Reading for fun

Now that my e-reader is working again I can get back to all the reading I've been putting off. Sure I've read a couple of books in the meantime but it's just so nice to read it on the reader.

Before I broke my reader I started reading the Vampire Academy books. I heard about them through Goodreads.com and some of the reviews said they were better than the Twilight series. Having read them I have to agree. Yes they are teen fiction but sometimes it's nice to give your brain a few days off the hard stuff. There was lots of action, and Rose was not nearly as annoying as Bella. Sure the love story was kind of the same, Rose is in love with a guy, he leaves, she leans on another guy, first guy comes back and she's confused. Sadly that's kind of the story of my love life at the moment too. 

But all in all these books were a nice, easy, enjoyable read. If you're looking for something to curl up and relax with I highly recommend these ones.  Now I'm off to read some more non-fiction.

Do you enjoy books about vampires or are you over that now? What's your favorite genre? Any authors you'd recommend?

It's working

About a month ago I dropped my e-book reader in a tub full of water, accidentally of course. I was absolutely devestated as it was a gift from my brothers and I know how expensive it was. And also that my younger brother went out at 4am to pick it up from futureshop on boxing day because he had been going everyday for almost a week and they were always sold out.

But it is working again. It's a little worse for wear. Seriously it looks like I've had it for 5 years, instead of 3 months. But now I can use it again. In fact I downloaded I new book just this morning. More on that to come.

Want of the Week

I want an e-book reader. I was thinking about a kindle. But with all the upcoming flying and what not I'd love to have it now. However I'm waiting until after Christmas, just in case anyone actually paid attention to my Christmas list this year.

So as soon as Christmas is over I will be getting myself a Kobo.

I'm here

Well I made it to my new temporary home. Tomorrow I start work at 9. I've very nervous. But it will be a good change for me. I'm excited to be going back to work. It's been a very long hiatus and a whole lot of stuff has happened since then. Hopefully this is the beginning of a whole new chapter for me.

Also a plus, the apartment building where I'm staying for December is right beside/behind the mall, which has a Chapters and a Starbucks.

An eye opening moment

I never thought I really cared what people thought of me. I just went along doing whatever I felt like doing and not really worrying about whether someone else would think it was right or not. For example I've been told that I might be more attractive if I lost some weight, but I like to eat and I hate to exercise. So if somebody thought I was fat that's their problem not mine.

Then I went to the library today. I love the library, I'm a read-aholic and they have FREE books! Lately I've been spending a lot of time up on the 4th floor where they house the non-fiction. I've read books about the Clinton impeachment, I've read books about how George Bush should have been impeached. I've read about how the Obama presidency so far resembles Tony Blair's leadership of England, and most recently how the American right has been hijacked by crazies. As you can see it's quite a complex mix.

Well today I was just wandering the stacks for no specific reason when I came across a book about Women and the KKK and I kind of want to read it. I want to read it because often when you see documentaries or movies about supremacists,the women are often portrayed as brain washed by their spouse, partner or male parent. That somehow this isn't their idea but an idea that has been implanted in them by someone else. Now I'm no feminist but I've got to wonder about the accuracy of this portrayal and I'm wondering if this book sheds some light on the issue, or if it's just more of the same.

But getting back to the point here, I didn't borrow it because I was worried what somebody looking at my library record might think of me. I know that's a little bit silly but frankly I've heard enough about conservatives being connected to these kinds of groups to know that someone just might try to make that connection here. And so I'm avoiding my pursuit of knowledge so that I don't look bad... for now.

The Birthday Weekend

This weekend was my birthday weekend. Normally I don't do birthdays they aren't a big deal but I had already made plans anyway so I thought I'd make a whole weekend of it.

It started out Friday with the baseball game and dinner, which I've already talked about. But before that I had a little time to do some shopping around the Forks. I didn't get to a lot but I went to Kite and Kaboodle and picked up the second book in the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Now some of you may be saying "but aren't those books written for teenagers?" To which I would reply, what's your point. Seriously they're good. You should check it out.

Then on Saturday I went to see Dinner for Schmucks with my brother and his girlfriend. Overall I would say it wasn't a good movie but it had funny moments. But I got to the mall early, so again I had shopping time. So I stopped in at Chapters and picked up a couple more books. The last book in that series and also the latest book in the Outlander series which I also recommend. I've been putting off buying this book because the paperback version is a different size from all of the other books in the series, but finally I broke down and picked it up.

So I spent Sunday reading, finished off the book I was reading at the time and then watched the Emmy's. Why oh why did I watch the Emmy's?

So that was birthday weekend.

The New Website Love of My Life

A few months ago someone recommended that I join Goodreads.com. I wasn't really convinced because usually when my friends recommend books to me I end up disappointed because I don't like them as much as they did. But after dealing with the creepy Amazon recommendation I've been struggling to find a new source for book reviews to recommend some books that I might not pick up otherwise.

