Book Club Friday + eBook Giveaway!

Joshua Johnson is the author of "Gunpowder Fantasy" The Cerberus Rebellion (released this past July in eReader formats) and the creator of the Griffins & Gunpowder universe. When he isn't working or spending time with his family, he writes novels, short stories and novellas.

He currently lives in Northern Illinois with his wife (that's me!) and young son.

Gunpowder Fantasy combines elements of Epic Fantasy (magic, elves, mythical creatures and vast scale) with rifles and railroads.

About The Cerberus Rebellion:

One hundred years of peace and prosperity. War changes everything.

On the world of Zaria, Elves, magic and mythical beasts coexist beside rifles and railroads. The futures of two nations hang in the balance as rebels and revolutionaries trade gunfire with loyalists and tyrants.

Eadric Garrard was raised to believe that as the rightful King of Ansgar, his loyal nobles and fearful subjects answered to his every whim, no matter the cost or consequence. His decision to send his troops thousands of miles away will test that fear, and loyalty.

Raedan Clyve was ordinary until an Elven ritual involving a griffin's heart turned him into something more. Twenty years later, he still struggles with the magics that rage through his body. His mentor holds him back from his full potential and he faces pressure to find a suitable wife and father an heir.

Hadrian Clyve has picked up where his father left off and works to expand his family's influence amongst the Ansgari nobility. His aggressive negotiation of alliances and shrewd choice of marriage agreements has earned him respect, and resentment. When his King calls his troops to arms, Hadrian has other things in mind.

After a century of scheming and decades of preparation, Magnus Jarmann is ready to bring his family's plans to fruition by launching a war of independence that will free his people and return his country to its rightful place among the nations of Zaria. The King's call to arms creates an opportunity that Magnus cannot afford to miss.

In a war, little is held back; in a revolution, nothing is safe.

Readers who like Game of Thrones, World of Warcraft, The Lord of the Rings  should definitely check out The Cerberus Rebellion and the rest of the Griffins and Gunpowder Universe!

In addition to The Cerberus Rebellion, Joshua has written several Griffins and Gunpowder Universe short stories (all currently available for purchase on Amazon Kindle ) and has agreed to let me giveaway 1 .mobi, .pdf or .epub copy of the short story of your choosing! Please enter using the Rafflecopter below!a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Club Friday: Dear American Airlines

This past week I finished "Dear American Airlines" by Jonathan Miles.

Summary from GoodReads:

Sometimes the planes don’t fly on time.

Bennie Ford, a fifty-three-year-old failed poet turned translator, is traveling to his estranged daughter’s wedding when his flight is canceled. Stuck with thousands of fuming passengers in the purgatory of O’Hare airport, he watches the clock tick and realizes that he will miss the ceremony. Frustrated, irate, and helpless, Bennie does the only thing he can: he starts to write a letter. But what begins as a hilariously excoriating demand for a refund soon becomes a lament for a life gone awry, for years misspent, talent wasted, and happiness lost. A man both sinned against and sinning, Bennie writes in a voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit, heart-on-sleeve emotion, and wide-ranging erudition, underlined by a consistent groundnote of regret for the actions of a lifetime—and made all the more urgent by the fading hope that if he can just make it to the wedding, he might have a chance to do something right.

Having flown out of O'Hare plenty of times, not to mention growing up my dad was flying off on business trips nearly every week, I get the frustration in this book. Getting delayed at an airport sucks. Fortunately for me, I've never been stuck at an airport for more than an hour or so (at least, from what I can recall). And given that I've seen on Twitter various people from Mrs Monologues to washed-up 80s singer Richard Marx (his tweets are pretty hilarious!) complaining about the quality of service American Airlines offers their passengers these days... I'm not surprised that American Airlines is the choice airline villain in the book!

I first heard of this book years ago when it popped up on a Coming Soon or Bestseller email blurb from either Borders (RIP) or Barnes and Noble. I was intrigued by the plot - it seemed like an interesting idea for a book, so when I came across it in a bargain bin during one of Border's infamous summer tent sales I grabbed it.

There are no chapters in this book, as we're reading one very long 192 page angry letter to the airline. It's broken up into small parts (the longest stretch I noticed was about 10 pages) as Bennie leaves the bar or a seat at the gate or wherever to get a smoke or stretch his legs, coming back only to detail an interaction with another stranded traveler as he continues to give his life story, which is detrimental to why it is so important for him to make it to his daughter's wedding.

Basically, he was a drunk and his daughter's mother took her and picked up and left him when his daughter was still a baby, telling him he could see her when he finally sobered up. It took a good 20 years or so and he was essentially an absent father with little to no relationship with his daughter. And was caught off guard when she invited him to her wedding, but he really felt like he should be there to make it up to to her for all their years apart. But now, of course when he really makes an effort to be there, it's the airline holding him back from keeping his word this time.

It was an alright book, short and an easy read. Bennie's past is a bit depressing though, as yeah, he royally screwed things up when it came to being a responsible father. And his childhood sounds like it wasn't much better as his mother was a tad on the crazy side. It does keep you wondering though, as we wait to see if he made it to the wedding on time if at all!

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck

Hello little person. How are you today? 

Is your mood quite terrific or only just okay? 

Are you happy like a hippo or angry like a duck? 

Maybe sad as a chicken? 

Can you sadly say 'cluck cluck'? 

Are you grumpy as a moose? Or excited as a dog? 

Worried as a rabbit? Contented as a frog? 

Perhaps like a pig, you are sweetly amused. 

Or perhaps like a cow you're completely confused. 

You might feel that somehow you've lost all your fizz 

or you're frazzled like a, um, frazzled thing 

(I'm not sure what that is). 

Well I hope you are happy but if you are not 

you have friends who will help you, we like you a lot. 

And a difficult mood is not here to stay - 

everyone's moods will change day to day. 

Unless you're that duck - he's always this way.

Who knew children's board books could be so insightful?

Book Club Friday: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

This week I finished the last book in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

I read the 1st 2 books last year and waited til this one came out in paperback to finish/complete my set.

I must say, out of all 3 books, this was my favorite!

The 1st 2 started out slow - it was painful to read them as nothing really important happened in the 1st 200 pages or so of each book. But then something major happened in each book that was like "whoa!" and they became page turners.

This installment on the other hand... it picks up exactly where the second book left off, basically being a continuation of the story that already started so there was no slow beginning, although some parts did seem to drag at times (ie: parts about history of an organization or a character's background, which sure, it was necessary, but sooooo lengthy at times!).

Sure, Lisbeth is in the hospital for the first 600 pages, but there's plenty that's going down outside her hospital room! And the trial... had me flipping pages, it was quite exciting, especially to see how Lisbeth and her lawyer (Blomkvist's sister) dealt with the evil Dr. Teleborian!

If you've already read the 1st 2 part of this trilogy (or at least book 2), definitely don't skip out on this final installment!

And be sure to check out the Swedish movies of the trilogy too - they condense the Blomkvist/Berger storylines and cut a bit of Lisbeth's adventures away from Sweden (which ya can't really blame them considering they're big books and the movies are 2-2.5 hours long). I haven't seen the English remake, but I enjoyed the Swedish ones (I do think Daniel Craig is a more attractive Blomkvist though). They're subtitled in English and have been on Netflix's Instant Watch for quite some time now too.

Oh and in case you missed it - hubby is now a published author!

His novel will be for sale on Amazon in July, however, to give you a taste of his Griffins and Gunpowder universe he has released 3 short stories! So if you have a Kindle, or the free Kindle smartphone app or the client for your computer be sure to check them out and leave a review - we'd really appreciate it!

Book Club Friday: Deadlocked review

Linking-up once again for Book Club Friday!

A week ago I finished "Deadlocked" by Charlaine Harris - book 12 in the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries series (aka the books that the HBO show True Blood is loosely based on).

I started this one with mixed emotions - it's supposedly the 2nd to the last book in the series, however the series isn't "as great" as it once was, meaning, some of the last few books have mainly just dragged on or felt like filler. You can definitely tell things are winding though with this series for good as she's literally shut some doors on one major storyline and another seems to be coming to a final end as well.

