Mobile Happy and How-to!

I went and actually figured out how to enable the mobile version of this site so now you can view Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books on the go! You know, in case you really needed a fix on the go. Which, it's likely that none of you care, but hey! the option is there if you want it ^.^

In case you use Blogger and want to enable this option on your own site. Login to Blogger in Draft then click on the Settings -> Email&Mobile. The top option on that page will be an enabling of a mobile version of your site. So, you too can have your own mobile friendly site!

Review: Davi by Roy C. Booth and Brian Woods

Davi by Roy C. Booth and Brian Woods

Copy Courtesy of Brian Woods
Already Published

Summary
Davi, a human, is sent out to negotiate with the King of the Dwarves despite being only a blacksmith with no skills in this area whatsoever. He finds that dwarves are his kind of people.

Commentary
The story is very simplistic with an overabundance of showing instead of telling. I felt like I was reading an outline of a trilogy rather than an actual novel. There are scenes which read something like "Davi talked to the dwarf, and the dwarf did not want to accept Davi. Then, after Davi showed the dwarf some cool stuff, the dwarf accepted Davi as a brother." There might be a few more sentences in there, and I'm exaggerating a little bit but not much.

The characters are all pretty 2D since there isn't enough time spent developing the characters. Rather, the story spans what seems to be 10+ years of history by skipping any meaningful interaction between anyone, and treating scenes with about as much depth as the one I described above.

There might be a good story here if things were fleshed out, but I certainly can't see it at the moment.

Star Rating: 0.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Davi at Amazon

Third Sentence Thursday (#24)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Third Sentence Thursday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF6L9g6kFcPnLrdwduf7eiEBTXfVTgO7j8AsNjFdP1BiosV_3_EOcuPUSJZ-yrQ_MM_eTyV3Gv1rpptbU-89HD5peK5CWnETvORgducIXEL8OASz8x5vpphCwIWZWUC8q6bq7ZavQlXA/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%20(Custom).png"/></a>

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which waits with bated breath for third sentences from all over the world!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"Maybe it's the fact that they're still bright red, spanked raw and swollen, but looking at them I see my family" -Future Imperfect by K. Byer Reese

This sentence taken out of context seems to be an analogy of a not so happy family since none of the descriptors are good. If you took it in context, which I have, it's actually not that much better heh. This book is WEIRD! So, I guess the third sentence being a bit weird is ok.

Fuzzy Nation RELEASE!

Hey hey! John Scalzi has a new book out today called Fuzzy Nation! I haven't read it yet, but Scalzi generally has great books so... you should check it out ^.^ It's a sci-fi piece that is a reboot of Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper (I also haven't read this one >.>).

Synopsis of Fuzzy Nation (taken from Goodreads):

It's a classic case of good news, bad news. Independent contractor Jack Holloway helps cause a cliff collapse, which gets him fired from his partnership; but the accident reveals a vein of valuable jewels, which gets him rehired and promises to make him rich. Of course, there's a catch: To maintain the claim on his newfound wealth, the partners must be able to certify that the planet is not inhabited by any sentient beings—and that, of course, is the cue for the small, lovable, furry little creatures to appear.

Check out prices for Fuzzy Nation at Amazon

Review: Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Copy Courtesy of Tor Books
Already Released

Summary
This is the story of a girl, who saw some birds turn into husbands for her sisters. This is a story of Koschei the Deathless, who is a central figure of many a Russian folklore tale. This is also a story of Communism in Russia.

Commentary
Fair warning to all of you, this is not an easy read. The style of Valente is a beautifully complex story weaving, and if you try to hurry your way through this book, I promise you will get lost. But, if you take this book at a more thought-engaged pace, this proves to be an excellent book.

It's very rare for a story to make weird seem fitting, and this book has more than its fair share of weirdness as well as more than its fair share of fitting. The characters are reminiscent of a fairy tale, but one which has a much more Brothers' Grimm bent than any Disney version. The backdrop of Communist Russia gives the whole story a tone of hopelessness which will make you ache for the characters.

This a great story, but I will be the first to admit that it is not for everyone. It is not a cliche romance novel to be read and forgotten, nor is it a happy little coming of age tale. No, Deathless is for those who want to be whirled into a world that is at the same time brutal and loving, cold and kind, and definitely out of the ordinary.

