Kindle

Let me tell you about my love affair. I am in love with my kindle! I bought in off eBay back in December. It’s the kindle 2, which is a bit bigger than the newest kindle. But, I love it! It goes with me everywhere.
People always ask how much the books are…. Well pretty cheap. I have over 100 books and maybe paid for 2. If you take the time, you can google the books you want (I.e. ‘Da Vinci Code free ebook) and get them that way. With a easy email to kindle (with the book attched) you can get the book into kindle format and onto your kindle.

There are also many, many free ebook websites out there, including amazon.com (who sells the kindle products).

There are many cool skins, covers, and gadgets you can add onto your kindle. One of my favorites was a gift from Craig. It’s a waterproof cover with a lanyard thing on it. The cool thing about kindle versus other ebook platforms is that it has no back light. This is good for 2 reasons. First it saves your poor eyes. Think of how tired your eyes feel after reading a computer screen all day! Second, no worrying or trying to get out of the sun to read. The “ink pearl technology” leaves no glare. So with that, and my water proof cover, i can get into my pink floatie in the lake and read!

A few other cool things …
The battery last 2 to 4 weeks (with wifi off) before needing a charge.

Can store over 3000 books

Has built in wifi (other models have 3G)

Book lending available

I really live it! Craig even got himself one, the new kindle 3, and he has read more books in the last 4 months than he had in he last 15 years!

I’ll add some ebooks links over on the side.

 

Friday Night Fe-Vah!

This was the first Friday night in many Fridays that I’ve been alone.  Odd huh?!?  Usually I’m with Heather, but she has gone back to work.  I’m sure she won’t mind me to give an update.  Her baby D had open heart surgery a month ago.  He did wonderful and has recovered well.  He’s 9 weeks now and is the most beautiful baby ever!  I love Heather to death, and we’ve been great friends over the last few months, both relying on one other for support and encouragement.  And OH!  How we laugh!  O.M.G.   Do we ever laugh!  I love you Heather!

So even though all my pals were working or doing other things, I got a sitter and went out.  First stop, Starbucks.  Venti Non-Fat Caramel Macchiatto (if you read my blog, you should’ve known that).  MMMMM, Heavenly delicious in the rain!  Next,  Maurices.  Heather is my shopping buddy and we love to go here.  It just wasn’t the same without her!  But I did manage to buy a cute shirt.  Next, shoes at Shoe Carnival and a quick trip to TJ Maxx.

I spent the most time in Books A Million (and the most money).  I bought the book Fireproof, by Eric Wilson.  I heard the movie is a must watch for relationships, husband/wife stuff.  A little late, but maybe I can find something in the book to guide me in the future.  I also bought Same Kind of Different As Me, by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.  Not sure what it’s about, but it was on the best seller aisle, lol.  I got my favorite magazine full of advice that I ignore, Self.  I have had a subscription to the magazine probably for the last 6 years, until last fall.  I love it, but never do anything they say to do, lol.  Maybe now that I’m working out and such I will.

My odd purchase, that I had no intention of buying was a Bible.  Crazy huh?!?!  Going to church is something I grew up on.  I have great memories of all our youth rallies and weeks of summer camp.  I have so many friends from those days.  The church I grew up in was very strict, I call it a fire and brimstone church.  Later, in my early twenties, I found one in Colorado Springs that was more of God’s grace and love and forgiveness.  It was a large church, but I enjoyed it.  But since about 2000, I haven’t been.   I asked Mike several times in the last year to go as a family, as I think it’s important for the boys to have some type of religious background.  But I wandered the store for a few hours and just felt like I needed one.  Granted, I do have a couple in my cedar chest my uncle built for me years ago, but they are of the past, and wanted one new, clean, fresh.  A clean start.  I felt hopeful when I picked one out, maybe a sense of contentment. 

 

Great Show

If you already have seen TRUE BLOOD, you know what I’m talking about.  If not, check it out on HBO.  The new shows are on Sunday night, but you can catch re-runs all through the week.  And last week, they played the older episodes too.

Check out:  http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/  or HERE

The show is based on Charlaine Harris’s .  Sookie Stackhouse series.  Someone suggested these books after I read the Twilight books (if you don’t know what these are either, you need to get out more).  I’m not a vampire-genre fan, but both series are great.  The Sookie books are more geared toward adults, and the show even more so.  I’m only on book 4 of 8, but am loving it.  The show and the books are just different enough to keep me on edge.

 

Blogroll Update!