I did enjoy this one pretty well - it had the mystery/whodunit aspect of the books back in it, like many of the earlier books in the series and the surprise of "whodunit" was definitely not who I had expected! In this book, events are put into motion to make Sookie late to a party her vampire significant other Eric Northman is hosting at his gated community home. When she arrives, Eric is "drinking" from a half-were deadbeat woman who's enhanced her "taste" with fairy blood, making herself intoxicating to Eric (as fairy blood to vampires is like catnip to a cat. Sookie arrives before Eric has a chance to drain the young woman, sending her on her way, only for the police to find her dead on Eric's front lawn minutes later. No one knows why she was there, who sent her, or how she even got in the gated community and into Eric's home whom he had guards set up to keep unwanted guests out! What should be a simple murder investigation ends up going much deeper than Sookie or anyone else ever expected!

As far as Sookie's love-life goes, well, things seem to (sadly) be coming to an end with her and Eric. If you recall from the previous book, the Queen of Oklahoma - Freyda - was introduced and had proof that Eric's newly deceased maker prior to his final death had put into a motion a contract that binded Eric to marry Freyda as a power move. Eric loves Sookie, but he also loves power. As much as Sookie wants Eric to choose her over Freyda and say to hell with his maker's contract on his own accord... well, Charlaine Harris has kinda turned Eric into a cold asshole by this point - he's no longer the once likeable guy that Team Eric rooted for. The over-extended stay of the King of Nevada has really changed Eric quite a bit, and understandably so, as he's under a lot of pressure from the guy and his lackeys in recent books, but still.... Eric's not the same guy we once knew. And because of that, I'm okay with Sookie and him not ending up together in the end.

Quinn - Sookie's former were-tiger lover - made a brief  appearance, calling her up out of the blue to wish her a happy birthday. They had a sweet conversation and it definitely opened the door for the possibility that he might be back in the next book, maybe as a potential suitor once again...? I liked Quinn best, out of all of Sookie's boyfriends in the series - he seemed like a good guy with a good head on his shoulders, and was completely baffled at Sookie's reasoning for breaking up with him (some situation with his mom and sister back West) - sorry Sook, but family comes first! I'd love to see them have a 2nd chance though! But there is another that the end of the book kinda sets up, so it makes you wonder...

There was also no Hunter in this book (Sookie's deceased cousin's little boy in which it turns out, he's also telepathic), so I'm hoping something good happens between him and Sookie in the last book - I think it would be great if his dad decided it would be best for him to go live with his "Aunt Sookie", as the boy is still learning how to blend in amongst others while being telepathic, innocently scaring any potential mother his dad brings home. And given Tara's babies, Sookie seems like she's finally at that point where she realizes that she wants to be a mother someday.

Something I loved though, was the way Charlaine Harris worked in TV Bill's signature "Sook-eh!" saying into the book. Every time he said it, I heard it exactly like actor Stephen Moyer says it on the show!

Anyways, that's my take on the book with very little spoilers. It was a definite improvement over the forgettable book 11, "Dead Reckoning" (I honestly have a hard time remembering what of importance went down in that one!).

Season 5 of the show, True Blood, starts later this month - honestly, I have no expectations whatsoever. We already know that saying it's loosely based on the books anymore is a joke - there's soooo many plot differences and character changes... they added in a vampire sister for Eric, a main former Law & Order guy is a bad vamp, Rev. Newlin is back and now a vampire, since Claudine was eaten by Eric it seems they're switching her role with Claudette, which doesn't really make any sense... Claudette died early in the series before Sookie knew of Claudine and Claude, so why not just say Eric ate Claudette and keep the Claudine storyline the same??? Haven't seen if Claude will be introduced this season as well (I can't wait to see his character!) and I'm curious if they'll introduce Quinn near the end of the season like he is at the end of book 5...

By the way, when reading the books, did anyone else picture Quinn as a big, strong, bald black man? I've been reading online about who should be him on the show, and apparently she based him on a Vin Diesel-type of guy, but I swear her description of him made him sound like a black man. If he's not that's gonna be annoying to watch, as I thought he was black!

Anywho, I'm currently finishing out the Millennium Trilogy, working on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I'll be sure to link-up for that one once I finish it soon!

Oh and because I can, here's a preview of the finalized cover for my hubby's novel:

 

It's a "Gunpowder Fantasy" novel and he's hoping to have it available for Kindle in July and in other forms soon after. I did the typography on the cover while he contracted someone online for the cover art/drawing.

Book Club Friday: "One Day"

I decided I would link up with Heather and her new partner-in-crime Katie for Book Club Friday this week since I actually finished a book, haven't written/posted my summary of it yet, AND I watched the movie adaption of the book =)

Anyways, I know I'm like a year behind on this one, but this week I finished "One Day" by David Nicholls.

From Goodreads:
"It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself."

 It's a pretty interesting concept/format for a book - follow the lives of 2 people for roughly 20 years, but only on 1 certain day each year. It was a fun story, watching them both grow up from college graduates through adulthood and middle age. 

Almost wish I had thought of it, following the soon to be 15 year friendship/relationship of hubby and I going all the way back to the 1st time we met in December 1997. However our story isn't done yet ;-)

Because of hubby and I having such a long history though (as he noticed this week, this year we'll have known each other for more than half our lifetimes!), I could definitely relate to the ups and downs of Emma and Dexter's friendship/relationship! 

I will say though, about the book, while a lot of it was predictable, the twist out of nowhere literally had me going "What the hell just happened there?!" "Did I read that right?" and had me flipping through the upcoming chapters just to confirm it, as I just couldn't believe that happened! Totally didn't see THAT coming! 

As far as the movie... I missed the character development that the book had - some of the years just kinda breezed by in a matter of seconds like they included them just for the sake of having them when in the book you know more happened. Also, I liked how with the book they summarized some of the things that happened since we last checked in with Dex and Emma whereas with the movie, some years they touched on it, others they didn't. I missed the whole affair Emma had going on with her boss at one point as well as the whole first meeting she ever had with a publisher (that scene was pretty funny!). I also looked forward to them getting lost in the maze together at Tilly's wedding, only for that scene to get shortened and changed... I wish there was a tad more Suki Meadows on screen too (and for some reason I pictured her as a hyper little Japanese girl with all the crazy Japanese clothing but London-ized, lol...). And I don't quite understand why they added on years at the end there, stretching things out for longer than they actually went on...  

I get they had to change things and cut things for time and to get certain points across but yeah, the movie was alright, I liked the book better though.

Have you read One Day or seen the movie? 

What were your thoughts?

Happy Sookie Stackhouse Day!

It's here!!!

Keeping with tradition of the past few years, the 1st Tuesday in May marks the release of the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel (aka, the True Blood series for those of you more familiar with the show loosely based on the books).

Sooo excited! Hopefully I'll have my copy of "Deadlocked" - book 12 in the series - later today or at the very least sometime this week!

What's sad though is that it means next year we get the conclusion to the series, as author Charlaine Harris has said repeatedly that there will only be 13 books in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I'm hoping book 12 doesn't disappoint as book 11 was mostly segue/filler.

I got hooked on the series a few years ago, as True Blood (the show) was nearing the end of its 2nd season and everyone seemed to be talking about it. I was curious and watched the 1st season, reading the 1st book along with it. The 1st season of the show was pretty close to the book when it came to the main plotline and all the sub-storylines meshed into the main one pretty well too (the books are all told in 1st person from Sookie's point of view). I read the 2nd book right away and then watched the 2nd season once hubby got caught up on the show. The show exaggerated the secondary plotline, but the main plotline worked alright, despite some changes made. The 3rd season wasn't going to air for at least 9 months so I had plenty of time to get caught up on the books (only 9 were out at the time, plus the compilation of short stories). I breezed through most of them that fall and winter (book 5 was the only one that took me longer than a few days as I was having trouble getting into it) and really enjoyed them - picking one as my favorite is quite difficult as lot of the ones in the middle are just sooooo good and entertaining!

