the message is clear:

This is our forest. Perfect before you came.
Perfect again when all your kind is dead.

There's no way to mark a book exclusively as "DNF", it has to be "Currently Reading", "Read", or "Planning to Read" first.

Yes, I've looked at the tutorials, but there is no getting around those three main shelves. (yet)

Some motivation for all you fellow writers. :)