It’s March, and that means it’s time to update you all on my Clearing The Hoard – Bookwyrm Challenge! I ended up reading Royal Elves by Misty D. Billman. I ran out of time, and I knew that there was no way I would be able to finish Persepolis while babysitting, so during nap time, I read Royal Elves. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that impressed. I didn’t feel connected to the characters, found some spelling errors, and almost DNF’d it in the first 20 pages. I ended up giving it two caffeinated stars because I enjoyed the plot. If you want to read my review, click here to see it over on Goodreads.

Now comes the hard part of deciding what to do with Royal Elves. I own the entire series & they’re not only autographed but personalized. I tend not to get rid of autographed books (especially personalized), so I’m hesitant to part with them now. With that said, I doubt I’m going to read the rest of the series. So at this moment, I’m going to keep them but I may change my mind in the future.

How my shelves have changed:

Here are the books I’ve given away since my very first post:

• ….nothing, the hoard wins this month. HAHAHA

I have also added a few new books onto my shelves:

1. Quillifer by Walter Jon Williams
2. New Skies an Anthology
3. New Magics an Anthology
4. Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson – Autographed
5. Draw Baby Beasties: Create Little Dragons, Unicorns, Mermaids and More by Lindsay Cibos-Hodges & Jared Hodges 

With the additions to my bookshelves, my percentages have changed a bit. I have such a large library that it’s hard to see the difference though.

Total books owned: 731
Reference Books*: 64
Readable Books Owned: 667
Books Read: 145 (21.74%) was 144 (21.72%)
Books Unread: 511 (76.61%) was 508 (76.62%)
Books Read but not remembered: 11 (1.65%)

With it being the first Thursday of March, I have pulled out the handy dandy Book TBR Jar and pulled three colors.

The books I pulled out of the jar are the following:

Blue:
Love Saves the Day by Gwen Cooper
Pages: 317
Genre: General Fiction
Publication Year: 2013
Where I got this book: I ended up getting this beautiful book from the Dollar store! I am very lucky to have a dollar store that occasionally has some great books! (psst. 3 of the books I added this month are from the Dollar Store!)

Goodreads Summary:

Humans best understand the truth of things if they come at it indirectly. Like how sometimes the best way to catch a mouse that’s right in front of you is to back up before you pounce.

So notes Prudence, the irresistible brown tabby at the center of Gwen Cooper’s tender, joyful, utterly unforgettable novel, which is mostly told through the eyes of this curious (and occasionally cranky) feline.

When five-week-old Prudence meets a woman named Sarah in a deserted construction site on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, she knows she’s found the human she was meant to adopt. For three years their lives are filled with laughter, tuna, catnaps, music, and the unchanging routines Prudence craves. Then one day Sarah doesn’t come home. From Prudence’s perch on the windowsill she sees Laura, the daughter who hardly ever comes to visit Sarah, arrive with her new husband. They’re carrying boxes. Before they even get to the front door, Prudence realizes that her life has changed forever.

Suddenly Prudence finds herself living in a strange apartment with humans she barely knows. It could take years to train them in the feline courtesies and customs (for example, a cat should always be fed before the humans, and at the same exact time every day) that Sarah understood so well. Prudence clings to the hope that Sarah will come back for her while Laura, a rising young corporate attorney, tries to push away memories of her mother and the tumultuous childhood spent in her mother’s dusty downtown record store. But the secret joys, past hurts, and life-changing moments that make every mother-daughter relationship special will come to the surface. With Prudence’s help Laura will learn that the past, like a mother’s love, never dies.

Poignant, insightful, and laugh-out-loud funny, Love Saves the Day is a story of hope, healing, and how the love of an animal can make all of us better humans. It’s the story of a mother and daughter divided by the turmoil of bohemian New York, and the opinionated, irrepressible feline who will become the bridge between them. It’s a novel for anyone who’s ever lost a loved one, wondered what their cat was really thinking, or fallen asleep with a purring feline nestled in their arms. Prudence, a cat like no other, is sure to steal your heart.

Green:
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Pages: 537
Genre: General Fiction Young Adult
Publication Year: 2004
Where I got this book: I bought this book at a Library book sale! They’re so much fun & I was so excited to find this in the pile of books.

Goodreads Summary:

Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high-school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, she meets a boy who introduces her to crank. At first she finds it freeing, but soon Kristina’s personality disappears inside the drug. What began as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul, and her life.

Pink:

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Pages: 32
Genre: Picture Book
Publication Year: First Published 1985
Where I got this book: I have a spending problem when it comes to the Black Friday autographed books at Barnes & Noble. When this was one of the signed books I had to snag it.

Goodreads Summary:

A young boy, lying awake one Christmas Eve, is welcomed aboard a magical trip to the North Pole . . . 

Through dark forests, over tall mountains, and across a desert of ice, the Polar Express makes its way to the city atop the world, where the boy will make his Christmas wish. 

As always, I’m not sure which one I’m going to pick up. Crank and The Polar Express are at the top of the list only because I’ve owned them the longest. I also can’t believe that I have gone 30 years without reading The Polar Express (that I can remember at least). I admit I haven’t even seen the movie.

If you had to choose what book would you choose?