There's twists you didn't see coming, lots of action and mystery as well as some romance (but not nearly as frequent or graphic as what you see weekly on HBO - 1 episode of the show usually has more sex than you read in one book). There's also humor thrown in as well. And let me stress that it is a supernatural series and more than just a vampire series - yes, vampires are frequent in the Sookie Stackhouse universe, but there's also werewolves and shifters, faeries, and lot of other supernatural creatures that show up throughout the series. It's more adult than, say... Twilight (not to mention better written) and Sookie is a much better female role model than Bella for sure! She's strong, independent, thinks for herself and while Anna Paquin plays her a bit whiny/needy on the show, book Sookie is one of my favorite female characters in literature (although I think her reasoning for breaking up with Quinn in the series was dumb... hopefully we're introduced to him at the end of the upcoming season of the show - I liked Sookie and Quinn together!).

Even if you tried to watched the show and didn't like it, give the books a chance - they're easy reads and a lot of fun, with just the right amount of adult romance (your significant other will be thrilled, lol...).

Random Ramblings

I finally finished "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making" by Catherynne M. Valente. I originally won the book last summer in a giveaway on @amy_geek's blog and while I did enjoy it, it just took me awhile to get around to finishing it as I had a bunch of other books I wanted to get through and kinda worked on it in between them. Since the new Sookie Stackhouse book doesn't come out til May 1st, after finishing the Hunger Games Trilogy I decided to finish young Miss September's adventure in Fairyland! And it was a really cute book! It has a bit of an Oz feel to it, as September is a young girl who is one day whisked off to the magical Fairyland! Upon there, she loses her shadow, meets a witch and accepts a quest to get back the witch's magic spoon from the mean Marquess who currently rules Fairyland. She also makes friends with a friendly Wyvern and a blue Marid named Saturday. Her Key follows her, but is always a few steps behind and her green smoking jacket keeps her company as well. This book is full of adventure and a pretty easy read (just under 250 pages) and most of all - it's fun and whimsical! It also pays homage to both Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia. If you like fantasy novels, this is a great little gem to pick up! And I'm so excited that a sequel is in the works too!

So, as I wait for the next Sookie Stackhouse book to come out, I am currently reading the rough draft/1st edit of hubby's novel he's currently working on as he put the 1st 9 chapters on my Kindle app - he's hoping to have it up for sale on Kindle later this summer and you bet your bottom dollar I will be plugging it! He calls it a "gunpowder fantasy" as it is a medieval fantasy but there's gunpowder involved instead of just swordplay (or so I gather). Feel free to check out his blog/site for more details!

We recently rented "In Time" from Redbox. It stars Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde and the guy that plays douchey Pete on Mad Men. Hubby wanted to see this one in theaters, but since having Jay... seeing movies in the theater anymore has become a rarity (which is kinda hard to believe as there was once a time when we would go multiple times a week! LOL). The premise is interesting - in a futuristic world, time is the currency, kept track of by a digital clock on your arm that starts counting down the day you turn 25 and you get 1 year. How you spend that year is entirely up to you - you can earn more time by working, having generous friends and family members, and by winning at gambling, or you can waste away your time on drinking and other vices. Once your clock stops though, you die by what looks like an instant fatal heart attack. Oh and you stop aging once you turn 25 too, so there's no telling who is really 26 and who is 50 or even 100! In the ghetto people are used to living day by day while the rich have acquired years and years of time. JT's and Amanda's characters become like a Bonnie and Clyde futuristic Robin Hoods as they set out to tip the economic scales, giving the poor a chance by taking years from the rich. It was pretty good! Was a little weird seeing Amanda Seyfried with a shorter, red bob though - used to her having long blonde hair!

My BFF from college called off her wedding this past weekend (it was supposed to be in August). It's sad, but she said it was mutual as after talking, they both agreed that neither of them were really feeling it much anymore. I guess it's for the best though and I totally understand.

Jay just gets smarter and smarter... he knows how to work plugs! He unplugged the computer cords and promptly looked to see if it turned the TV off. When it didn't, he eventually went over to the outlet strip that the TV is hooked up to and started turning the big orange button off and on. Off and on... now he knows he's not supposed to be playing with the cords - when he unplugged the computer ones, he tried hiding in the corner when hubby went over to pull him out, lol... he also knows how to work the garage door button, wanting to press it whenever we come and go via the garage so we let him. And the other day he was trying to stack empty boxes from our groceries to climb! He also came up with a new "game" while we were shopping last week, where he grabs either my thumbs or my pinkies or pointer fingers and "makes" me clap my hands, lol... it's pretty funny and he's been doing it quite often when we're together, cracking up hysterically because he thinks he's controlling me, lol...

Jay is also the screaming kid in the nursery at church now - 2 weeks running! I don't know why he does it - he's been there before... we pulled into the parking lot though and he started whining a little (he's getting good about recognizing places we go to). Then I took him into the early toddler room and instead of handing him off to one of the childcare workers I walked him in and tried to get him occupied with some toys. He wasn't having it. He cried as soon as we got through the gate and got even more worked up whenever I put him down. Eventually one of the workers came over and tried to help and took over so I could go meet up with hubby in the lobby. We went to pick him up after and he was sobbing, although they said one of the other workers got him to calm down for a little bit. Poor guy - I don't know what to do... he knows I always come get him. Separation anxiety sucks and he's been extra clingy and snuggly to me this week too (he learned he can latch onto mommy's leg). He's also been getting upset when hubby leaves for work - both in the morning and at night.

I drank 2 cups of coffee today - the Van Houtte French Vanilla light roast. I learned that if I put enough of Coffeemate's French Vanilla Caramel creamer in it and enough sugar it hides the icky coffee taste I hate! I was still super tired though and ended up taking a half hour nap - wtf?? I thought coffee was supposed to keep you awake... O.o

Hubby got quite drunk Sunday night, if you couldn't tell by my tweets or Facebook posts. He had (what we thought was) a little bit of Tennessee Whiskey left and he brought home some other type of alcohol the other night. He keeps piling his bottles of alcohol up on the kitchen counter though, despite us having a bar downstairs, and I told him he needed to finish the whiskey up soon as it was taking up too much space. I figured he'd make several mixed drinks out of it over the course of the next few days... I didn't expect him to chug it! By the time Game of Thrones was over Sunday night he was acting a bit... goofy. And kept drinking. It was amusing but annoying at the same time... and omg he has no filter when he's been drinking that much as I learned some TMI stuff about family members I would rather erase from my mind! We did have a nice conversation and some snuggle time as he started to come down from his goofiness.

I finally made an appointment to get the massive moles on my back checked-out and possibly removed. The other night, my bra was just rubbing against one of them soooo bad it still hurt for a good bit after taking it off! I should have had them looked at and removed awhile back, but I never got around to making the call. And sadly, the soonest they can get me in, since I'm a new patient, is July 5th! Nearly 3 months away! Ugh... I was hoping to get them off much sooner than that... I have 2 really big ones on my back that I've had forever and all my doctors know about them and have taken note of them, keeping an eye on them at my check-ups, however I never really noticed just how big and ugly they were until last fall when I noticed them in the mirror. Seriously, I'm not just wanting those 2 removed for cosmetic reasons - they're dangerous, being all big and one is raised too. I also have one on the right side of my head, along my hairline by my ear... okay that one is more cosmetic, as I hate it and always bump or notice it when I'm doing something with my hair or putting my glasses on - I 1st noticed it in Jr. High and for awhile thought it was a zit so I would try popping it before I came to the conclusion it was indeed a mole. Hopefully these 3 are easily able to be removed (the one in my hairline might not be though, as I would prefer not to have my hair cut or shaved in that spot to remove it) and none of them are cancerous!

Speaking of mini surgeries... my father-in-law is having surgery on the 26th to have his dialysis tube moved from his neck to his arm - apparently only 50% of those that have it in their neck survive more than a year so when the opportunity to have it moved to a "safer" spot was made available he decided to go for it! Everything should go fine, but keep him in your thoughts and prayers regardless that day!

And I think that's pretty much all the random catch-up ness for now!

Book Review: The Hunger Games trilogy

Due to the movie coming out, well, this week, I decided to go ahead and read the whole Hunger Games trilogy this past month.

Starting with the 1st book, I enjoyed it - it had me flipping the pages, staying up waaaay later than I should have most nights just to get to an acceptable stopping point. I did think it was very similar to Battle Royale though... similar premise, etc. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

By the way, I was Team Gale the whole time.

