Week 51

credits:
template - creations by Julie
An Old-Fashioned Holiday by Kathy Winters
Project 365 - Gingerscrap Designers
Word art - Bethany
tags - Graham like the cracker
tree - AWP
present - Raspberry Road

Tree Eating

credits:Merry and Bright by Teri's thing o my jigs

Week 50

credits:
template - creations by Julie
An Old-Fashioned Holiday by Kathy Winters
Project 365 - Gingerscrap Designers
Word art - Bethany

Week 49

credits:
template - creations by Julie *edited
Project 365 - Gingerscrap Designers
Happy Holidays - Pretty in Green
border by Kathy Winters

Apple Pickers

Apple Hill by Gigngerscrap Designers

Pumpkin Patch '10

credits:
Hauntingly Cute by Kathy Winters
staples-Harmonystar
Quote: adjusted from Thoreaus which originally states "I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

Week 48

credits:
template - creations by Julie
An Old-Fashioned Holiday by Kathy Winters
Project 365 - Gingerscrap Designers
File tabs -Creations by Julie

Autumn 2010

credits:
Autumn Whispers by HK Designs

Piano Players

credits:
Bella's Trinkets by dylabel designs
That Jazz by Nicole
Alpha by KrysHart

The Hunger Games Series

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

(goodreads)

Have you read these yet? I know I'm behind here in northwest, we usually are. Apparently these books have been quite the hit for sometime now. Are they really that good? Yes! I don't usually encounter a book that I "can't put down" I read often but in the evenings to settle down before falling asleep, but this book was glued to me. I read while I made lunch, while I ate it and fed the kids, I put a tv show on for the kids so I could read. I read well past my usual bedtime. It was bad, but just because the books were SO good. I didn't start out that way. Not really till halfway through the first book, but then I was hooked.

I'm not sure why I love it so much. You have the typical love triangle as your romance angle, but I think it's the dystopia itself that fascinates me. As a fantasy/sci-fi fan the idea of this book is not new. Bits from The Lottery, Running Man, The Hunted (I think that's what that short story was called but I could be wrong),& several others, anyway, it's how she has managed to put everything together to create a unique world with characters you love and hate.

From the first person view of Katniss the reader can feel personally involved in this cruel world that forces children to fight to the death. Does that sound like a turn off? Don't let it be. Even the violence involved seems clever, strategic. It's a game after all. Give it a read!!! I'm on my second round. :)

Quotes

"Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it."
— Peeta -Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

"Destroying things is much easier than making them."
—Katniss- Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

"You’ve got about as much charm as a dead slug."
— Haymitch--Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

"And then he gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me."
— Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

"It's lovely. If only you could frost someone to death."
"Don't be so superior. You can never tell what you will find in the arena. Say it's a gigantic cake-"
— Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

"You’re not leaving me here alone,” I say. Because if he dies, I’ll never go home, not really. I’ll spend the rest of my life in this arena, trying to think my way out."
— Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!"
— Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay)

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart."
— Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay)

"I think....you still have no idea. The effect you can have."
— Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay)

I better stop. These books are highly quotable. But really just go read it! :)