87 posts tagged “books”

NaNoWriMo update: 6,067 words so far.  I didn't write today as I only slept about 2 1/2 hours total last night and today, while sitting up on the couch.  Not so comfy I must say.  Didn't think I could wake up on time for shot delivery.  But was soooo tired this morning.  Guess I just passed out.  Woke up about 5 minutes before the knock at the door at 11:30 but had been awake this morning when Brian got up for work.  Then I tried to sleep and couldn't -- so I'm still up.  But finally exhausted.  Writing will have to wait until tomorrow.  I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll have some catching up to do and this version will be complete crap and a basic outline, basically.  I'll have to totally redo it as there's no way I'm getting good stuff at this pace but I like my character concept.  I just don't like what I'm writing for them.

Since I knew I couldn't focus enough to write even crap, I spent part of the day reading one of the two books I'm reading now.  Yes, two.  I'd started Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel before my other books got here.  I'm on page 150 of it.  But A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories) started calling to me once my new books arrived, since it's the Sookie short stories that I've missed as they've only appeared in anthologies before now -- I'm halfway done and only started today (It's only a few stories).

Now I think I'll sleep, a lot. But hey, I read a little and have shots for three more months. I just haven't slept in, erm, I can't remember now.   Can't see straight.  zzzzz

So, I watched V, a remake of this V show -- one of my favorites from childhood.  Initial thoughts =
~ I'm kind of surprised they didn't do a 2 hour premiere. 
~ It's definitely not a true to the original remake, which is either really good or bad.  Last I read, the creators of the original were still trying to get their own projects done continuing the original.  That could confuse the hell out of people who only end up knowing this version. 
~ It has potential.  I'm not a sci-fi show kinda girl.  For the most part the only sci-fi shows that I can think of that I've really liked are probably... hmm, um, yeah hmm just the original of this one.   There's been a few shows that I've liked that got called sci-fi, but weren't really.  Like Red Dwarf.  I think of it as more of a comedy.  Voyagers was even listed in sci-fi.  Okay they time travel, beyond that, uhh.. not really.  So, we'll see.  It was familiar enough that I watched going "un huh, I know what you sneaky Visitors are up to"  but at the same time, different characters and so slightly different plots from the original...  which leads to the big WTF?

I read some boards online and then I almost banged my head on something, except my head already hurts so I decided that was a bad idea.  Holy stupid friggin political teabagging lunatics Batman.  Now, I love ranting about politics, it's fun.  But ya know, when I'm watching a show about aliens who come in peace, but not really -- I don't assume it's about Obama and his socialist agenda.  Sometimes a tv show is just a tv show.  I mean I don't read my Superman comics and think wow this guy is JUST like those friggin corporate whores the Republicans always defend.  OMFG, Lex Luthor is totally a Republican.  So Superman is totally a Democrat and and... OMG so... Yeah it's friggin just good entertainment.  Just because they added the dumb line about socialized medicine because you dumbasses would understand that... Even in the original they offered us stuff...  OMFG now that I think of it the original -- people said that was about NAZIS!!!  Everyone says Obama is a NAZI!  The current V is supposed to be about Obama?  We've come full circle!  Or something.  And that something is that people are a bunch of crackpots. The show was just entertaining, I'll give it another shot.  So far it doesn't seem like they totally bastardized my childhood though I suspect it won't be nearly as cool as the original.

I have some of the books that I never did get around to reading, but had bought used when the dvds of the original series came out.  Maybe when I get through my current to read list I'll finally read those.

Books, books, books!
Sooo, Krissy gets a big public thank you today from me and probably a big &^%# from my mailman (well she and I combined get that).  Why, you ask?  I'll tell you.  Because her birthday presents to me arrived.  As did my Amazon pre-orders.  I swear I heard Mr.  Postman throw those boxes with a little more oomph than usual.  Apparently two boxes on day makes him grumpy. 

Sooo what did I get?  From Krissy - Anansi Boys,  Fire, and Graceling.