Catching Fire, book 2... I liked it. Definitely didn't see the twist regarding the Quarter Quell coming at all! And WOW! What a twist that was!

Mockingjay... book 3... I think I'm with the majority when I say it was a bit of a letdown and a disappointment. Most of the book, instead of being shown the action we're either left with the main character on the sidelines or the main character goes unconscious as it starts to get good and we're left with a summarization of what happens - can you say cop out? Don't tell your reader what happens - show them! So annoying... then it's like the author starts offing characters left and right - some we've formed an attached to, however their deaths are so quick and rushed that we don't even have time for them to fully sink in which sucks cuz it feels like those characters deserved more. And then at the end, it's like the author forgot to inform us of what happened to some main characters that she went back after the fact and added in a line - yes, 1 - for a character that was pretty huge in the series. What is that?! I'm trying to keep spoilers out here, however, at one point it really did seem like she was going to end up with Haymitch there at the end, which would have been completely unexpected and a huge (not to mention awesome!) twist, but the author didn't decide to go that route (which I almost would have preferred).

So in short, I liked the 1st 2 books but was a bit disappointed with the 3rd as it had all this epic build up and then we were letdown.

I do plan on seeing the movies though, although I find it a bit hard to believe that the author claims she never heard of Battle Royale until she handed Hunger Games into her publisher... the premise of the books/movies are eerily similar, however The Hunger Games aren't quite as gory.

Have you read The Hunger Games trilogy? 

What did you think of them?

Free refund, say what?

Last year I started reading The Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson. You know, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series.

Anyways, I read the 1st 2 and watched their Swedish film adaptions on Netflix, but have been waiting for book 3 - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - to come out on paperback as well, since I have the 1st 2 in paperbook and when it comes to my books, unless it's a long awaited continuation in a series and I have to have it the day it's released (ie: the last Harry Potter book or every Sookie Stackhouse book since #8 or the last 2 Hunger Games books) I prefer to keep them in the same format and size so they look nice on the bookshelves.

Last summer the kind clerk at Borders (before they announced they were going out of business) looked it up for me and said that it appeared to be coming out in March 2012. It was a long ways off, but I figured I could wait to read the conclusion to Lizabeth Salander since I had a few other long books to read in the meantime (*cough*gameofthrones*cough*). So last month I noticed on Amazon they had the paperbook I had been waiting for available for pre-order. Wanting to take advantage of their pre-order guarantee (if the price drops after you ordered it they'll give you the lowest price) I went ahead and ordered it.

And it arrived last Friday.

And I was disappointed.

Here's why:

Um, yeah... that's thinner, taller and overall larger than the previous 2... not nice!

Before starting the return process with Amazon, I decided to see if Walmart or somewhere in town had the actual version I wanted since according to online, it exists! When we made our weekly trip to stock up on groceries we're low on and whatever other random things we needed I picked up what I *thought* was the same size as the other 2 (hey, the other 2 in paperback were sitting right next to it on the shelf in the store!)

Only to get home and see...

It's still taller, but not *as* bad as the other one. I guess I can live with it. I checked Target while I was there the other day and apparently they changed the size of the paperbacks - as the other ones in Target were just as big as this 3rd one I picked up. Kinda strange... oh well.

So anyways, I go to start the return process on Amazon for the other one, I select that the item wasn't as described and left a comment that I thought I was ordering the same size as the other 2 but apparently not as I didn't realize multiple paperback sizes were being released on the same day.

I click "submit" and this screen pops up with a pop-up in the center saying the exact same thing!

How awesome is that?! No need to return - just keep it, on us! So that's cool and all - hubby says it's probably because I've been ordering a lot off Amazon the past few months - but, um... what am I going to do with a 2nd copy of this book, in a format size that I don't want?

I know my aunt's been waiting for me to get it so she can borrow it after me and finish the series also (she borrowed the 1st 2 books from friends)... maybe I'll just give it to her...? Guess I'll see!

Book Review: A Game of Thrones

So... I did it.

I *finally* finished book 1 in the Song of Ice and Fire books: A Game of Thrones.

I started late last summer/early fall but just haven't had the time to work through all 800+ pages of it. Fortunately the chapters averaged about 10 pages, so it was easy to read a chapter or 2 and put it down if I needed. But my goal was to finish the book before season 2 of the show starts on April 1, however I also wanted to at least read book 1 in the Hunger Games trilogy before the movie comes out in March and I didn't want to start Hunger Games while still reading Game of Thrones cuz I hate reading multiple books at once. So that meant I had to finish Game of Thrones first.

I think I read about 200 pages the other day just to finish it, but it did start getting good as it got to the end, much like the last few episodes of the show had you on the edge of your seat as so much was happening!

Anyways, it was long and took a bit to get into it (although having watched the show, I already knew what to expect).

The show did keep pretty close to the book though - I only noticed a few slight changes and minor things that were omitted in the show, however HBO did add in a lot of gratuitous sex scenes (specifically, there's a long, graphic lesbian sex scene in the show that happens while Littlefinger is monologuing that doesn't happen in the book!). I really didn't like how cold Catelyn Stark is to Jon in the book though - on the show she didn't seem to be nearly as harsh or hateful to him as she is in the book, it made me sad for Jon! I'm kind of torn between the Starks (especially Arya and Jon Snow) and Daenerys Targaryen - I like them both! One thing I didn't make the connection of on the show was that the Lord Commander of the Night Watch at the Wall is the father of Daenerys' exiled knight guide Ser Jorah Mormont! It clicked when Jon mentions Jorah to the Lord Commander near the end of the book - doh!

After having read the book, I kinda wanna go back and re-watch season 1 of the show now, just to see what other minor things I may have missed!

I'm looking forward to finding out what becomes of Arya (if/how she escapes the city and if she ever gets reunited with her family), what they end up doing with Jaime Lannister, I already know a little bit of who claims the throne next (hubby told me that for some reason I forget) but am curious as to how and what becomes of Joffery... and Sansa, if she ever quits being stupid.

But 1st... I need to read at least The Hunger Games, and most likely Catching Fire and Mockingjay (which I already ordered off Amazon for a decent price!).

If you like fantasy books and don't mind a medieval-like settings with kings and queens, lords and ladies, dwarves, giants, zombies and the like with some sex and violence thrown in, be sure to check out this book! It's got the quite the twists and turns in it!

What have you read lately?

2011 in Entertainment

In 2011...

I read:

• World War Z (well, technically I finished it, having started it near the end of 2010)
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse book #11)
• The Girl Who Played With Fire
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland Into a Ship of Her Own Making (started)
• A Game of Thrones (started)
• A handful of parenting books

I watched (TV):

• A Game of Thrones (season 1)
• Franklin and Bash (season 1)
• True Blood (season 4)
• Entourage (season 8)
• Glee (seasons 2 & 3)
• New Girl
• Up All Night
• Community
• The Office
• The Walking Dead (season 2)
• Once Upon a Time
• Conan

I watched (movies):

• The Green Hornet
• The Mechanic
• I Am Number 4
• Paul
• Fast Five
• Thor
• Bridesmaids
• Bad Teacher
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Winnie the Pooh
• Cowboys and Aliens
• Conan the Barbarian in 3D

Listened to:

• Volbeat
• Shinedown
• Britney Spears
• Lady Gaga
• Adele
• Katy Perry
• LMFAO
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Bush
• Skrillex
• The Pretty Reckless
• Tinie Tempah
• Theory of a Deadman
• The Lonely Island
• Evanescense

Life as of late

I realize I haven't actually posted much on this blog in awhile - as it is, I barely update my baby/family blog much either. Not sure why, as Jay falls asleep before midnight, giving me a few hours to myself... guess I just haven't had the motivation!

For those still following (and I noticed I somehow gained a few this month!), here's a brief update on life and what I've been feeling!

Baby Jaydran (Jay) is doing pretty well! He'll be 6 months already next Thursday and has been hitting all his development milestones, some of them even early! He just cut his 1st tooth last week, after several months of teething/gum pain and I think he's got at least 1 more that's pretty close to coming through! He eats baby foods now, getting a big bowl of apple rice cereal in the morning and a jar of fruits or veggies for dinner. He doesn't crawl yet but he can roll from back to tummy and tummy to back with no problems and will roll around all over the place if you let him (which BTW is NOT fun when you're trying to change his clothes or diaper! lol...). Lately he's been working on sitting up by himself and he's starting to get the hang of it. He also enjoys playing in his new baby walker and jumping/swinging around in his Johnny Jump Up.

