Saturday, May 31, 2008

Tagged for an author meme!

I was tagged by Marie of The Boston Bibliophile for this meme!



Author meme:
1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?



This is a hard question. I've been saying my favorite book has been The Great Gatsby for a number of years now, ever since I read it in 11th grade. But I haven't really read much else by him so I wouldn't consider him a favorite author. I don't know if I could consider anyone a favorite! There is no one I run right out to buy books by except JK Rowling, but I still wouldn't say she's a favorite author. Man you're got me stumped!


2. Who was your first favorite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?



I think Roald Dahl was my first favorite author. I remember just loving Matilda and the Witches in particular. I would definitely consider him still a favorite in fact I've been meaning to try and reread his books and read the ones I haven't. I also really loved Ann M. Martin's for The Babysitter's Club as well.


3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?



Probably Chris Ware (he's a comic book artist) I just read The Acme Novelty Library #18 and just loved it.


4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?



Adrian Tomine, Daniel Clowes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, JK Rowling, Malcom Gladwell, Anne Brashares, Audrey Niffenegger.



Rules: Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, answer the questions, tag six people in your post, let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.



Tagged:

The Page Flipper

Bending Bookshelf

Books and Movies

Amor Y Libros

The Book Muncher

Melissa Walker

A New Dawn Edited by Ellen Hopkins

I walked into Borders today and greeting me at the door was a big display featuring the special edition of Eclipse, the paperback version of New Moon and this new book A New Dawn (pictured left). It's a Borders Exclusive completely unauthorized collection of essays by different authors about the Twilight series. How cool is that! I still need to read Eclipse and then I'm onto this one for sure. I just recently picked up some collections in a similar spirit about Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls. Definitely a great way to keep the spirit alive after these shows have gone. Happy Reading :)

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Booking Through Thursday

To learn more visit Booking Through Thursday!

What is reading, anyway? Novels, comics, graphic novels, manga, e-books, audiobooks — which of these is reading these days? Are they all reading? Only some of them? What are your personal qualifications for something to be “reading” — why? If something isn’t reading, why not? Does it matter? Does it impact your desire to sample a source if you find out a premise you liked the sound of is in a format you don’t consider to be reading? Share your personal definition of reading, and how you came to have that stance.

Great question! I think reading is anything you set your eyes on that has words or is in book form. I read a lot of comics and graphic novels and i certainly consider them reading, even the one's without words! Just because you can read them a lot faster doesn't mean they aren't still reading! It's all about using your eyes!

I guess the only thing I wouldn't consider reading to be would be listening to audio books because that's listening, but there's nothing wrong with listening to a book! It's just a different way to take in information. When reading I need to pay full attention so that makes it hard for me to listen to books on cd. I know a lot of people use audio books while multitasking, I've tried it but I can't concentrate enough, I think the only time it worked was when I was on a plane but then it was an abridged book of short stories with some other stories from another book on it... so i gave up and figured I'd just read the book instead!

This question also brings up another question for me. I keep a list of the books I read, but there are some things I don't include on this list. I don't include magazines (you know the ones that are almost book like) zines or comics that are stapled. I only include what I determine to be a true book which I've determined to mean something that is bound professionally (that isn't a magazine). I don't include those things I've pointed out because they are things that aren't meant to be read cover to cover or take only a matter or minutes or seconds to read. That probably makes no sense to anyone but it works in my head haha! I want my list to reflect things that take a significant amount of time to read (usually). Please don't try to understand this, it's almost making no sense to me either!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Tuesday Thingers!

Bop over to The Boston Bibliophile to learn more!

How many books do you have cataloged in your LibraryThing account? How do you decide what to include- everything you have, everything you've read- and are there things you leave off?

I have 575 "books" listed in my librarything catalog. Everything in my catalog I physically own, I do include comics and zines which can sometimes only be a handful of pages. I'm slowing getting the covers for these into my catalog. The only things I have that I don't include are books from my childhood that I'm embarrassed that I still have and hope to get rid of!

I'd like to find a way to include all the library books and what not I've read in there somewhere but for now I like it being a collection of what I actually have at my fingertips. To try and counterbalance library books not being accounted for I've put the books I've read in the last few years on this blog in a few different posts. I've been keeping a list of everything I've read since about 6th grade!