Fire and Graceling were very recent adds to my wishlist.  Flukes really.  See, I have this love / hate relationship with window shopping on Amazon based on its attempts to suggest things to me.  Just last week it told me that I'd surely love G.I. Joe because I own Harry Potter DVDs.  Erm.  G.I. Joe looked like it sucked major ass.  It's not at all wizard'y.  How are they connected?  They're both DVDs?  A guy once saw both?   So I try, now and then, to start following the whole this book is perfect for you lists -- because eventually I end up at one that is.  How else will I find books?  The best seller lists?  Yeah those usually have Glenn Beck.  By category it's not that much better.  Sure you see thee most popular ten or so books and then what?  That's often book #20 in a series.  Great.  Sooo when the notes with my books announced that she'd read Graceling and loved it?  w00t!  I love that girlie and know SHE has good taste, so apparently I did pick right.  Then again, some of the books they recommend to me -- well... not much better than recommending G.I. Joe to me thanks to HP.

And my pre-orders, I mentioned before I believe, but they were:  A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories) and Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4).  Both by Charlaine Harris, who mom's friend also loves.  She met her last night and got all of her books signed.

Eeek, Lister!
Soo, I wake up at about 9 (yup still on normal people hours).  I check on Lister.  He's still sulking but he's good.  So every 5-20 minutes I go upstairs to check on him.  It's fine.  Silly to check on his so much actually, he's getting annoyed, as he's just sleeping as cats do.  Normal really.  EXCEPT, nope... Go up, he's gotten the cone off of his head.  WTF?  I was JUST up there and it was firmly on his head.  It's a plastic cone.  How... dammit. so I have to take the piece out that holds it together, obviously.  Can't just slip his head back through the hole and hurt his stitched up ear.  He's not cooperating.  Gonna have to get Brian home from work.  Can't get this to work on my own. Finally got it rigged to hold up til Brian gets home tonight, I think.  So far so good, anyway.  Sooo, Lister starts pouting, the kitty version of I'm not talking to you.  At pain killer time.  Damn kitty.  I'm trying to HELP you.  His kitty drugs are slipping inside this kitty treat that tricks them into taking their meds.  Nope.  Even in the cone head he was snubbing me.  It was quite the task forcing him to eat the damn thing.  A "Treat".  Cats LOVE treats.  Argh.  A temper tantrum.  This is gonna be a fun three weeks.  I feel bad for the little guy but temper tantrums from a cat aren't fun.  

Ya know, I'm so out of the loop.  I knew people made fun of Twilight.  *I* make fun of Twilight and I kind of liked the books for the fast fun cheesy reads they were.  But, I had no idea they spawned full on spoofs.  I mean I knew there internet jokes.  Short spoofs.  That kind of thing.  What I didn't know what that there were full on novel spoofs.  Multiple novels spoofing it.

Novels like Nightlight: A Parody (Vintage) -- Edwart, a computer nerd in Oregon?  Okay that's probably not fiction.

TwiLite: A Parody -- Edweird, um actually this one sounds almost like Twilight just with more enemies and less self imposed drama.

It's probably better than reading  those books explaining why Harry Potter is ruining kids lives.  Stupid  freaks who think his magic is real and who believe they raised kids so dumb they're gonna run off and try to find the Hogwarts train tracks.  Never mind that he fought evil. 

Finished reading Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I.  Very cute.  A lot of the reviews I'd read for it made it sound as though you have to have been involved in the theater yourself to truly appreciate it, but it sounded so unique that I had to check it out anyway.  Good thing I did.  It'll surely go on to be a series as it was left in a cliffhanger.  I'll be buying the next book.

Now I am onto Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel.   It'll be the 2nd of the 6 that I ordered with no recommendations / previous experiences with the authors.  Eyes like Stars was a winner, let's see if I can go 2/2 now.  Then the next 4 are a series so with those I'll almost surely be 4/4 or 0/4.

Finished Stardust.  I think Gaiman may have to become my favorite author now that I've read a few of his books.

Then with good timing my latest shipment of books got here today.  So, I decided to go with Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I first as it seems like the best one to follow Stardust. 

