I'm 26 today. I posted on my other (more personal and certainly more random) blog this morning about how I feel like I may have reached that point in life where my birthday is just another day of the year. And then my mother posted a comment that my birthday is always a celebration for her. Isn't that the coolest statement ever? I love you Mom!
For my birthday, Kevin took me to New York City last weekend! Read all about it here and here.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Queen of Babble in the Big City - Meg Cabot
Oh, Queen of Babble, how much I missed you.
I read the first one and its follow up really quickly, since it is an easy, chick lit type of book. This book took Lizzie to New York City, where she is determined to make it on her own in the fashion world. Make that wedding gown designer, to be precise. To save money, she skips out on moving in with her best friend, and goes straight to her rich boyfriend's apartment instead.
Lizzie's mouth often gets her into trouble (hence the titles and all), and I can't believe she was able to keep a few secrets in this book. Her mouth first gets her into trouble (although it turns out to be a blessing in disguise) when she offers to work in a vintage wedding dress shop for free in return for the experience. The problem? She still needs to pay her bills, of course! So she lands a job at a law firm in the mornings, and after a series of events befriends one of the firm's high-profile clients. Who just happens to be getting married. And desperately needs help renovating her soon-to-be mother-in-law's hideous wedding dress.
Lizzie to the rescue! Not only does she refurbish the dress, she manages to land in the papers and therefore, promote the shop. Which of course lands her a full-time position working with wedding dresses. In the process, she learns the hard way how difficult it is to make it on your own after college, and how to deal when your best friend tells you she's gay and just left her long-time boyfriend (that was a shocker), and learns to communicate effectively with her boyfriend. Who just happens to make a proposal of his own in the end.
Cute, fun, quick read. Highly recommended for my chick lit fans. But read the first one first.
I read the first one and its follow up really quickly, since it is an easy, chick lit type of book. This book took Lizzie to New York City, where she is determined to make it on her own in the fashion world. Make that wedding gown designer, to be precise. To save money, she skips out on moving in with her best friend, and goes straight to her rich boyfriend's apartment instead.
Lizzie's mouth often gets her into trouble (hence the titles and all), and I can't believe she was able to keep a few secrets in this book. Her mouth first gets her into trouble (although it turns out to be a blessing in disguise) when she offers to work in a vintage wedding dress shop for free in return for the experience. The problem? She still needs to pay her bills, of course! So she lands a job at a law firm in the mornings, and after a series of events befriends one of the firm's high-profile clients. Who just happens to be getting married. And desperately needs help renovating her soon-to-be mother-in-law's hideous wedding dress.
Lizzie to the rescue! Not only does she refurbish the dress, she manages to land in the papers and therefore, promote the shop. Which of course lands her a full-time position working with wedding dresses. In the process, she learns the hard way how difficult it is to make it on your own after college, and how to deal when your best friend tells you she's gay and just left her long-time boyfriend (that was a shocker), and learns to communicate effectively with her boyfriend. Who just happens to make a proposal of his own in the end.
Cute, fun, quick read. Highly recommended for my chick lit fans. But read the first one first.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Guest blog: Book review - The City and The City
I was on vacation last week, and since I'm still catching up, here's Marie with a wonderful guest post. Cross posted here.
To get started, you should know that science fiction isn’t really my beat. When I originally lucked into a galley of The City and The City, British “weird fiction” writer China Mieville’s latest, I passed it on to my husband, a big science fiction fan and a fan of Mieville’s past work. I even asked him to do a guest review, but he raved about it so much that I had to check it out for myself.
Glad I did. The City and The City is an original, spellbinding story. Tyador Borlu, inspector in the Extreme Crime Squad of the city-state of Beszel, is assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman. After unsuccessfully trying to pass the case off to another agency, Borlu must unravel the crime while walking a delicate tightrope of law, etiquette and diplomacy between Beszel and its sister city-state, Ul Qoma.
More than this is difficult to say in a review because so much of the pleasure of The City and The City is uncovering this relationship and understanding how it impacts the (somewhat standard) plot. The reader is aided in no small measure by Mieville’s sharp, clean prose. I’ve never read Mieville before, but nearly everything I’ve read about him suggests that The City and The City represents a stylistic departure for him, from more the elaborate, Victorian style of his previous novels and from a young adult orientation. In fact I wouldn’t so much call The City and The City science fiction as I would some kind of contemporary urban fantasy, albeit without the standard paranormal accoutrement of witches or ghosts. Instead, Mieville has created a new kind of paranormal.