As far as wish list books go, those stay on my amazon wish list.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Lookalikes 3




Wow! Twice in two days! Minus the flip and slight blur these appear to be the same photo. Has anyone else noticed any others?

UPDATE: the new first picture appears to be from the same shoot as well, note the girl's shirt and the boy's hair.


What kind of books do you like?

Maybe you seek out hardcovers, go the way of the trade paperbacks or maybe you like the smaller mass market paperbacks, or maybe you're all about the books on tape/cd?

What type of books do you like?

Or maybe like me, it depends on the kind of book or how much you really really want to buy it this very second? I'll love to hear what type of books YOU like!

My answer:
When it comes to novels I prefer trade paperbacks, they are much easier to hold when reading (especially when laying down), also the corners of hardcovers poke me in the hands! Paperbacks are just easier to handle in my opinion, they stay open without too much effort. I've been known to buy hardcovers if i can't wait for a book to come out in paperback (I've been doing that a lot lately)! I do like having the option of someday swapping out my hardcovers for paperbacks. Libraries often have their books in hardcover which is sometimes a bummer...

I very rarely buy mass market paperbacks. I like to keep my books in good condition and the moment you open a mass market paperback it seems the spine cracks, they are also very hard to keep open since they are so small and thick.

When it comes to design books I prefer hardcover. These books I don't really "read" more lay them open on the table when I'm working so they have to stand the test of time a little better than novels and hardcovers provide just that. I handle my design books a lot more often then novels. Usually they only come out in a hardcover or paperback edition though, so no choice there, so I take what I can get.

I often buy a lot of very cheap used books from the library etc. and in those cases I'm not AS picky, I still stay away from the mass market paperbacks though!

I've always wanted to use books on tape more but haven't really found the opportunity.

Comment back with the types of books you like!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Lookalikes 2



UPDATE: 7/7/09 Thanks for finding this one Khy!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen


Two sisters, a servant girl, a best friend, and a hot mess of a boy. Throw in two-ish love triangles and you've got The Luxe. I kept reading and reading about this book, just like I had done with Twilight and then decided I just better read the darn book. I'm sure glad I did. What a fun book. It's set in 1899 New York City and alternates the five main characters points of view. I think the alternating viewpoints really made this book for me. I just can't get enough of that. The book ends not unlike a movie with a sequel in the makings already. It basically ends with a taunting, "you won't know how this ends until you read the next book!" If you even half liked this book you'll want to know what happens next in the sequel Rumors, out the beginning of June. I know I'm ready to find out what happens next.

On a side note, I think I'd really enjoy a movie version of this book if only to see these outfits brought to life, is it just me or does anyone else sometimes have trouble visualizing an outfit that's being described in a book. I think it's half I'm not so interested in people's clothes as the story itself and half I'm not really sure what they are talking about. That becomes somewhat of a problem in some chick lit novels.... I really liked the clothes in Marie Antoinette the movie, I think I'm just the type of person that has to actually see the outfit being described to fully grasp it. Does that make any sense?

4/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Love Marriage

Love Marriage is the story of Yalini, an American born daughter of a Sri Lankan family. She and her family care for her dying uncle she had never met and through this she learns and keeps a record of the past generations of her family and the turmoil in Sri Lanka.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, little vignettes about her different relatives, usually related to if they got married/how/to who. I especially liked the story of Yalini's, father's mother, Tharshi. At first these little stories almost stand alone and then towards the end the whole story starts to come together as one.

At times it became hard to remember who was who and what we had learned about them so far. I also wish we got to learn more about Yalini herself, I felt I knew her family better than her.

All in all I was very pleased with this book, I found it easy to read because of the quick little vignettes, the broke the story up very nicely.

ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Program.
3.5/5 Stars

Monday, May 05, 2008

Twilight Trailer

Speak of the devil!

Twilight in HD


Via Maw Books Blog

Twilight


The hype roped me in. I always believe there is some magic behind hype so I finally went out and bought Twilight. I loved the Harry Potter books and their addicting nature, I heard the same about this series and it did not disappoint. It's a love story between a teen human girl, and a vampire, that appears to be a teen as well. The only aspect of this book I was hesitant about was the vampire element, but the end of the book I was actually wishing there had been more vampire elements. Maybe we will see that in the rest of the series? At points the romance got a little too over the top for my taste, maybe I would have eaten it up a little more if I was a young adult, the targeted reading group. None the less it was pretty enjoyable, especially the first half of the book when Edward and Bella were getting to know each other. I know one thing for sure, it's going to make one hot movie.