Oh geez, watching the video of Rush  as he listens to them announce we lost the Olympics bid.  He's giddy like a school girl.  Giggling.  Smiling.  All but cheering Yay the USA lost and sucks.  I'm glad that I like my country, I wonder why he hasn't left yet with as much as he hates it.  Anyone this happy that they're country lost should have run away by now.  Wouldn't want to win something that brings jobs, tourism, etc to your country.  Nope, gotta cheer losing.  Then again, even for all of the America hating he does -- he can't really leave.  Who is gonna take him in?  I'm sorry that we lost, Chicago really needed that, the country did.  Even if the country haters we have here can't see that.  They're probably the reasons we lost it.  Who'd want to send athletes to a country where its own citizens cheer losing the Olympics?  Where its own citizens hate it.  Where its own citizens walk around with signs saying their president isn't a citizen, they'll be showing up armed next time (the ones who aren't that time), etc etc.  Where people yell and scream at the president -- and that's the elected proper officials who run things.  Gee, why'd we lose?    Not Obama, the IOC greeted him as if he were a rock star trying to get pics taken with him, etc.   

As you all know, one of my favorite sites (definitely my favorite shopping sites) is Amazon...

However, I'm questioning who my fellow shoppers are given their best selling list at the moment.

1. Going Rogue: An American Life  by Sarah Palin.   <- Okay if people want to read a book written by a ghost writer, just to see if she throws McCain under the bus (be honest that's what people are reading for -- otherwise she tweets and FB's plenty and her story is out there) good for them but I'll pass.  But to promote a #1 book most people have to do interviews and book tours, don't they? Hmm.

2.  Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government by Glenn Beck  <--  Who pays to read his ramblings when they can listen to him and watch him go nuts for free?

3.  The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown  <- eh okay, this one makes sense.  I've not read any of his books but I get that he's big.

4. How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times by James Wesley Rawles  <-- um...  Huh?  I can see people buying a book on survival.  Hell, I live in earthquake country.  But enough to make it the #4 best selling book?   Is this the OMFG we're afraid of them liberal tree hugging latte sipping Prius driving freaks so get your guns and lets prepare for the end of the world crowd?

5.  Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney  <-- no clue but it at least looks like a cutesy kiddie book, totally out of place with the other best sellers, heh.

6.  The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy by Bill Simmons <-- Eh whatever, I guess sports had to be here somewhere. 

7.  The Help by Kathryn Stockett <-- Never heard of it, just skimmed the description, appears to be fictional stories of African American women who were maids during the Civil Rights movement.

8. True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy <-- I'd read this one, but haven't and have no plans to order it thus far. 

9.  A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse) by Charlaine Harris <-- Okay this one I pre-ordered ages ago.

10.  Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies  by Michelle Malkin <-- Erm, old news, don't care I have cable news and the internet.  I'm sure I've heard all of these claims before *yawn*

And once again, it pisses me off when people who haven't read a book give it a review and starred rating as though they have.  Assholes.  I don't go by those alone, but I do skim that as a starting point.  I mean clearly if a book has hundreds or thousands of reviews and a 2 star average you might think it sucks big time.  Amazon really needs a button to report people for "Clearly spamming by admitting they've not read the book/watched the movie/used the product/etc and are reviewing and starring this product just to be an asshole".  They have message boards on Amazon.  Use those to spout your crap.  Sheesh.  I really dislike Sarah Palin -- I'm not gonna go give her book 1 star and a bad review just to be a bitch.  Why?  Because I'm not reading her book and that's what those starred reviews are for -- I can READ and UNDERSTAND what they're there for, you know for reviews.   I can see those product message boards too and understand that's where I can discuss the product without starring and reviewing. Idiots.  I'd seen it before on other really popular products (Twilight, Dark Knight, etc).  But oh man, on political books it's way worse -- on both sides.

Saturday:
Brian wanted to go B&N yesterday, duh like I'm gonna pass that up.  I was feeling really bad all weekend though so I almost didn't go.  Somehow I made it through.  Got Stardust, which I'm reading now.  The chick working there asked me if I'd seen the movie, I have not.  She said it was good, but didn't know how it compared to the book -- just that she likes his other books that she's read.  Hey, me too ;)

Sunday:
I had my mystery rash show up again this weekend, Brian saw it again.  Hadn't eaten or drank anything at all yet. Couldn't get a picture because my phone decided to be defective and not turn on and not reboot, etc.  We finally had to just take the battery off.  Stupid thing.  By the time I had a working phone and camera again the rash was gone.  Just red looked more like it was under my skin than on top of it.  Not really bumpy or anything.  And since I hadn't anything to eat or drink erm, no clue what could have caused it.  *shrug*  But it was up and down most of the bottom half of my arm from my wrist to my elbow on the underside of my arm though.  Weird.