Not sure if I mentioned it on here but we're seeing a pediatric urology specialist at the children's hospital in Madison for his enlarged kidney issue - turns out, the ureter tube, where it connects to the bladder there, is deformed and basically pinched shut which is why nothing is getting through and why the kidney is enlarged. The specialist said it's basically one of those things that just happens when the organ is formed in the womb and that we'll most likely have to have a minor surgery when he gets closer to 2 years old to remove the ureter tube, snip off the tapered part and reattach it into the bladder. Not looking forward to that, but the specialist assured me he's done it plenty of times and it's always been successful.

My hours at work picked up for awhile but they seem to have slowed down now, although I still have the most hours our of the regular employees (non-management). They picked up because we lost 1 of our assistant managers so that was like 30+ hours that needed to be picked up and most of them went to me and another girl, but the last week or so we've gotten a new assistant manager for that spot and so there goes that whole block of hours. I still seem to be getting at least 2 shifts a day though (down from 4, which I'll admit was bit crazy to adjust to so all of  a sudden like, as it seemed like when I wasn't working I was on call). The paychecks were nice though and Jay's pretty much set on clothes for fall (I swear I come home with a bag every week!).

We lost power for about 2 days straight at the beginning of the month when we had a really nasty storm come through early one morning. By the time I got off work that night it was 86 degrees in our house and just too hot so my mom said we could spend the night at their house in the spare room if we wanted, which we did! It came back on later the next night though.

I recently started going the chiropractor for my back (finally) and he's got me doing some physical therapy for it too. I've been going twice a week and they do this electrical stimulation for 15 minutes, then a 10 minute ultrasound (which feels like a light massage) and then a full massage to loosen up my back muscles and get out any knots as he said my back muscles were just waaaaay too tight which was a big factor in my back pain. He also does a few adjustments which seem to have helped.

I'm sure you've heard, Borders is closing! That really makes me sad as I'd rather not have to shop at Barnes & Noble if I want to get a non-new release or best-seller. B&N's prices are higher, they have no free rewards program and the only thing I like better there is their kid's section - everything else I prefer Borders. We went the 1st night of the liquidation sale and dropped some cash on some finds. I went back the other day too and picked up a few more collectibles for Jay that we either didn't get on Friday or they were out of and just got more in. That really does suck though... I really liked Borders and before we had a Borders in my town I enjoyed Media Play for my books, but they went out of business long ago.

We joined Sam's Club recently and I really like it! We can buy diapers and baby food in bulk for good prices, as well as our kitty litter, hubby's beer (Sam Adams) and a giant tub of ice cream that'll last us awhile among other stuff we can buy in bulk to stock up on (like body wash!). Also their book and movie selections are decent and are often cheaper than Walmart too (by like a dollar at least) so I've picked up a few newer/best-seller books there.

We finally got Tiger spayed too. Ever since we moved, we've been finding furniture and stuff that she had been peeing on! I'm not sure why she suddenly felt the need to mark our brand new furniture in addition to random boxes in our storage closest, other than maybe she was pissed or stressed about Jay and then us moving soon after too or what but we took her to the vet, they said she seemed fine and decided that spaying might solve the problem. Seems to have worked so far as we've noticed she's been peeing in the litter box again. She was confined to the basement for most of the month, 1st to keep her from peeing on all the upstairs furniture and then after she we spayed we had to confine her to the larger downstairs bathroom for a week or so til she healed so she wouldn't be jumping up high and tearing em open. We let her back upstairs the other day and she seems to be doing fine. She's still curious about Jay though and he tries to pet her every chance he gets (he's very fascinated with textures right now too!).

There will be football this year!!! In case you don't pay attention to sports, there was an NFL lock-out going on the last few months involving the player's salaries and the owners and the players coming to an agreement or something... because of this there were no organized team things going on which explains why there's been so many NFL players arrested over stupid stuff the last few months. But anyways, if the lock-out wasn't settled soon there was the possibility there would be no football this season and that would be sad as I look forward to spending Sunday (and sometimes Monday nights) watching football with hubby and we were looking forward to Jay experiencing his first season of football (we're hoping to teach him to say "football" "touchdown" and "Cowboys" at some point!). It reminded me of when I was a kid and there was no baseball that one season in the early/mid-90s. The 1st Sunday Night Football game of the season is the Cowboys vs the Jets so hubby wants to have a football for it too - should be fun!

My college roommate is up visiting this week from Texas so we got together for a bit today so she could see the house and Jay (he's doubled since she last saw him in March) and we figured out her centerpieces for her wedding next year too. She also told me some rather pathetic but amusing news about my ex that only confirms I did the right thing leaving his lazyass - he's 29 now and living with his girlfriend he met online (who moved up here from Texas)... in his bedroom in his parents house! He's also still going to school and since he's living at home I assume his parents are still paying for it... his poor family, they've been paying for his tuition for at least 10 years now and it's all because he's just downright lazy and doesn't apply himself or go to class! The thought of living in his bedroom at his parents house just scares me and makes me soooo thankful I got out of that relationship! I'm sooo thankful I have a husband who WANTS to work and that it's important to him to be the provider for his family and that we have the means to have a home of our own and can support ourselves and way of life, plus we have one of the cutest baby boys ever! I can't imagine being nearly 30 and still living at home because I'm too lazy to support myself. That's just pathetic (*note* it's one thing to have to move back home because of the current economy and say you lost your job and thus lost your home and needed somewhere to stay til you get back on your feet - I get that. But the fact is, my ex is lazy and always has been and is on track to always will be. He's been wasting his parent's money for years and doesn't seem to have any problem with it either).

So anyways, while I haven't been too active on the blog here, feel free to keep in touch with me on Twitter as I'm always tweeting on there throughout the day and I LOVE tweeting with my blogger friends on there too - I've enjoyed getting to know some of you more via Twitter!

Book Survey

Angie posted this book survey not too long ago and I thought it would be fun to do and share!

1. Favorite book - To be honest, I don't reallly think I have just 1 favorite. I have several I really liked and some series I really love/d but as far as one single book that stands out above all the rest... I can't really think of one!

2. Least favorite book - Breaking Dawn, the last book in the Twilight Saga. This is honestly THE WORST book I have ever read. Took me nearly 2 weeks to wade through that piece of crap and it was just horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE! It built up to a climax that never happened, was longer than necessary and it was just a terrible book in general. I want those 2 weeks back, Stephanie Meyer.

3. Book that makes you laugh out loud - This Chicken Soup for the New Mom's Soul book I recently got. Kids really do say the darndest things! lol...

4. Book that makes you cry - I almost cried at the end of book 10 in the Sookie Stackhouse series when a certain character gets killed off at the end. Granted, they already killed off this character in the TV series so I have no clue how they plan on doing some of the Sookie storylines from the later books, but it was a character I really started to like in the books and it was so sad to see them go!

5. Book you wish you could live in - The Sookie Stackhouse books, of course! All the supernatural creatures you read about in fantasy actually co-existing and coming out about it to the world?? How neat!

6. Favorite young adult book - I guess the Harry Potter books, although I don't really read much young adult fiction these days, I'm usually picking books up in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy or Mystery/Thriller sections

7. Book that you can quote/recite -
Probably none, as I don't often reread books

8. Book that scares you - World War Z was a bit scary in the sense that the way it was written made the whole Zombie Apocalypse seem like a real possibility!

9. Book that makes you sick - Not really sure...

10. Book that changed your life - I guess maybe Jesus Freaks: Voice of the Martyrs as reading what some of these people went through all because they refused to turn their back on their faith was pretty inspirational!

11. Book from your favorite author - Currently my favorite author is Charlaine Harris who wrote the Sookie Stackhouse books, so I guess that whole series

12. Book that is most like your life - Chicken Soup for the New Mom's Soul, I can totally identify with that one!

13. Book whose main character is most like you - I've been told I remind people of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series!