One thing that really impressed me about Mieville’s writing was the amount of emotional empathy he creates between the reader and Borlu. At a certain point in the narrative, the murder victim’s parents come to Beszel to identify the body and aid in the investigation. Now, here are two characters- outsiders- who, on the surface, might seem like the reader surrogates. Borlu is assigned to take care of them but they are overwhelmed- foreigners, like the reader, trying to understand this place and navigate its arcane rules and remorseless justice. But when they cross a line, rather than sympathize with them, I found myself just as frustrated as Borlu. It was then that I realized how fully I had internalized Borlu’s point of view, his perspective. Mieville made the people with whom I had most in common alien to me. It’s a neat trick.
I think The City and The City will appeal to many kinds of readers- science fiction fans and detective-novel readers looking for something new will appreciate its interesting premise, and literary fiction readers will appreciate Mieville’s skill and the opportunity to dabble in beautifully written genre fiction. It’s not a young adult novel per se but I’ll bet certain kinds of adventurous older teens would enjoy it as well. I don’t know if I’m going to go back for his earlier works, but I will absolutely be on the lookout for what comes next from this fascinating writer.
To get started, you should know that science fiction isn’t really my beat. When I originally lucked into a galley of The City and The City, British “weird fiction” writer China Mieville’s latest, I passed it on to my husband, a big science fiction fan and a fan of Mieville’s past work. I even asked him to do a guest review, but he raved about it so much that I had to check it out for myself.
Glad I did. The City and The City is an original, spellbinding story. Tyador Borlu, inspector in the Extreme Crime Squad of the city-state of Beszel, is assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman. After unsuccessfully trying to pass the case off to another agency, Borlu must unravel the crime while walking a delicate tightrope of law, etiquette and diplomacy between Beszel and its sister city-state, Ul Qoma.
More than this is difficult to say in a review because so much of the pleasure of The City and The City is uncovering this relationship and understanding how it impacts the (somewhat standard) plot. The reader is aided in no small measure by Mieville’s sharp, clean prose. I’ve never read Mieville before, but nearly everything I’ve read about him suggests that The City and The City represents a stylistic departure for him, from more the elaborate, Victorian style of his previous novels and from a young adult orientation. In fact I wouldn’t so much call The City and The City science fiction as I would some kind of contemporary urban fantasy, albeit without the standard paranormal accoutrement of witches or ghosts. Instead, Mieville has created a new kind of paranormal.
One thing that really impressed me about Mieville’s writing was the amount of emotional empathy he creates between the reader and Borlu. At a certain point in the narrative, the murder victim’s parents come to Beszel to identify the body and aid in the investigation. Now, here are two characters- outsiders- who, on the surface, might seem like the reader surrogates. Borlu is assigned to take care of them but they are overwhelmed- foreigners, like the reader, trying to understand this place and navigate its arcane rules and remorseless justice. But when they cross a line, rather than sympathize with them, I found myself just as frustrated as Borlu. It was then that I realized how fully I had internalized Borlu’s point of view, his perspective. Mieville made the people with whom I had most in common alien to me. It’s a neat trick.
I think The City and The City will appeal to many kinds of readers- science fiction fans and detective-novel readers looking for something new will appreciate its interesting premise, and literary fiction readers will appreciate Mieville’s skill and the opportunity to dabble in beautifully written genre fiction. It’s not a young adult novel per se but I’ll bet certain kinds of adventurous older teens would enjoy it as well. I don’t know if I’m going to go back for his earlier works, but I will absolutely be on the lookout for what comes next from this fascinating writer.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Borders' 100 Favorite Books of All Time
I found this list on Michelle's blog and couldn't resist tallying up my reads. Bolded are books I've read, starred are books on my TBR pile and italicized means I've seen the movie. I've only read 13 - yowza! I better get going on this. Books I've read are linked to my review, if available.
1. Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice
2. Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird
3. JRR Tolkien – Lord Of The Rings (I’ve read the first two books)
4. Jodi Picoult – My Sister’s Keeper
5. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga*
6. JK Rowling – Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone
7. Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
8. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief*
9. George Orwell – 1984*
10. Raymond E. Feist – Magician
11. Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns*
12. Paullina Simons – Bronze Horsemen
13. Gregory David Roberts – Shantaram
14. Margaret Mitchell – Gone With The Wind
15. Bryce Courtenay – Power of One
16. Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code
17. Dan Brown – Angels & Demons
18. Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
19. Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
20. Tim Winton – Cloud Street
21. Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner*
22. Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
23. Arthur Golden – Memoirs of Geisha*
24. LM Montgomery – Anne Of Green Gables
25. Joseph Heller – Catch-22*
26. Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love*
27. Niv Mass Market Bible With Bible Guide – International Bible Society Staff and International Bible Society
28. JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit
29. Yann Martel – Life of Pi
30. AB Facey – Fortunate Life
31. Douglas Adams – The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
32. Lewis Carroll – Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass
33. Diana Gabaldon – Cross Stich
34. Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
35. David Pelzar – A Child Called It
36. Li Cunxin – Mao’s Last Dancer
37. John Marsden – Tomorrow, When The War Began
38. Frank McCourt – Angela’s Ashes
39. Frank Herbert – Dune
40. JD Salinger – A Catcher In The Rye*
41. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
42. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years Of Solitude*
43. Bryce Courtenay – April Fool’s Day
44. Ken Follet – Pillars Of The Earth*
45. Patrick Suskind – Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer
46. Matthew Reilly – Ice Station
47. Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow Of The Wind
48. Stephen Hawking – A Brief History Of Time
49. Christopher Paolini – Eragon
50. Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
51. Mitch Albom – Tuesdays With Morrie
52. Jane Austen – Persuasion
53. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones*
54. Ian McEwan – Atonement
55. Leo Tolstory – Anna Karenina*
56. George Orwell – Animal Farm*
57. Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
58. Antoine de Saint Exupéry – The Little Prince
59. Roald Dahl – Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
60. CS Lewis – The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
61. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Love In The Time Of Cholera*
62. Bill Bryson – A Short History Of Nearly Everything
63. Fyodor Dostoevsky – Crime And Punishment*
64. Anthony Bourke – Lion Called Christian
65. Arundhati Roy – The God Of Small Things
66. Paullina Simons – Tully
67. John Grisham – A Time To Kill
68. John Grogan – Marley & Me
69. Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy
70. Alexandre Dumas – Count Of Monte Cristo
71. Neil Gaiman – American Gods
72. Cormac McCarthy – The Road
73. Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
74. Brendan Shanahan – In Turkey I Am Beautiful: Between Chaos And Madness In A Strange Land
75. Tim Winton – Breath
76. Bryce Courtenay – Jessica
77. Graeme Base – Animalia
78. Donna Tartt – The Secret History
79. Mario Puzo – The Godfather
80. Anne Rice – Interview With The Vampire
81. Steig Larrson – The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo
82. Stephen King – Stand
83. Helen Fielding – Bridget Jones’ Diary*
84. Eckhart Tolle – New Earth
85. Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
86. Jung Chang – Wild Swans
87. Nicholas Sparks – The Notebook
88. Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho
89. David Eddings – Belgariad Vol. 1: Pawn Of Prophecy; Queen Of Sorcery; Magician’s Gambit
90. Louis De Bernieres – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
91. Melina Marchetta – Looking For Alibrandi
92. Celia Ahern – PS I Love You
93. John Irving – A Prayer For Owen Meany
94. Colleen McCullough – The Thorn Birds
95. John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy Of Dunces
96. Terry Pratchett – Good Omens
97. Hunter S. Thompson – Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas
98. Joanne Harris – Chocolat
99. William Goldman – Princess Bride
100. Charles Dickens – Great Expectations
1. Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice
2. Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird
3. JRR Tolkien – Lord Of The Rings (I’ve read the first two books)
4. Jodi Picoult – My Sister’s Keeper
5. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga*
6. JK Rowling – Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone
7. Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
8. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief*
9. George Orwell – 1984*
10. Raymond E. Feist – Magician
11. Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns*