Beyond that, too tired and sick to do much so just watched Desperate Housewives premiere and read.

WTF files:
This may read like spam, but it is actually a reply that I received from the CS department of a credit card company that I have an account with.  I had sent them an e-mail from their site asking them why they send me ads, coupons, etc but not bills since I moved in February.  Turns out there was some misunderstanding.  One piece of mail got returned for some reason, while others did not.  We've had that issue a few times here. I think somehow people screw up the apartment # or something.

Thank you for visiting the **** website. In reviewing your account I am showing that we received return mail. Since we through we did not have a valid address on file for you a return mail status was placed on the acct cause no statement to be sent out tou you. I apologize for the inconvenience the return mail hold code have been remove.

The only excuses I can come up with for such poor English in business communications -
1.  They outsource their customer service to another country
2.  Their employee was clearly drunk or hungover
3.  Text speak has caught up with us and now no one cares -- so that looks good.
4.  Lack of funding for public schools has caught up with us -- so that looks good.
5.  My own crappy English skills are even worse than I thought and that is actually brilliant 

So I thought I was out of books, but then I remembered  I have that book that Windy recommended somewhere.  So I start digging through my bookshelves and aha, yeah.  So now I'm on about page 100 or so of Dead Witch Walking .  Argh.  Second time I've picked it up.  It's my genre.  Characters seem okay.  And yet I'm bored to death, it's just a slow read for me.  That should probably be a good thing at this point I guess since I've been burning through books like mad.    It's boring though.   I'll finish it but doubt I'll read any more after this one (I think it's a series).  Likable characters means nothing if 100 pages in I'm feeling like it should just hurry up already.

But then I realized okay when this one is done I'm really out of books unless I want to re-read stuff and I'm not ready for that yet.  I have some stuff on my wish list to order but I decided to be adventurous and order stuff I've never heard of and that wasn't recommended to me by anyone.  A little Amazon window shopping if you will and after doing that well I'm not going to just pick from my established wish list anyway -- oh no, if I'm going to spend time exploring it's going to to be to find something new and unknown to me.  I figured I'd try to find a short series to order and then some solo books, stock up on at least a week or three worth of books.  So here's my haul --

- Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel
- Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I
- Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1),  Moonshine (Cal Leandros, Book 2),  Madhouse (Cal Leandros, Book 3), and Deathwish (Cal Leandros, Book 4).

I'm probably being stupid not buying books I planned to read but eh,  I was picky -- especially when choosing the series because the only time I've ever picked poorly in the past it was a series and I'd bought two of them at once.  So if they suck well, I tried.   But I'm going to bet they don't suck because I usually have good taste.  Except that once.  Oops.

I think I should just ask Brian for a Kindle for my birthday, my bookshelves would thank me.  Purses used to be my addiction but we so rarely go shopping where they sell purses and lately when we do they're all so ugly (plus the one I made is with pretty fabric even if it's not fancy).  So books is thee addiction now and my bookshelves are crying.

Still having probs finding energy but feeling a LITTLE better otherwise.  So while not feeling great sticking to entertainment, nothing much in the news anyway -- same old same old they wanna force me to buy insurance that will still cost more for me alone that it will cost the typical family of four and won't cover my MS stuff at that price, they'll just not deny me based on MS.  I'll just lose the med program I have in the process since I'll be insured. Nice reform.

Watched Heroes season premiere yesterday.  Eh, still not sure I love or hate that show.  It has its moments where it draws me in and then.... boring as can be.  I think I mostly just like Hiro and Sylar and the rest *yawn*

Finished reading American Gods.  Loved it though even if it was a bit hard to follow at times.

Am now 100 or so pages into Dark Visions: The Strange Power; The Possessed; The Passion which is just what I expect from an L.J. Smith book -- a quick urban fantasy read.