tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36941962009-11-13T12:43:39.779-06:00All about the books, paper and electronic, that I am reading.Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-34743181978480328492009-11-12T14:17:00.003-06:002009-11-12T16:50:35.961-06:00

When I first looked at this week's Booking Through Thursday prompt, I thought the question “Too Short?” referred to the length of a book. Instead, it asks, “Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?”. Deb also says, “I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-7993442247635685662009-11-08T12:49:00.001-06:002009-11-12T13:55:32.346-06:00

That's the question I just have to get answered when I travel. I am always peeking at book covers or even accosting the few readers who are carrying Kindle or Sony e-Book devices to see what books are popular. I get a lot of suggestions for books to read from fellow travellers. Seated in my row on today's flight is a woman from Midland, Texas, who is carrying a Kindle 2. She's reading True Blue

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-64704215754235279472009-10-25T07:34:00.003-05:002009-10-25T08:14:04.087-05:00

I kept a very simple timeline in a plain text file which I updated each time I changed activities. This allowed me to see that I spent 16 hours and 39 minutes reading books and the other 7 hours and 21 minutes reading blogs, posting blogs, reading fora about reading, etc.This is my timeline7:01 -- Post to reading blog 7:15 -- start reading Mark of the Lion at page 138 8:50 -- to Old West for

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-28121964362207344822009-10-25T06:40:00.002-05:002009-10-25T07:17:48.956-05:00

It's 6:40 in the morning, only 20 minutes more and I'm not engaged enough with my book to keep my eyes open. I finished reading Shakespeare's Christmas just a few minutes before 6 and took a very short break to update my master lists and check the 24-hour Read-a-Thon home page for any challenges for the last hour. By 6:15, I had picked out the next book I'd start—A Village Affair by Joanna

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-50408062416035243662009-10-25T05:09:00.002-05:002009-10-25T05:18:51.293-05:00

I'm reading slowly—much more slowly that usual. Must be fatigue setting in, or just the fact that it's the wee hours of the morning. The last break I took (Time for a mini-challenge) was almost exactly 45 minutes long. It took me almost 20 minutes to put together my blog post, including finding images of the book covers online. Google is my friend. I'm getting close to the end of

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-82373884789164734012009-10-25T03:11:00.002-05:002009-10-25T03:37:00.243-05:00

In honor of Miss Adison who is 4, Dana issued a challenge to link and/or post pictures of my favorite 4 reads either from childhood or from now. Well, this is a challenge that I can rise to; especially for Miss Adison. After all, my father and my son both carry the masculine form—Addison—as a middle name.Now let's see. One of the first books that comes to mind is Babar the Elephant. While I

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-91466440243476670472009-10-25T01:15:00.002-05:002009-10-25T01:21:41.072-05:00

Since I'd already read one Christmas book during the Read-a-Thon, I decided that I'd read Shakespeare's Christmas next. I'm currently on page 70 and thoroughly engaged in Lily Bard's newest adventure. In the reading period from 23:52 to 01:00, I also ate a small, but healthy, snack—a bosc pear and 10 raw almonds. Normally, I try to make an afternoon snack from fruit plus almonds, but today I

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-3254875036639214732009-10-24T23:19:00.003-05:002009-10-24T23:44:48.720-05:00

I just finished reading Bitten and Smitten, the 113th book I have read in 2009 and the 14th read in October. I've updated the lists I keep on my laptop, marked the book read in the Kindle by attaching a note to it, and updated the home page and list of books read in 2009 posted right here at this blogging site.       After a quick look at the Read-a-thon home page and a glance at the PUF Swap

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-75530881761754765832009-10-24T21:01:00.002-05:002009-10-24T21:21:26.073-05:00

The clock just ticked over to 9pm, 14 hours into the Read-a-Thon. I'm ready to start reading chapter 16 of Bitten and Smitten, making me just a bit more than 50% of the way through the book, or approximately 210 pages into the 400 page paperback. Of course, I'm not reading the paperback edition; I'm reading it on my Kindle. I purchased from Amazon.com on 1 September for only $1.99. It was a

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-39205863321186135782009-10-24T19:36:00.002-05:002009-10-24T19:52:17.659-05:00

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant we'd not visited before: La Milpa in Denton. I ordered a dish whose Spanish name translates to “chicken with squash and corn” which was served with the ubiquitous rice and beans. One thing that's really nice about taking the Kindle out to dinner is that I don't have to balance the excess cutlery on the book to keep it open to the page I'm reading. Instead, I

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-67172215464423003362009-10-24T17:24:00.002-05:002009-10-24T17:31:17.807-05:00

It's really not a dud, but I'm 47 pages into Wedding Belles by Haywood Smith and I'm just not enjoying it. Now that's a shame, because I was so thrilled to see this one on the shelf at the library and even though I knew it was going to cut into my progress reading the books that I owe to other book swappers, I eagerly checked it out and brought it home. But I'm not enjoying it. It's starting

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-22119250675628277602009-10-24T15:53:00.002-05:002009-10-24T16:14:07.913-05:00

Participating in this 24-hour Read-a-Thon, it's very easy to get totally single-minded and do nothing but read and blog about reading. So, during this break, I'm taking a few minutes to read the blog postings from two other readers.First up is Ruby Ramblings by fellow BookCrosser and BookObsessed member TheRubyCanary. Ruby lives in South Korea, so for her, the Read-a-Thon began at 9pm. She's

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-32786262735556647272009-10-24T14:51:00.002-05:002009-10-24T15:08:53.735-05:00