14. Book whose main character you want to marry - Eric Northman from the Sookie Stackhouse series

15. First "chapter book" you remember reading as a child - Not sure if I read it or if my mom read it to me but I remember we read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis together. Otherwise I'd probably say it was Meet Samantha from the American Girl Doll books

16. Longest book you've read - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is 870 pages

17. Shortest book you've read - probably one of Jay's board books that's like 4-6 pages, lol...

18. Book you're most embarrassed to say you like - The Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking. It was littered with typos and gramatical & sentence errors throughout but I liked it enough to keep reading all 3 books. Take the cheesy/corny-ness of Twilight plus the teenage romance and make it about a troll changeling who goes home to her kingdom and you basically have this series. It was dumb, but I liked it.

19. Book that turned you on - there's several parts in the Sookie Stackhouse books that turned me on & I ended up waking up hubby for, lol...

20. Book you've read the most number of times - I don't really reread books... I guess I would say Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn as I read them for class at 2 different times in high school.

21. Favorite picture book from childhood - Goodnight Moon, Monster at the End of the Book, Pokey Little Puppy, I Help My Mommy, The House that Had Enough... I'm sure I could go on!

22. Book you plan to read next - I'd like to read Game of Thrones but that all depends on whether or not hubby ever finishes reading it (I've read like 4 books already since he's started it), if not... either The Stand or Hunger Games.

23. Book you tell people you've read, but haven't (or haven't actually finished) - I started reading Lord of the Rings once but couldn't get past the 2nd chapter, I got too bored.

24. Book that contains your favorite scene - I... don't know.

25. Favorite book you read in school - Catcher in the Rye

26. Favorite nonfiction book - The Chicken Soup books. I love those!

27. Favorite fiction book - the Harry Potter series and the Sookie Stackhouse books

28. Last book you read - Physical book: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson (I want to read book 3 but it doesn't come out in trade paperbook like the rest until March 2012!!!), eBook: Ascend, book 3 in the Trylle Trilogy

29. Book you're currently reading - I just started reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland Into a Ship of Her Own Making which I won in @AmyGeek's blog giveaway a few months back.

30. Favorite coffee table book - The 2 that I have: Mythology - the DC Comics Art of Alex Ross (I LOVE his art and technique!) and the Wicked Grimmerie

101 in 1001 progress update #5

This morning the Illinois/Wisconsin stateline was hit with some pretty strong storms and our house was one of the unfortunate 600,000+ that had its power knocked out at 715am! It's about 130am the next day and as of 1130pm it still wasn't back on and was 81 degrees in the house! My parent's house has power though so we're spending the night there, hoping ours comes back on tomorrow at some point!

Anyways, here's an update on my 101 in 1001 list!

#4 - Watch at least 2 Netflix DVDs and 2 Instant Queue movies a month (11/66, 11/66)
Yeah... slacked a bit on this one. In June we watched "The Green Hornet" on DVD and I gotta admit, it was better than I was expecting (which honestly wasn't much). While it wasn't great, it was fun and amusing. I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. So far for June we've watched "I Am Number 4" on DVD - it was alright, although I would have enjoyed it much better if it didn't have all the dumb teenage romance drama in it. I enjoyed the kid that played #4, the gal that played #6, and Timothy Olyphant as #4's guardian. It was an enjoyable movie and I'd recommend it. Also, I wasn't surprised that the team of Gould and Millar who worked together on Smallville for years were involved, as had that teenage superhero feel to it. I could see a sequel happening for this one too. As far as Instant Watch goes... no movies in June and so far for July I've watched "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - I recently finished the 1st 2 books and decided to start watching the Swedish films before the American remake comes out this Christmas. I gotta say though, actress Noomi Rapace IS Lisabeth Salander. I don't mind the casting of Daniel Craig as Blomkist in the American version, but I really wish they would use Noomi again as she's got the part down pat!


18 - Read at least 15 (non-children) fiction books (5/15)
I've read 2 so far for June and July! In June I finally finished "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and promptly started "The Girl Who Played With Fire" which I finished in July. I swear, Steig Larrson had a pattern to his books - make the 1st 200 or so pages of the book have just enough intrique to keep you interested (because they are a bit boring, making you wonder where is the story going already!?) and then something major happens in the last half of part 2 or between pages 200-300 that makes you glued to the book, wanting to read what happens next, making it so you don't want to put it down! That happened with both books! While book #2 seemed to move a bit faster than book 1, I was still wondering the whole time "where is this going? what's the point?" during the 1st 200 or so pages. And then something major happens and I breezed through the rest of the book in a matter of days! I really want to read the 3rd, however it's not currently available in trade paperback (only in large print paperback) and the Kindle version costs more than the hardcover version at Walmart so I guess I'll just wait...

22 - Find a part-time job that works me at least twice a week
Well, I guess I have this now! We've had several key people quit at work recently due to moving away and apparently I've "proved" myself too since as of this week, aside from management I have the 2nd most hours at work, working at least 2-3 shifts a week with a handful of on-call shifts, half of which I get called in for. The paychecks have been nice, but it's been a bit hard shifting from working 1-2 days a week to working 4-5! I'm used to hanging out with Jay most of the week and it's been a bit strange not doing that!

29 - Have a date with hubby at least once a month (4/33)
30 - Take an overnight with hubby once a year (1/3)
These go together for June & July, as hubby and I attended a wedding up in the Twin Cities from June 30-July 2 (my childhood best friend's wedding) and we left Jay with my parents to get some mommy and daddy time! It was nice getting away and not having to worry about squeezing in feedings, etc into the schedule but it was a bit strange being without him too!

51 - Host a PartyLite party once a year (1/3)
I did this in June! While not quite as many people came as I had hoped, I did get some "book orders" and got a nice bit of hostess credit. I stocked up on my tealights and took advantage of some nice hostess offers too! Definitely worth it!

53 - Visit in person with a friend once a month (6/33)
I've seen several people in June, so that counts!

60 - Go to church at least once a month (3/33)
We had Jay's baby dedication on Father's Day Sunday and we went once again in June too.

88 - Get a pedicure 3 times a year (2/9)
For Mother's Day, hubby got me a Groupon for a mani-pedi which I redeemed days before we went to the wedding in the Twin Cities - it was nice! The finger nails didn't last longer than a week, but the toenails still look good!

98 - Go on vacation somewhere once a year (1/3)
We went to the Twin Cities this year! While it was a mini-vacation, it was still a vacation for us and is about as much of one as we'll get this year, with Jay being so little. I'm sure we'll go somewhere more exciting for longer next year. Aside from the wedding, we stopped in Mall of America for a bit, ate some CiCi's Pizza (which the nearest one is nearly an hour from us so despite seeing all the commercials on TV, we've never had it!) and we drove past the Metrodome - the home of the Minnesota Vikings! Near the end of last season, the roof collapsed due to all the snow that had built up on top of it - it still looked like it was under construction!

Digital vs Physical Books

 

Anyone else feel torn when it comes to digital books vs physical books?

Awhile back I read a post by Grace on her blog about how she got a Kindle but eventually stopped using it and went back to buying physical books from her local book retailer. It got me thinking back then but I was too busy to post my own thoughts about the issue.

I've often thought about trying to win Kindle/Nook giveaways and I have the Kindle and Aldiko apps on my phone, however I don't really utilize them much.

Around Christmastime I downloaded a handful of free books for my Kindle app that I haven't even looked at since. And on Aldiko, the only reason I haven't removed it is because I'm currently reading a book on there (FTW - a book about a video game gold farmer and what lengths he goes to to make his money) for free that Amazon charges full-price for. But again, I started reading that one awhile ago and I've only read a few chapters of it as I keep forgetting about it.

I can see the versatility of having a digital platform for your books - a smaller tablet or a smartphone are both way more portable and in my case, I can hold my phone and read/do stuff one handed while I'm feeding Jay, but for some reason I just prefer having a physical book.

I like being able to put a book back on the shelf when I'm done with it. Sticking an actual bookmark in it when I'm stopping for a bit, etc. Maybe it's the pack-rat side of me, as I like to collect a series and then display it on the bookshelf in our home.

