[Stacking the Shelves] - #1

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your bookshelf, be it the physical one or your digital one!

This was an interesting week. The first thing that came in was something I ordered off of ebay, which went really well by the way. Next was a series of two books, and finally a series of three books. I hope you all enjoy what came in this week and what I'm looking to getting around to, whenever I manage to catch up on reading.

The Dresden Files	The Bar Code Tattoo	The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Seraphina	Between Shades of Gray	Unwind

Series: The Dresden Files (1-12)

Author: Jim Butcher

Date: August 14th, 2012

     The novels of the Dresden Files have become synonymous with action-packed urban fantasy and non-stop fun. Storm Front is Jim Butcher's first novel and introduces his most famous and popular character-Harry Dresden, wizard for hire.

     For his first case, Harry is called in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with the blackest of magic. At first, the less-than-solvent Harry's eyes light up with dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage. Now, that black mage knows Harry's name. And things are about to get very...interesting.

     I have always been meaning to getting around to this series. I have been told over and over by a few friends that this series is just fantastic. I have read some of Storm Front and frankly I was intrigued. Heck, I've even watched the TV series and found it rather interesting, I have always had this in the back of my mind just waiting. Now when I snagged the entire series for a really decent price (around $41), I just couldn't pass it up any longer. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this one.

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1st Set Of Mail: 2 Books

Title: The Bar Code Tattoo

   Author: Suzanne Weyn

   Format: Paperback
   Release Date: September 1st, 2004

     Individuality vs. Conformity
     Identity vs. Access
     Freedom vs. Control

     The bar code tattoo. Everybody's getting it. It will make your life easier, they say. It will hook you in. It will become your identity.

      But what if you say no? What if you don't want to become a code? For Kayla, this one choice changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things happen to her family. There's no option but to run...for her life.

     I honestly am not sure why I picked this up, I found it fairly cheap and just frankly couldn't resist. Okay I got it less then $1, and I spent more on the shipping then it was worth. It sounds fairly interesting, and frankly I am into the whole breaking free from conformity stuff, and being different in times of monotony.

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Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
   Author: Carrie Ryan

   Format: Paperback
   Release Date: February 9th, 2010

     In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

     This has always been on my list, but acquiring this book was a bit harder. I jumped through a few hoops and through a good chance of luck, I managed to snap a copy of the book, autographed. I couldn't be happier, but now I don't want to ruin the book / signature by reading it; can't win them all I guess. What happened is I ordered the book from this company as a hardcover and got it a week or so later. But when I opened it, I found it wasn't hardcover at all, it was paperback which upset me. Its a personal thing, I can't stand the whole bending the cover back as you read a book thing, anywise I digress. But I found out it was signed and all nice and pretty. After a brief discussion with the seller / company, I got to keep the book. So I'll get my teeth into this book!

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2nd Set Of Mail: 3 Books

Title: Seraphina

   Author: Rachel Hartman

   Format: Hardcover
   Release Date: July 10th, 2012

     Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

     Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

     In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page.

     Seraphina was one of those books that I found on sale recently, I just couldn't pass it up. There was soemthing about the book, dragonkin or something that makes me have to read everything and nearly almost anything that deals with the species. I love dragons, fantasy, stuff like that, I am very curious about this book, and where it takes me.

     I am hoping for a fantastic world building experience, a good set of relationships between dragons and humans. Even hoping to see some of the war / drama between the two. I want a good fantasy I guess, it's been a while since I had something that made me drool and want more. So I figured I would start here at this.

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Title: Between Shades of Gray

   Author: Ruta Sepetys

   Format: Hardcover
   Release Date: March 22nd, 2011

     Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

     Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

     I got this from a book club and they were all reading this and talking about it. I just saw it one day and couldn't help myself. The concept seems sound and the history behind the tale may not be entirely true; however, you can apply this concept to the many many times concentration camps have been used. I am sure this book will be a touching book, get everything emotional flowing, and rip the chords of your heart free. I am hoping for that in this book, and just something to ease in between a few of my more grittier or darker novels.

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Title: Unwind

   Author: Neal Shusterman

   Format: Hardcover
   Release Date: November 6th, 2007

     Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

     The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

     This sounded interesting, and has been on my wish list for a while. It wasn't any surprise when I had a bit of spare money, I did manage to pick it up. There is something about the tale, how this could possibly happen. I hope it doesn't, but there have been many times where societies have set standards for what should be produced for offspring and such. I am not sure what really to expect completely from the book, but the concept seems to keep me interested and i hope I can get into it for the long haul.