I need a break that involves moving around! I suddenly realized that I'm doing a quick little “head nod” every few minutes and I'm not making any progress in my book. Must be due to fixing lunch during my last break and scarfing it down as I started reading Visions of Sugar Plums.Beth Fish posted a mini-challenge asking “bet you're starting to look at your snack stash. I'm not talking meals at

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-15249847874125946222009-10-24T13:03:00.004-05:002009-10-24T13:28:03.784-05:00

Well, I didn't bother to read any posts at the official web site—I just plunged right into posting and reading. I've now finished reading Mark of the Lion and will put into my “To Be Mailed” stack instead of the “To Be Read” stack. But now having taken a look at the official site and the various challenges—which I'm having some trouble figuring out time frames/limits for—I see a nice meme to

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-9762138034430201572009-10-24T10:24:00.002-05:002009-10-24T10:44:57.831-05:00

I'm now at page 238 in Mark of the Lion and taking a pause to update my blog and check the progress in the PUF Swap at BookObsessed. It dawned on me that I hadn't prepared my reveal for the swap and I needed to do that as well as send it via PM (personal message) to a couple of the swappers. Page 238 out of 338; roughly 70% of the way through the book. I am definitely enjoying it and quite

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-16391369238210609452009-10-24T07:01:00.003-05:002009-10-24T07:14:48.747-05:00

So I'm up at 7am on a Saturday, kicking off my participation in Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon for October 2009. This event has been going on for some time, but I just became aware of it. In fact, I didn't even make up my mind whether I was going to take part until last night. But here I am.24 hours? Are they kidding? OK, OK. It's a humane 24 hours. Breaks are allowed for meals and trips to

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-51230339858369258072009-10-03T22:34:00.000-05:002009-10-03T22:39:31.556-05:00

It's hard for me to accept that 2009 is now 3/4 over. I've read 99 books so far this year compared to 105 in 2008. And, my page counts are a bit lower as well. In July, I read 11 books— seven paperbacks, one audio book, and three electronic editions—with 3581 pages. As with previous months, the paperbacks had been offered to members of BookObsessed in swaps and VBBs (virtual book boxes). I did

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-15156649868152382172009-08-30T19:16:00.002-05:002009-08-30T19:28:40.149-05:00

I just love a long road trip because I have plenty of time to read. I just got home from a 10-day trip to Denver. Only four days were actually spent “on the road”, but that was plenty of time to catch up with a number of the TBR books that I’ve promised to various people at BookObsessed. From 20th through 30th of August, I read: Patty Jane’s House of Curl by Lorna Landvik, a paperback owed to

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-82767517559786391122009-07-13T22:26:00.000-05:002009-10-03T22:33:34.811-05:00

Here's a quick roundup of the books that I read during the second quarter of 2009—April, May, and June. April was a very average month in that I completed 9 books containings 2627 pages. Of these, there were two trilogies. Nora Robert's Sign of Seven trilogy: Blood Brothers, The Hollow, and The Pagan Stone. Jacqueline Lichtenburg's Dushau trilogy: Dushau, Farfetch, and Outreach. Every book read

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-78421795861864602452009-06-11T15:16:00.002-05:002009-08-29T21:54:24.199-05:00

This week's prompt at Booking Through Thursday, asks: “There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.) But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-73408406886526262922009-06-10T23:27:00.001-05:002009-06-10T23:42:14.890-05:00

In Monday's post, I talked about how I use features of Amazon's Kindle to mark books that I might want to read in the future. While the “Save for Later” list is available, I don't find it particularly convenient since I tend to avoid using the Kindle's Whispernet to browse the Amazon bookstore. Rather, I am most comfortable browsing and shopping through my laptop and its Firefox browser.

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-8257649025779752542009-06-09T22:35:00.000-05:002009-06-10T00:22:18.639-05:00

Today, I completed the fourth book read in June and the fourth mystery in June. Yes, every book I've read so far has been a mystery. Therefore, I'm going to make sure to pick another genre for the next book. Year-to-date, I've read 22 mysteries—the one genre that dominates my reading list. Well, if you were to combine the science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal books, they'd add up to 23

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-27810849756645666672009-06-08T22:08:00.000-05:002009-06-08T22:09:02.659-05:00

Today's Orbiteer newsletter from Orbit books carries an announcement that Kevin Anderson's first fantasy novel, The Edge of the World was released this week. And, the newsletter asked for bloggers to help promote the book by posting the widget you see below. It's my pleasure to do so—for several reasons. First, is that I have enjoyed several of Anderson's SF novels, particularly his Craig

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-75320204982580635572009-06-07T19:26:00.000-05:002009-06-07T19:26:46.170-05:00

You never know what you'll run across when following random links on the Internet. While reading some old blog posts, I ran across an amazing fact which I've since confirmed by a Google search.Such was his love of learning that the scholarly grand vizier Abdul Kassem Ismael (935-995) of Persia never left home without his personal library. On his many travels as a statesman and warrior, Ismael

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694196.post-61796944491986232362009-06-06T11:47:00.000-05:002009-06-06T11:47:18.986-05:00

It took me just over four months to reach the end of this fascinating mystery suspense novel. First, one must note that I have been “reading” the unabridged audio CDs rather than a text edition. Second, I only listen to books on CD when I'm alone in the car. When there's someone else in the car (like my husband), I let him drive and I stick my nose in whatever book I'm reading at the time.

Elsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08901292005565591814noreply@blogger.com0