From the time I was little I enjoyed reading - my parents read to me when I was little, my dad would take me to the library a few Saturdays each month when I was little and I would pick out a few. While other kids were spending their allowance on this or that, I would buy books with mine. I remember in 4th grade a bunch of girls brought all our Baby-Sitters Club books to school with us and displayed them by our assigned seats. We would swap and borrow them - it was fun! And just like movies and CDs, when I enter someone's home, books is another thing I skim their shelves for if I see them - I like to walk in and see what others are reading, watching, listening too while I'm waiting for them to finish up whatever. It fascinates me.

It was a sad day when Waldenbooks closed at our mall. The big one at the big mall in the Chicago suburbs also closed awhile back too. I used to enjoy hanging out at Media Play too - the media giant. I'd browse the movies, the books, the music selections and items and spend hours there.

Borders has always been a favorite of mine - whenever we were visiting that big mall in the suburbs, the giant Borders store was always a stop on the way home for us as at the time we didn't have one in our city (They eventually built one though). For some reason I always found their prices to be better than Barnes and Noble and until B&N moved into a bigger store out at the mall, Borders always had the larger selection it seemed. Even in college, the town I was in had both but the B&N was just soooo small and I could never find what I was looking for, plus the Borders down there gave student discounts on some items. Also, I love the Borders Rewards program - unlike B&N, they have a free version of it where I still get coupons throughout the week (I just got one last week that gave me 50% off the list price of an item - we got the Game of Thrones 4-book set for $18!) and last winter they gave me a total of $25 in Borders Bucks, which is basically free money - I got several books and items for free, just for being a loyal customer! The only thing I think B&N has over Borders is their kids section, at least in my city - B&N seem to have a much more organized kids section than Borders, making it easier for me to find books for Jay, plus they have a free kids book club program too which I get savings on. We're lucky - our Borders is one of the select ones staying open; the one down by my college already closed up!

Granted, I do buy bestseller paperbacks from Walmart as they're several dollars cheaper, but for all other book needs/purchases I try to go to Borders. Yes, I've ordered some stuff off Amazon in the past too, but only because I was already placing an order and/or had a giftcard.

Regardless, some days I find myself wishing I had the book I'm working on in digital format, but then I always come back to thinking "no, I don't need it."

What they need to do is find a way to make it so that if you purchase the physical copy of a book you can also download a free copy of it to your digital device, sort of how most DVDs these day include a digital copy disc so you can put the movie on your computer or smartphone or tablet. I would LOVE it if they somehow figured out how to do that, that way I could have my physical book at home on my nightstand or coffee table but if I was out somewhere and bored, having time to read or say I'm at home feeding Jay, I could read the book on my digital device.

What are your thoughts? 

Do you love the digital age of books or do you prefer having a physical book in your hands?

So about this book...

I forget how, but not too long ago I started following the blog geek with curves. Amy is a female geek, often writing about comics, Star Wars, fantasy books, and all other geeky things you would expect! I've read and seen some pretty neat stuff on her blog and I highly recommend checking it out!

Anyways, she recently posted about this really interesting fantasy book she acquired - Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - and it sounds really interesting! It's about this girl named September and her adventures in Fairyland.

She's also giving away a copy of the book! Hubby and I both enjoy reading and now that Jay sleeps through the night and I'm able to have some time alone at night I've been getting back in the habit of reading more frequently, so I'm all for acquiring more books!

Check out her post about the book and giveaway to learn more about both!

Ten on Tuesday: Books

I like to stay away from posting too many memes/surveys on here as a lot of them get repetitive but I saw this one on Angie's blog and it's a bit different and thought it'd be fun to share/post on here!

So, without further ado, Ten on Tuesday: Books!

1. When someone asks you for a book recommendation, what is your go-to book?
Depends on who it is - if they're old enough and like vampires I usually recommend the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. If they're younger and into fantasy I would recommend the Harry Potter books

2.  Do you buy your books, or are you a library patron?
Well up until 2 weeks ago we technically lived in the county so we couldn't get a library card without paying $100/year so I didn't bother... that might change in recent years though now that we live in the city! Currently though I buy books or I borrow them from friends and relatives.

3.  E-readers, yay or nay?
I can see the point in them and I do have the Kindle and Aldiko apps on my Droid with a handful of free books, however I much prefer having a physical book to read. Unfortunately, it's harder to read a physical book than it is to read something on my phone while I'm handling a baby... but oh well!

4.  What was your favorite book as a child?
Oh geez, lemme see... Goodnight Moon was a favorite, There's a Monster at the End of This Book, The House that Had Enough... as for chapter books, I LOVED The Babysitter's Club books.

5.  If you could be any character in a book, who would you be?
Um... I guess maybe Sookie Stackhouse as she's an average girl who has such great adventures in a supernatural universe where vampires and weres and other fantasy creatures exist. Plus she gets with some pretty hot guys (<3 Eric Northman and Quinn)

6.  What book would you love to see turned into a movie?
I can't wait to see World War Z on the big screen, it was such an interesting read!

7.  What is your all-time favorite book?
I guess maybe Catcher in the Rye as it's a classic I never get tired of

8.  How many books do you read at once?
Depends if you count self-help books like Chicken Soup or child-rearing books as I tend to keep those as bathroom reading. Other than that, maybe 2 at the most but I like to read one book at a time if I can.

9.  What is your favorite book genre?
Definitely the fantasy/sci-fi section of the books store!

10.  Which Harry Potter book is the best?  Or haven’t you read them at all?
The 3rd one - Prisoner of Azkaban. I liked the book a lot and the movie is probably my favorite one too!

101 in 1001 progress update

So I've made some more progress on my 101 in 1001 list in the last month or so.

#4 - Watch at least 2 Netflix DVDs and 2 Instant Queue movies a month
As far as physical DVDs go, since January we've watched Shrek Forever After, Machete, Sex and the City 2, and Saw: The Final Chapter. The 4th Shrek was just okay... wasn't as great as the hype claimed it was, Machete was just as awesomely bad as I had expected it to be so no disappointments there! Sex and the City 2 was just unnecessary although being a new mommy at the time I watched it I could relate to it in the same way I could relate to a certain character's circumstances in the first film... but still, the film didn't need to be made - the first one was a nice where are they now catch up, the 2nd one was just a way to make more money on the franchise. And the "final" Saw... well, it wasn't really final - they left it open ended and that was a bit of a disappointment, not to mention Hoffman clearly strays from the original point of Jigsaw and the traps, as he goes about killing anyone that will expose him as Jigsaw's accomplice.

As far as Instant Watch films go, in February we watched Groundhog's Day on Groundhog Day and then Goodfellas while in the hospital post-pregnancy. Yes, I've seen both before - hubby's family LOVES Groundhog's Day and Goodfellas is just one of those movies that hubby and I watch everytime it's on TV and he wanted to watch it while we were in the hospital so we did. I also recently watched The Runaways - the biopic about the early careers of Joan Jett and Cherie Currie when they were teens just starting out in the music biz. I like Joan Jett - she's like the original rocker chick - but this movie was just meh. It was interesting as I wasn't really aware of The Runaways or Cherie Currie for that matter, but yeah... I wished Lita Ford (played by Scout Taylor Compton of Rob Zombie's Halloween fame) had a bigger role in the film as she also went on to have a successful career in the 80s, and I was disappointed to read online the differences between what really happened with the band and how the movie portrayed it - I *hate* when they do that. If you're going to tell a story about something like a band or a person BE ACCURATE. So annoying when they change stuff...

#8 - Be a bridesmaid
#54 - Hang out with Jeny at least once each time she's visiting from Texas,
#56 - Help Jeny plan her wedding best I can from out of state
These all go together as I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding and she's visiting from Texas this week to do wedding related stuff. Sunday we spent the day in Schaumburg (a suburb of Chicago) to go dress shopping. She had a few in mind for herself and for us bridesmaids but of course we needed to try stuff on. She found her dress and we tried on the bridesmaid dress and got them ordered! I also got to meet the other bridesmaid that lives here in Illinois and we started brainstorming DIY ideas that she can use to save money as well as started discussing what to do for the bachelorette party. It was a fun afternoon! We're hanging out again on Wednesday evening, as she wants to meet Jay since she's one of his "honorary aunts" (he has 2) and then she's having their engagement party on Friday at Gamewerks in Schaumburg so hubby and I are planning on attending.