I love that once you rate a book it gives you recommendations of books in similar categories. Like the "best books of 2007" or "best science fiction", however I have noticed that a) when you chose a category there seems to be a lot of books by the same author, so if you've tried some of their stuff and you don't like it well then the list is kind of a waste for you, and b)Many of the books end up in best and worst lists, take Twilight for example it appears in both "best books ever" and "worst books of all time".

I guess you just have to take the time to read the reviews to figure out if you think you'll like it.
Edit: Just took a look at the "Worst Books of all Time List", and while I'm not suprised there were A LOT of books by conservative authors. But being a conservative I've kind of gotten used to this sort of crap.

Amazon recommends...

Holy crap, you rate one shape shifter romance novel and Amazon thinks you're some sort of sexual deviant.

A while ago I bought some DVDs from Amazon.ca, since then I've been getting frequent e-mails about whatever they happen to have on sale this week. Sometimes I go back and check out what they recommended to me and I'll rate things if I've seen them or read them so that perhaps my recommendations are a little more accurate to what I actually like.

So a couple of months ago this book by Shelley Laurenston came up on the recommendations list. It was a romance novel, and you know every once in a while it doesn't hurt to do a little frivolous reading just to pass the time. So I read it, I liked it, I rated it.

Well today I go to check out my recommendations and a book comes up so I read the synopsis. And holy crap, they must think I'm some sort of freak over there because this books was just... I don't even know how to describe it. Essentially 3 brothers live in a hunting cabin, one of them finds this chick in the woods and brings her home. They then proceed (all 4 of them) to partake in romantic endeavors with each other. Now granted I haven't actually read the book, but holy shit. They're brothers for Christs sake! I don't know if I'm more disturbed that people have actually read this book and given it positive reviews or that someone actually wrote this.

What kind of world do we live in? And please Amazon just recommend nice normal books. Pretty please. Thanks.

Team Edward vs. Team Jacob

There is a debate within fans of the Twilight saga over which guy Bella should be with, Edward or Jacob. I've read the books and I have to say that I was leaning towards Team Jacob. Now that I've watched the first half of New Moon I'm going to say that I'm firmly planted on the Jacob side.

So readers what do you thing? Are you an Edward or a Jacob?

I may never buy another book again

I love to read. But I never understood why my brother would read e-books that he downloaded from the internet. Until today.

See a couple of weeks ago he bought an e-book reader. It cost a lot of money and he doesn't really read much anyway but today he let me borrow it and I've got to say it's growing on me. I have 3 book shelves full of books in my apartment and everytime I move I have to haul these books around with me. But the process would be so much more simplified if all I had to do was pack up a couple of flashdrives or an external hard drive.

So I may have to go out and buy myself one of these e-book readers. Is there any new technology out there that you want to try? The i-pad for example.

What I'm Reading Now

Sometimes there's nothing better than sitting down with a hot cup of coffee and a good book. Sometimes I'll substitute hot chocolate or red wine for coffee if I feel like it. But there is a good chance that I'm in the middle of a book at any moment in time.

So I thought I'd share with you what I'm reading now. Don't worry this isn't going to be a book review type thing, though there are several wonderful book review blogs and when I come across some good ones again I'll add some linkage.

And now on to the main attraction of this post, what I'm reading now:
I just started Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. It's not fiction about the end of the Romanov dynasty. I'm totally into history so I'm looking forward to reading more of it. I'm only on page 27 right now.

What about you dear reader, what type of books get you going? If you were on a deserted island what is the one book you would want to take with you?

When bad TV shows happen to good movies

Now I'm no TV critic but I do watch a whole lot of it. Recently I downloaded the show "10 Things I Hate About You". Now I really enjoyed the movie so I had high hopes for the show. But sadly it blows and yet I still intend to watch every episode.

I do have to say though that while I've seen a lot of books turned in to movies, this is the first show I've ever seen based on a movie. Or at least that I can remember. Can you think of any?

Goal of the Week

That's it I'm sick of giving myself unrealistic goals or at least ones that I know I'm only going to have to force myself to do. Like last week's goal . Seriously I kind of knew that I wasn't going to work on it. I was busy doing other things like running 2-a-day blog posts. Anyway so I'm only one seam closer to finishing which I guess leaves 2 seams and 3 hems to do.

This weeks goal is one that I'm probably going to finish tonight. I want to finish reading the third book in the Stephanie Myers Twilight series. Thanks to KEG* for suggesting these books to me. They're pretty good and not terribly heavy reading.

*This is the blog moniker I'm giving her because she refuses to come up with anything better for me to work with and I suspect I will need to mention her often