12. Paullina Simons – Bronze Horsemen
13. Gregory David Roberts – Shantaram
14. Margaret Mitchell – Gone With The Wind
15. Bryce Courtenay – Power of One
16. Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code
17. Dan Brown – Angels & Demons
18. Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
19. Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
20. Tim Winton – Cloud Street
21. Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner*
22. Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
23. Arthur Golden – Memoirs of Geisha*
24. LM Montgomery – Anne Of Green Gables
25. Joseph Heller – Catch-22*
26. Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love*
27. Niv Mass Market Bible With Bible Guide – International Bible Society Staff and International Bible Society
28. JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit
29. Yann Martel – Life of Pi
30. AB Facey – Fortunate Life
31. Douglas Adams – The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
32. Lewis Carroll – Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass
33. Diana Gabaldon – Cross Stich
34. Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
35. David Pelzar – A Child Called It
36. Li Cunxin – Mao’s Last Dancer
37. John Marsden – Tomorrow, When The War Began
38. Frank McCourt – Angela’s Ashes
39. Frank Herbert – Dune
40. JD Salinger – A Catcher In The Rye*
41. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
42. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years Of Solitude*
43. Bryce Courtenay – April Fool’s Day
44. Ken Follet – Pillars Of The Earth*
45. Patrick Suskind – Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer
46. Matthew Reilly – Ice Station
47. Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow Of The Wind
48. Stephen Hawking – A Brief History Of Time
49. Christopher Paolini – Eragon
50. Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
51. Mitch Albom – Tuesdays With Morrie
52. Jane Austen – Persuasion
53. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones*
54. Ian McEwan – Atonement
55. Leo Tolstory – Anna Karenina*
56. George Orwell – Animal Farm*
57. Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
58. Antoine de Saint Exupéry – The Little Prince
59. Roald Dahl – Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
60. CS Lewis – The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
61. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Love In The Time Of Cholera*
62. Bill Bryson – A Short History Of Nearly Everything
63. Fyodor Dostoevsky – Crime And Punishment*
64. Anthony Bourke – Lion Called Christian
65. Arundhati Roy – The God Of Small Things
66. Paullina Simons – Tully
67. John Grisham – A Time To Kill
68. John Grogan – Marley & Me
69. Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy
70. Alexandre Dumas – Count Of Monte Cristo
71. Neil Gaiman – American Gods
72. Cormac McCarthy – The Road
73. Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
74. Brendan Shanahan – In Turkey I Am Beautiful: Between Chaos And Madness In A Strange Land
75. Tim Winton – Breath
76. Bryce Courtenay – Jessica
77. Graeme Base – Animalia
78. Donna Tartt – The Secret History
79. Mario Puzo – The Godfather
80. Anne Rice – Interview With The Vampire
81. Steig Larrson – The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo
82. Stephen King – Stand
83. Helen Fielding – Bridget Jones’ Diary*
84. Eckhart Tolle – New Earth
85. Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
86. Jung Chang – Wild Swans
87. Nicholas Sparks – The Notebook
88. Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho
89. David Eddings – Belgariad Vol. 1: Pawn Of Prophecy; Queen Of Sorcery; Magician’s Gambit
90. Louis De Bernieres – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
91. Melina Marchetta – Looking For Alibrandi
92. Celia Ahern – PS I Love You
93. John Irving – A Prayer For Owen Meany
94. Colleen McCullough – The Thorn Birds
95. John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy Of Dunces
96. Terry Pratchett – Good Omens
97. Hunter S. Thompson – Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas
98. Joanne Harris – Chocolat
99. William Goldman – Princess Bride
100. Charles Dickens – Great Expectations
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The Sunday Salon - October 18
October 18, 2009 - 9:38 am
This week I finally finished Dan Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol. You can read my full review here, but in a word, I was disappointed. For all the hype, it certainly did not live up. Considering I finished The Da Vinci Code in 2 days and absolutely loved it, the fact that it took me over 3 weeks to finish the latest book was not a good sign.
Speaking of hard-to-finish books, I have noticed in the past few months that when I finish a book that I would only rate mediocre, it puts me into somewhat of a reading slump. It takes me longer to pick up another book and read. I especially noticed this during the summer months. I picked up pace after I finished The Time Traveler's Wife, which is probably the best book I've read all year. Finishing a wonderful book always reminds me why I love reading in the first place, and so I'm always eager to pick up another book. This time, after finishing Dan Brown's book, I had time to read the following nights I just had no gumption to pick up another book. Does this happen to you?