#10 - Go to 10 restaurants we haven't eaten at before
We had dinner at Hachi Hachi twice now, as I really liked it the first time we went. Hachi Hachi is a local restaurant chain (they have 2 in town) that has sushi and sushi rolls - yum! It's really good and real affordable too so you don't have to feel like you're breaking the bank. We also went to Red Lobster once which I have never been at before as I never really ate fish until the last few years (I like salmon).


#18 - Read at least 15 (non-children) fiction books
I finally finished World War Z by Max Brooks. It was a pretty good book, telling the zombie apocalypse through interviews of survivors... was definitely an interesting read and I look forward to the movie they're making, assuming they do it how I think they would (Brad Pitt is starring too!). I started reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson when I was in labor and while the first chapter was pretty boring, chapter 2 redeemed it and it picked up and started getting interesting. Unfortunately, outside of the hospital setting (I brought it with me and read some while we were there that whole week) I haven't had a chance to do too much reading.

#27 - Visit Sharestuff once a season
I did this, as just before Jay was born I realized Little Man didn't have any jeans and I wanted to see if they had any. I found a pair of Arizona Jean Co. jean overalls in size 0-3 month that I bought for like $1, but no actual jeans.

#29 - Have a date with hubby at least once a month
Considering we had a baby, we got out twice in February - we had a nice dinner just the 2 of us at Red Lobster for Valentine's Day and then last week we went out to see The Mechanic (Jason Statham... *drool*) before they took it out of theaters.

#33 - Obtain our wedding video(s)
Well we've gotten one of them so far - a friend of hubby's parents that was there recorded a good bit of the reception for us and just remembered recently he never put it on a DVD and got it to us, so he called us up and stopped by to drop it off the week after Jay was born. We haven't had a chance to watch it (I'd like to watch it together but that hasn't happened yet...)

#34 - Encourage hubby to finish his book revision and send it off to publishers
He's almost done with his revision as he's been working on it, just needs it proofed!

#40 - Buy a House
Clearly in progress, if you read my previous post - yay!!

#53 - Visit in person with a friend once a month
With everyone wanting to see Jay, this hasn't been a problem!

A look back at my introduction to Harry Potter

So I mentioned in my Banned Books post for "Banned Book Week" about Harry Potter, but I thought I would share some more about my interest in the series for this week's Flashback Friday since Harry Potter and the Really Long Camp Trip, er Deathly Hallows (part 1) is officially in theaters today!

I wasn't aware of the series until book 4 - Goblet of Fire - was released in summer 2000. I remember there being articles in our newspaper about kids and parents lining up and going crazy trying to get copies of the book, etc. I had never heard of them before so I had no idea what the fuss was and just assumed it was some hot kiddie book.

The first film - Sorcerer's Stone - was released the Thanksgiving of my senior year in high school. Going to a private Christian school, I remember the students and faculty were torn, as 1/3rd loved the series while another 1/3 thought they promoted sorcery and witchcraft and the other 1/3 just didn't really care (I was in this group). The sorcery and witchcraft argument won out though and the books were banned from our school library although you could bring your own from home and read them on your own time.

Personally, I thought the series was more geared towards kids so I didn't really have much of an interest in them.

It wasn't until the 3rd movie - Prisoner of Azkaban - came out while I was in college that I changed my mind.

The guy I was dating at the time (my least favorite ex), while he proudly admitted he never finished a single book in his life, he did enjoy the Harry Potter movies and really wanted me to come with him and his siblings to see the movie when their grandma was in town visiting, as she always visited and took them to the latest Harry Potter movies. I agreed and we got me caught up on the first 2 movies so I would know what happened and not be clueless.

I enjoyed them and decided to see the rest of the movies as they came out.

I remember going to the midnight showing of Goblet of Fire with my longterm college roommate and my boyfriend at the time. We didn't dress up, but we had fun regardless.

It was the following summer that I started reading the books, as I returned to working at the movie theater and spent most of that summer working projection and then in the fall I worked the box office booth during the weekdays and projection on the weekends. The rule was you could bring a book or homework with you up to projection so long as you started the films on time and did regular projector checks (as we were still 35mm back then). And same with working box office - you could read or do homework during the slow time so long as there was nothing theater-related that needed to be done. My longterm roommate had them all and let me borrow them.

It took me awhile to get through the first book, but once I did I was able to work rather quickly through the remaining 5 (book 7 wasn't out yet).

By the time Order of the Phoenix came out, I was all caught on the books and I got to screen the movie too as I was management by that point. I remember watching the movie with the other management staff (with the exception of our GM as he always watched movies he really wanted to see in a theater by himself as he hated the commentary and laughter the rest of us would make throughout our screenings). Me and the other female manager had read the books, so it was funny as we would start yelling at the screening when something wasn't the same in the book - the other 2 guy managers (who hadn't read the books) eventually told us to shut up, lol...

Working the midnight for that one was fun. My ex and I had broke up awhile prior, but I remember he showed up with my roommate and her boyfriend (who was my ex's roommate). Luckily I was busy keeping track of how many people we were letting into each theater, as we were digital by this point and could show the film on every screen if needed, however each theater only seated so many people which is why someone had to count each person as the ticket taker tore their tickets.

I remember when book 7 finally came out. Half the theater staff had bought the book the night it came out and several employees were pretty much racing each other to see who would finish first (Jessi, from Musings of a Wannabe Star, finished first I believe). The GM, being a Harry Potter fan, had declared that reading the book and bringing it to work was fine, so long as you put it away when the slow periods were over and did your job when customers were around. He also declared that anyone who spoiled the ending would be in big trouble, as when book 6 came out, an ex manager who stayed up all night came running into the building the next morning, shouting "Snape kills Dumbledore!" just to piss everyone off! lol... (I didn't know what that meant at the time as I hadn't read the books yet, however I did have a roommate ruin that for me, as she knew I was only on book 4 yet she blurted it out when all 3 of us roomies were discussing something Harry Potter related. She was all "oops - I thought you finished..." despite me having mentioned several times I hadn't.)

I bought book 7 when it came out and eventually went on eBay and found a seller that had the first 6 in paperback for sell for $20 so I snatched those up too so I have the whole series. I'm still waiting on owning the movies though as I'd rather get all 8 for Christmas next year in the box set you know they're going to put out.

Hubby and I were in Pennsylvania visiting relatives when Half Blood Prince opened in theaters. We decided to go to the midnight showing out there and my sis tagged along with us (I had taken her to Order of the Phoenix when I worked at the theater and got free passes). Since we were on the east coast at the time, it was fun rubbing it on Facebook to all my friends in the midwest that we were seeing it an hour before them, hehe...

With the new movie, hubby and I are planning on seeing it early next week as that works best with his schedule and we don't like paying full price for movies if we can help it. Our local AMC shows movies for $5 during the weekdays, however with Thanksgiving being next week holiday pricing starts Thursday, so we're planning on going early Wednesday evening.

I can't wait, although I remember reading an article awhile back that stated they changed the part at the beginning with Hedwig, Harry's beloved owl. While it was sad and happened right off the bat, it did sort of set the tone for the entire book, so I'm curious to see if that change was really necessary and how it affects the rest of the movie. I'm also curious to see if they include the plotlines of Bill Weasley and Flour Delacor (which was left out of the other films although they do briefly provide refuge for Harry and crew in this one), as well as Tonks and Lupin's relationship and the outcome of Hermoine's SPEW house elf coalition which was cut from the other movies although I hear the House Elves play a bit of a part in this movie. I'm also curious to see if part 1 cliff-hangs where I think it should (during Harry's run-in and capture by Belatrix at the Malfoy's).

I'll also be curious to see the reaction of people who hadn't read the books next summer after part 2 comes out, as personally, I was a little let down by the "final showdown" between Harry and Voldemort in the book - it seemed like 7 books built up to this epic showdown between them and then when it happens, it's only like a paragraph long! Hopefully the movie makes it a little longer and more epic than it actually was!

Have you read any of the Harry Potter books or seen any of the movies?

Did you rush out at midnight last night to go see #7, part 1? (please don't post any spoilers though!)