New Sites I’m Enjoying To Read

 

www.blondgirlambitions.blogspot.com

 

www.meaghanmariepretties.blogspot.com

 

www.todaysdeepsouth.blogspot.com

 

www.allboys4now.blogspot.com

 

www.iheartchaos.blogspot.com

 

www.livingreadgirl.blogspot.com

 

Author Review: Jennifer Weiner

http://www.jenniferweiner.com/

 

Ok, I haven’t quite finish Certain Girls, but I have read all her other books, and can say I really enjoy her writing and certainly her characters.  Her Heroines are not your typical good body (size 2 anyone), great hair, perhaps a cute tooth gap or case of the freckles characters.  They are real everyday people.  Females that you can relate to.  Those who have pants that are snug (but still wear them), the pants they want to be able to wear (really, can’t we let those go?), and of course, our favorite everyday pants (love my stretched out yoga pants).  They really don’t enjoy yoga, but enjoy real scrumptious food.  Her characters are people that I would (if they were real) consider friends.

Quick thoughts:

Good in Bed:  This is definitely my favorite of the books.  Witty.  Love it.  I love the turmoil that Cannie goes through, how despite being publically embarrassed, she finds herself in it all, finds her purpose.  I love that she doesn’t fall victim to the “oh I need him” group and stands on her own.  MUST READ! 

Goodnight Nobody:  I love the way the main lady, Kate, relishes the life she used to have.  I think as Moms, we all feel guilty when we think those thoughts.  But her dedication to her children, and her desire not to be like the other women in the community keep her grounded; despite the old flame that keeps coming into life!  A different book for the author, a mystery book, Loved It!

Little Earthquakes:  A story of women, coming into Motherhood, dealing with the new stresses of a new role.  Good reality check for those of you who think it’s all smiles and sweet baby smells (HA).  Great blend of characters, coming into their own, but depending upon one another for support.   The contrast of the characters, and their desires to have what they see in the other women, bring to mind the phrase “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”  Great book.

Certain Girls:  I still love Cannie (almost thought about naming the new dog that).   I hate that we miss so much in the lives of Cannie and Joy.  I’m glad that see was able to flashback throughout the book and fill us in.  I found it hard to connect with Joy, but I think that’s because I have all boys and they are nowhere near that teenage syndrome.  I hate the big event toward the end of the book (you’ll know what it is), but glad that once again, Cannie pulls her family and close ones to her for support.

In Her Shoes:  I haven’t seen the movie, so now I must!  Loved the story, the battle of the sisters, but yet they still yearn for one another.  After all, that’s all they have. 

 

 

Books I have read recently and soon to read

Have read lately (since end of July-ish):

Stephanie Meyer:  Twilight; New Moon; Eclipse; Breaking Dawn

Jennier Weiner:  Good in Bed; In Her Shoes; Little Earthquakes; Goodnight Nobody; The Guy Not Taken; Certain Girls 

 Sophie Kinsella:  Confession of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic and Sister, Can You Keep a Secret?

Janet Evanovich:  One For the Money; Two for the Dough; Three to Get Deadly; Four to Score; High Five; Hot Six; Seven up; Hard Eight; Visions of Sugar Plums, To the Nines; Ten Big Ones; Eleven on Top; Twelve Sharp; Plum Lovin’; Lean Mean Thirteen; Plum Lucky; Metro Girl; Motor Mouth

Charlaine Harris:  Dead until Dark

 

Soon to read  (all on order, in the mail, or on my bookshelf)

Sophie Kinsella:   The Undomestic Goddess; Remember Me?; Girls Night In, Shopahoilc and Baby

Janet Evanovich:  Back to the Bedroom, Smitten, Wife for Hire, Rocky Road to Romance, Fearless Fourteen

Charlaine Harris:  Living Dead in Dallas; Club Dead; Dead to the World; Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse; From Dead to Worse

Lorna Landvik: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

1. Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman- Elizabeth Buchan
2. Wives Behaving Badly- Elizabeth Buchan
3. Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn- Kris Radish
4. Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral- Kris Radish
5. Children of God Go Bowling- Shannon Olson (HC)
6. The May Queen- Nicki Ricjesin
7. The Four Seasons – Mary Alice Monroe
8. Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons – Lorna Landvik
9. Just Between Us – Cathy Kelly
10. Sparkles- Louise Bagshawe
11. The Faraday Girls- Monica McInerney
12. The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love - Jill Conner Browne
13. Under the Tuscan Sun- Frances Mayes
14. Sometimes I Dream in Italian- Rita Ciresi
15. Do Me, Do My Roots- Eileen Rendahl
16. The Persian Pickle Club – Sandra Dallas 
17. The Master Bedroom- Tessa Hadley (HC)
18. Happiness Sold Separately – Lolly Winston
19. P.S. I Love You- Cecelia Ahern
20. Love, Rosie- Cecelia Ahern
21. Swift as Desire- Laura Esquivel
22. The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell- Loraine Despres
23. The Reading Group – Elizabeth Noble
24. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation- Lauren Willig
25. Intuition – Allegra Goodman
26. Second Honeymoon – Joanna Trollope
27. Emotionally Weird – Kate Atkinson
28. The Hot Flash Club- Nancy Thayer
29. The Hot Flash Club Chills Out – Nancy Thayer 
30. The Starter Wife- Gigi Levangie Grazer 
31. But Enough About Me. . . – Jancee Dunn