5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club


Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club follows the lives of four friends in Hollywood. Each chapter is told from an alternating viewpoint but their storylines always cross paths. At first I suspected it may be similar to all the other chick lit I had read and in a way it was, but at the same time it was much more fun that I remember other chick lit books being. Maybe because it was set around the movie business which is something I'm really interested in. I also felt the alternating viewpoints was a great strength of keeping the story interesting. I feel chick lit stories told from one perspective always turn into "poor me stories" where the main character is always feeling sorry for herself about something. I didn't feel that so much with this story. I also loved the bit of mystery to the story, it helped me keep reading because I wanted to know what happened. I also enjoyed the characters of Kiki and Boom Boom, some people not directly in the circle of the four main characters. I do feel it would have been best if I had read the first book first (didn't realize there was one until I started reading the book) it would have been nice to get the background on the main characters families and so forth, in the second book they are just mentioned in the background mostly. This was a fun book that I really enjoyed!

ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Program.
3.5/5 Stars

Gossip of Starlings



The back cover says it all. Prep school, drugs, friendship, tragedy. Already knowing that, there was nothing left for me to be engaged by.

Gossip of the Starlings is the story of two girls (Catherine and Skye) and their friendship while attending an all girls boarding school. Catherine is a new student leaving her old school for her "bad girl" ways and Skye is the daughter of a senator with a constant spotlight on her.

I thought I was in for a shocking tragic read, it was more sad and not totally unexpected based on the premise. I didn't find myself connecting with any of the characters or really caring what happened to them. I would have enjoyed more of the prep school atmosphere, with more teachers and students and their interactions. I felt the story was pretty simple and almost quiet in a way. It would have been nice to see Catherine and Skye framed by a few more characters.

Overall it was a ok read, I did enjoy the writing, it was beautiful, just would have liked more character development and characters.

Out June 10th. ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewers program.
2.5/5 Stars

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Top 106 Unread Books on Librarything

The rules:
Bold what you have read, italicize books you’ve started but couldn’t finish, and strike through books you hated. Add an asterisk* to those you’ve read more than once. ( )those on your tbr list. I'm considering my tbr list books I own that I haven't read. (I can't figure out how to underline!)

(Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell)
(Anna Karenina)
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
(Life of Pi: a novel)
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick And I have the certificate to prove it.
Ulysses
(Madame Bovary)
The Odyssey
(Pride and Prejudice)
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
(Mrs. Dalloway)
Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas shrugged
(Reading Lolita in Tehran)
(Memoirs of a Geisha)
Middlesex
Quicksilver
(Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West)
The Canterbury tales
The Historian
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
(The Poisonwood Bible)
1984
(Angels & Demons)
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
(One flew over the cuckoo’s nest)
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les misérables
(The Corrections)
(The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
(The God of Small Things)
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics - Had to return to the library, really enjoyed it
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
(White teeth)
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

This Year In Movies: April

Extras Extra Special Series Finale -more serious than the rest of the show
I Could Never Be Your Woman -fun but something was a little off
Fever Pitch -a typical chick flick
How I Met Your Mother Season 1 - i couldn't fully appreciate the show until i watched all the episodes
Things We Lost In the Fire -pretty good
How I Met Your Mother Season 2 -and now i love love love it
Dan In Real Life -rather enjoyable, felt bad for dan like i did for ben stiller in meet the parents
Lust, Caution -eh ok
Chalte Chalte -not my favorite bollywood, a little too serious
The Kite Runner -pretty good, sad
Lars and the Real Girl -really liked this one
Forgetting Sarah Marshall-theatre -hilarious
Michael Clayton - didn't really like
La Fine del Mar- Intl Film Festival -quiet and slow
Ca Brule- Intl Film Festival -pretty not good
Namastey London -fun, a more modern bollywood
Om Shanti Om - love this one
Salaam-e-Ishq -a rewatch, had to watch this again right away, love it
Hannah Takes the Stairs - typical of these people, it's better than some of the others
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - pretty dumb, in a bad way
Bee Movie -pretty good in an animated way
27 Dresses - not bad for a chick flick, still too predictable
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...