Star Rating: 4.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Deathless at Amazon

Review: River Marked (Mercy Thompson #6) by Patricia Briggs

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

This is the 6th book in the series, so if you haven't read any of them (or only the first couple) you may want to be cautious as there are spoilers in the review that follows. I've reviewed Book #1 - Moon Called as well as Book #2 - Blood Bound if you want to check those out ^.^ This is a fantastic series so if you haven't picked it up, you really should!

Summary
Mercy and her mate, Adam, are on their honeymoon! Course they don't go somewhere all fancy, they end up on a camping trip with a trailer provided by... well a faerie. While they are enjoying each other, they also become embroiled with a river monster because faeries don't do nice things for just any reason.

Commentary
Somehow, I just never get tired of Mercy Thompson, and her hunky now husband Adam. The beginning starts off with funnery as we get reacquainted with old beloved characters, and then we quickly reach the honeymoon, where of course the bit with the faeries comes into play.

My favorite part of this is really the interactions with Coyote, who is a 'god' of the Native Americans. He brings all sorts of amusing scenes and exploration of Native American culture into play in this book. Briggs really does a great job of interweaving these bits in, and of course Mercy is as strong a character as ever.

I will admit that this story feels a bit like a side quest, which doesn't make it bad, but it doesn't move Mercy's story forward a whole lot. Granted, it was nice to have a book mostly focused on only Mercy and Adam. Fans of Mercy should definitely pick this book up as it's a good addition to her universe.

Star Rating: 4.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for River Marked at Amazon

Third Sentence Thursday (#23)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Third Sentence Thursday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF6L9g6kFcPnLrdwduf7eiEBTXfVTgO7j8AsNjFdP1BiosV_3_EOcuPUSJZ-yrQ_MM_eTyV3Gv1rpptbU-89HD5peK5CWnETvORgducIXEL8OASz8x5vpphCwIWZWUC8q6bq7ZavQlXA/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%20(Custom).png"/></a>

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which waits with bated breath for third sentences from all over the world!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"She released me while I went on weeping" - A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

Dramatic way to start a story or perhaps just sad? Maybe these are tears of joy? WHO KNOWS?! (well I guess if you read the book you know) I think this is actually a pretty good third sentence though ^.^

Thank You to my RAK'ers (April Edition)

April RAK is at an end, and I got some lovely RAK's ^.^ which I would now like to highlight and thank each person who sent me something.

Thank you to Ashley of Bookish Brunette for:
If I stay by Gayle Forman

Thank you to Becky of Stories and Sweeties Blog for:
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Finally, a thank you to Lori from Pure Imagination Blog for ??. I was informed of a package, but it has yet to arrive! So, something mysterious ^.^

May's signup for RAK hosted by Book Soulmates isn't up yet. But I hope you will join along this month, and who knows, maybe you'll be getting an RAK from me ^.^ Again, thank you to the wonderful bloggers mentioned above.

Review Request Hiatus

Due to the fact that I have a pretty long list of books which need to be reviewed at the moment and the fact that I will be attending BEA (which will likely make this list even longer), I am not going to accept any review requests until after June 15th 2011. Also, I'm heading into a busy period of projects and midterms which means I can't read as fast as I would like to.

I do strive to get to each and every book I request and/or accept for review. Hopefully this break will allow me to give each book the attention it deserves and still have some time to read some of the books which are not on my formal review list.

If you were planning on asking for a review and can wait until after June 15th, please send it then. All requests sent between now and then will be automatically rejected.

I have already updated the review policy page to reflect this change.

Goodreads: Android App - FINALLY

So, many many months after Goodreads released their iPhone app, we Android users have one too!

It's a pretty light app, you can look at parts of your profile mostly the top part. Of course you can access your shelves, search for books, and add books. The book pages also have abbreviated page styles.

Most notably, the barcode app hasn't been integrated so it will be hard to add books by just scanning (which is available on the iPhone app).

It's nice to finally have an official app though ^.^ which can update your books, and help you check up info on books more quickly on the Android without having to specifically sync the lists as with some of the other third party apps.

Check out the official announcement, and here's a link to the actual app page.