Last night I started Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot, and I will finish it today. It's such a cute, easy read, and I love the main character, Lizzie. She has such a big mouth and cannot keep secrets, but so far in this book she's doing quite well holding her tongue. I chose this book off my shelf of dozens last night because I wanted to read more about New York, because we're heading there on vacation this week! I have never been there and I cannot wait to go!
On that note, since I'm vacationing later this week, I won't be keeping up with the blog. I do have one post scheduled to go out, but no reviews. I plan to read on all of our flights, so hopefully I'll have a couple more books to blog about upon our return. With that, hope you all have a great Sunday and a successful week! :)
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Reading a book every day?!
Found an interesting article via the New York Times a few days ago about a woman who set out to read an entire book every day for a year. Read it here.
Amazing, no?
Amazing, no?
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
From the book jacket:
Well. Where to start. I suppose the last paragraph from the book jacket, where it says that Brown's fans have been waiting for his most thrilling novel yet...but I was very disappointed.
It took me over 3 weeks to finish this book, and I read The Da Vinci Code in 2 days. I was so excited for this book and it really did not live up to the hype. I wanted to like this book, I really did, but when it takes about 300 pages to get into it, that's not really a good sign. I thought there was way too much diversion from the real story which really made it drag on.
I actually really enjoyed the religious references in The Da Vinci Code, despite my lack of participation in any religion. In this novel, I felt like there was a lot of disconnected religion - it didn't make me want to go research it.
Another thing that made the story drag on was much of Katherine Solomon's research. Kidnapped Peter Solomon's sister has an underground lab in the Capitol Building - pretty unrealistic, but much of what was described about her research in the very beginning of the novel was so vague that it wasn't thrilling. I kept wishing the pages to go by faster, but it wasn't happening.
I continued to read despite my lack of interest because Brown is such a great writer I felt I owed it to him to finish the book. I was curious about what exactly the symbols meant, and I will admit it was exciting when the big twist of who exactly the kidnapper was was revealed.
I also had to reread several pages at times when there were multiple Masonic definitions. I couldn't keep that stuff straight. Like I mentioned before, I was really intrigued in The Da Vinci Code about the religious aspects and the symbols but in this one, I just wasn't into it.
Despite it all, sadly, I don't recommend this book. I haven't read but maybe 1 other review of this book, and I'm curious what others thought. I still have never read Angels & Demons, but I'm not sure now if I'll give it a try.
In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world's most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling - a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths...all under the watchful eye of Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.
As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A distrubing object -artfully encoded with five symbols - is discovered in the Capitol Building. Landgon reconizes the object as an ancient invitation...one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.
When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon - a prominent Mason and philanthropist - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations - all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.
As the world discovered in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Dan Brown's novels are brilliant tapestries of veiled histories, arcane symbols, and enigmatic codes. In this new novel, he again challenges readers with an intelligent, lightning paced story that offers surprises at every turn. The Lost Symbol is exactly what Brown's fans have been waiting for...his most thrilling novel yet.
Well. Where to start. I suppose the last paragraph from the book jacket, where it says that Brown's fans have been waiting for his most thrilling novel yet...but I was very disappointed.
It took me over 3 weeks to finish this book, and I read The Da Vinci Code in 2 days. I was so excited for this book and it really did not live up to the hype. I wanted to like this book, I really did, but when it takes about 300 pages to get into it, that's not really a good sign. I thought there was way too much diversion from the real story which really made it drag on.
I actually really enjoyed the religious references in The Da Vinci Code, despite my lack of participation in any religion. In this novel, I felt like there was a lot of disconnected religion - it didn't make me want to go research it.
Another thing that made the story drag on was much of Katherine Solomon's research. Kidnapped Peter Solomon's sister has an underground lab in the Capitol Building - pretty unrealistic, but much of what was described about her research in the very beginning of the novel was so vague that it wasn't thrilling. I kept wishing the pages to go by faster, but it wasn't happening.
I continued to read despite my lack of interest because Brown is such a great writer I felt I owed it to him to finish the book. I was curious about what exactly the symbols meant, and I will admit it was exciting when the big twist of who exactly the kidnapper was was revealed.