Meg Cabot:  Size 12 is Not Fat; Size 14 is Not Fat Either; Big Boned; Queen of Babble; Queen of Babble in the Big City; Queen of Babble Gets Hitched; The Boy Next Door; Boy Meets Girl; Every Boy’s Got One

 

Books! Yeah!

Look at my wonderful set of books to read!  YEAH!  Plus I’m still waiting on one from amazon.com and two from eBay.com.  Plus I need to get the last SIX of the Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, and have about 4 others on my list.

 

Chick Lit

What a term!  For years I have been reading mystery type novels, Alex Cross series by James Patterson, Clive Cussler, etc.  From a friend I picked up the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, which I loved. Add another few reads I picked up here and there, I was really opened to a new type of book, where the female is not the victim. Then asking for more titles from other Moms, I got the term “Chick Lit.”

According to the ‘reliable’ site, Wikipedia, Chick Lit ‘The term was introduced by Cris Mazza and Jeffrey DeShell as an ironic title for their edited anthology Chick Lit: Postfeminist Fiction, published in 1995. The genre was defined as a type of post-feminist or second-wave feminism that went beyond female-as-victim to include fiction that covered the breadth of female experiences, including love, courtship and gender.’

According to about.com, here are the top FIVE chick lit authors:

1. Jane Green

Green has handfuls of popular titles to choose from. Check out Second Chance, Swapping Lives, The Other Woman, Babyville: A Novel or Spellbound.

2. Marian Keyes

This Irish bestselling author has delighted readers with books such as Anybody Out There, Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married and Rachel’s Holiday.

3. Sophie Kinsella

Kinsella hit a nerve with women who can’t resist a sale with Confessions of a Shopaholic and the many Shopaholic sequels. She also pleased readers with the bestselling The Undomestic Goddess.

4. Jennifer Weiner

Weiner’s women work through self-esteem issues and tough relationships in books such as Good in Bed (and its sequel — Certain Girls), The Guy Not Taken, In Her Shoes and Goodnight Nobody.

5. Helen Fielding

Start with Bridget Jones’ Diary and see if you don’t fall in love with Fielding’s quirky characters. Other titles to consider include Cause Celeb and Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination.

Here’s another site with a great list of Chick Lit authors, titles, and updates  www.chicklitclub.com

Here is a  good review of Chick Lit from Rian.

I can’t wait to read more Chick Lit books.  Just from the few books I have read, I have truly enjoyed them!

 

BOOKS! I NEED THEM!

I need some good reads!  Now that I don’t have to STUDY, and have ‘time’ (yeah right, AKA ignoring your kids), I want to read!  I like mystery/history type fictional books (love Clive Cussler).  Love the Harry Potter books (omg, I just realized I haven’t read the last one!) and the Maximum Ride  by James Patterson books are great (which I need to finish those too).

But I also would like to read some good parenting books, self help/enrichment books, some teach me something books ya know?

Please give me your suggestions!  I’ll add them to my book list!

 

Feeling Shallow

As I sit here and watch the Oscars, where movie stars who make millions a year for repeating the words that someone else wrote (and gets paid much less), spend thousands of dollars on dresses, shoes, and other accessories to sit in a theater and drool over one another.  I realize that half of the movies I’ve never heard of.  My scope of entertainment is watching re-runs of CSI and reading gossip blogs.  I watch blockbuster movies, but never international ones, much less any that are nominated for an Oscar (Harry Potter anyone).  Books?  Unless it has information regarding medication doses, how poop is backed up into your system, or the pathological system of your body, I don’t read it.

What I feel like is another useless citizen.  You know the ones that can tell you who is dating who, which tv show is being renewed next season, or what movie you should see.  But they couldn’t tell you the presidential candidate, prime minister of England, or who the Attorney General is.

So, do any of you have any great books or movies that you recommend?