I also had to reread several pages at times when there were multiple Masonic definitions. I couldn't keep that stuff straight. Like I mentioned before, I was really intrigued in The Da Vinci Code about the religious aspects and the symbols but in this one, I just wasn't into it.
Despite it all, sadly, I don't recommend this book. I haven't read but maybe 1 other review of this book, and I'm curious what others thought. I still have never read Angels & Demons, but I'm not sure now if I'll give it a try.
Monday, October 12, 2009
TBRs: It's a sickness!
Really, it is.
I have a couple shelves of books I haven't read yet, and yet somehow I keep adding books to my wish list on Goodreads. I don't know when I'll read them all, but knowing there are a ton of great books on my list is apparently enough to make me feel giddy. I added about 20 books today alone. See for yourself.
I have a couple shelves of books I haven't read yet, and yet somehow I keep adding books to my wish list on Goodreads. I don't know when I'll read them all, but knowing there are a ton of great books on my list is apparently enough to make me feel giddy. I added about 20 books today alone. See for yourself.
- Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World's Top Bloggers by Michael A. Banks
- Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World by Don Tapscott
- Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Vicki Robin
- StrengthsFinder by Tom Rath
- Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone by Mitch Joel
- When Autumn Leaves by Amy Foster
- One Week in December by Holly Chamberlin
- Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley
- Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
- Tell Me Something True by Leila Cobo
- The Telling by Jo Baker
- After You by Julie Buxbaum
- I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin
- By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye
- Going Rouge by Sarah Palin**
- Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
- Al Capone: A Biography by Luciano Iorizzo
- Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk
- The Burning Bed by Faith McNulty
I almost got a headache just listing all of these! I haven't been great with reading every night lately, mostly because of my huge disappointment in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, which is taking me far too long to read for all the hype it got. More on that later...when I finish the book and the review.
*I cannot even BELIEVE I put this book on my list as I think she's an idiot, but I'm really curious because she wrote 400 pages in just a few short months and I am curious now.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
FTC Guidelines
Starting December 1st, bloggers will have to conspicuously disclose that they are receiving ARC copies of books from publishers and authors. Since I have only ever accepted 2 ARCs, I don't have much to worry about, but in the past I have disclosed that I received a book to review. And I've never felt that just because it was sent to me to review (and hopefully be read by other bloggers) means I have to give it an A+. I hardly ever do that anyway. It takes a lot to wow me, and I think to give a book an A+ if it clearly isn't does us all a disservice.
That said, any authors or publishers still wishing to send me ARCs to review may still do so. I promise to conspicuously disclose the info to my readers.
PS - anything else I could have said about this Wendy said first. She's much more eloquent than me, so go check her out.
That said, any authors or publishers still wishing to send me ARCs to review may still do so. I promise to conspicuously disclose the info to my readers.
PS - anything else I could have said about this Wendy said first. She's much more eloquent than me, so go check her out.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
101 books update
My best friend asked me a few weeks ago how many books I had left to read before I each 101. Since my challenge completion date is September 30, 2010, I now have less than a year left to complete it.
Drum roll please...........
I've read 73 books. I only have 28 to go, and a year to finish! I am definitely going to meet this goal, I'm sure of it. I get excited thinking I can maybe even add 20 or more books. (I typically read 45-50ish books in 1 year). How exciting, right?!
In other news, I'm currently reading Dan Brown's newest book, The Lost Symbol, and because I've been reading it for, oh about 2 weeks now, I already know that I won't like it as much as I liked The Da Vinci Code, a book I finished in 2 days. While in Key Largo. Yeah, what does that tell you?
Hope you're all enjoying whatever you're reading. I've been a bad bloggy friend lately, what with not blogging and not commenting. Better get my act together! :)
Drum roll please...........
I've read 73 books. I only have 28 to go, and a year to finish! I am definitely going to meet this goal, I'm sure of it. I get excited thinking I can maybe even add 20 or more books. (I typically read 45-50ish books in 1 year). How exciting, right?!
In other news, I'm currently reading Dan Brown's newest book, The Lost Symbol, and because I've been reading it for, oh about 2 weeks now, I already know that I won't like it as much as I liked The Da Vinci Code, a book I finished in 2 days. While in Key Largo. Yeah, what does that tell you?
Hope you're all enjoying whatever you're reading. I've been a bad bloggy friend lately, what with not blogging and not commenting. Better get my act together! :)
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