Here A Page There A Page

Not sure if I've mentioned it yet, but I've got a new job as a nanny for my nephews E and N. It's an interesting experience and I'm never gonna be upset about spending time with my boys so, so far all good.  One of the things that  I never realized...though I am sure any full time caretaker would probably already know this...but sometimes watching small people gets a bit boring.  Seriously one more episode of Dugee and I may lose it lol.

Anyways, lucky for me technology has come to rescue and I have learned to keep a book open on my phone at all times.  It's actually really great, while I am pooping the kids lunch in the oven, or watching them bounce in the bouncy, or build an epic building I can sneak a page or two in.  I also have the advantage of being a super fast reader so I can get a couple pages in fairly quickly.  Since its super easy to pick up and put down my indestructible phone I can still pay plenty of attention to the little guys.  So far in the last week and a half I've gotten three or four chapters read so YAY ME!  At this rate I might actually get a couple extra books in this year...Also gives me an excuse to buy more books online...oh darn.  Happy Reading Everybody!!!!!

Online Extra's

One of the best things about a good series is the world building.  Some authors have created such complete worlds that they cannot put all of their ideas and stories into the actual books.  I love it when this happens 'cause now a days they tend to create online sites for all the extras!  To me reading through some of these sites makes the books that much richer and more complete.  Chalk up another plus for technology.  Here are some of my favorite extra's sites.

The Harry Potter Lexicon - This all inclusive website gives us page by page info, extras and links to even more Harry Potter goodness.  There is so many cross links and rabbit hole possibilities that I can (and have) spent almost as much time clicking through the site as reading the books.

Pottermore - Just like the name implies, this site is more of Harry Potter.  More illustrations, more stories, more details, more interactions.  It is a great way for those of us who love the series to continue to explore the rich wizarding universe.

InCryptid Field Guide - This handy little field guide give those of us who want to delve into the varied and rich history of Cryptids in Seanan McGuires IncCryptid world need look no further then her website.  Add to this a great listing and description of the series books and a whole TON of short stories (seriously gonna have to take a sick day to read them all) makes this site a massively cool extension of an awesomly great series.

A Wheel of Time Wiki - Anybody who has read the Wheel of Time series can tell you that as awesome as it is, a guide is definitely needed (unless you have a photographic memory) to try and keep the people, cultures, places and story lines straight.  I had a friend who tried to do this using colored pennies but had to stop after he almost when bankrupt (teeheehee).  This guide is much easier and bit less bulky.

Tolkien Gateway - When Tolkien wrote his famous Lord of the Rings trilogy, he intended it to be one piece in a larger mythology...that he then proceeded to write.  If one has the time and enough pots of coffee you can discover on of the most detailed worlds in literary existence, with each story and character linking to each other in fantastic ways.  This wiki helps us keep all the strands of this beautiful tapestry from getting to tangled.

Dragonriders of Pern - One of my first introductions to a series where the world was as important as the story and characters, the books of Anne McCaffery and Pern in particular have inspired my imagination and fueled my devouring of books like no other series.  This wiki gives us just a bit more information, and a bit more time in the world I love so very much.

There are a ton other great sites dedicated to other literary worlds of awesome that I can't wait to explore...so off I go down the rabbit hole, you all start on these and we will meet back here and talk ok?  Happy Reading Everybody!

Literary Selfie

This kind of cracks me up :-)

Happy Reading Everybody!

In Praise Of My Smartphone

I am usually of two minds when it comes to technology.  On one hand, I can see (and use) many benefits.  In the medical field it is saving life and limb, we have improved communication (I get to see my nephews every week!) and information is widely available.  I also see it's evils, I see little kids who have to be bribed to put down the ipad and play, people torturing others via social media, and just a lack of appreciating real life.  I think it gets to me the most when I am somewhere amazing and when I look around all I see are people with their heads down checking messages, looking up random stuff, playing games, or posting a selfie (that doesn't even show the place).  I feel like people miss out on just looking at something, or hearing something, or eating something without posting a picture of it.

All of this to say, lately I have totally fallen in love with my smartphone.  Um wait a minute you all say, isn't this a book blog?  Yes it is and give me a second and I will tell you how the two are related.  In my line of work we have bursts of " Ahhh get moving quick, ah crap do this, so that ahhhh..." and then the rest of the time is pretty much waiting around.  We wait to get a call, wait to get to destination, wait on the nurse, wait on your partner, wait on your intern, wait to get back to the station.  In fact I would say up to 75% of our time is spent waiting on something.  Here is where my smartphone comes into play.  I keep a book on in the background almost all of the time.  I can not tell you how much reading I have gotten done in the hallways of hospitals, in the EMS room, or at the station all because I could pop up a book in seconds and get a couple of pages read.  Now of course I don't ever do this while I am with a patient, but all the rest of the hurry up and wait time is fair game.  I love that I don't have to carry a book around with me, I can access almost instantly any book I want, and as long as I have at least one up and downloaded I don't even need a signal.  This has been a sanity saver on many occasions as my job can be quit stressful, and the ability to read a couple pages and calm down has probably saved me from running my big mouth on more then one occasion.  This application of technology is quit awesome and I fully endorse it. Happy Reading Everybody!

Technology Woes

I love technology, I really do.  It's what enables me to write this blog, to get almost any book I want cheaply and instantly. It makes it possible to find literary events, and research fun tidbits.  All kinds of great things are made possible by technology.

Of course then there are the days like today when NOTHING wants to work, where your books disappear from your device, your computer refuses to cooperate, and your phone battery just laughs and laughs and laughs at you.  That my friends is the kind of day I am having.  I had a great rambling all set for today, but alas instead you get my ranting and raving, my apologies.  Tomorrow I will hopefully have this techno-monster under control and have the most amazing posts to make up for this one.  Thanks for understanding.  Happy Reading Everybody!

I Have Purple Hair

So the title of this post actually has absolutist nothing to do with the post, but I couldn't think of a good title, so there you go (Oh but I actually do now have purple hair and it is AWESOME!).   I have FINALLY finished reading Jack Glass by Adam Roberts.  It took me a while to get through it, not because it was bad (it was excellent), but because it has to be one of the densest (in a good way) books I have read in a long time.  What the heck do I mean? you may ask...well read on and I will tell you.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

This will not be a detailed synopsis as all of the myriad details are too hard to keep straight in just a couple of paragraphs, but I will try and give you enough to get the gist of the book.  This is a hard core Science Fiction book broken up into three parts, which I shall go through one by one. We learn right off the bat that the main character in this book, Jack Glass is responsible for all the murders that we will read about...we just don't know how or why.  Our job is to read and try and figure these two questions out.
Part I-In the Box

This is the weirdest of all three parts, it has a much different feel then the rest of the book, but I will get to that in a moment.  In the future, certain prisoners receive an 11 year prison term in which a group called the Gongsi use the prisoners to hollow out and make habitable various asteroids.  A team of seven prisoners and a minimum of survival gear are placed in a small hollow and sealed in.  They then have 11 years to try and survive while making the place habitable and salable.  At the end of 11 years the Gongsi will come and pick up any survivors and they will be free to go.  The seven that are placed in this particular asteroid include the notorious Jack Glass who has been accidentally misidentified as a lesser criminal.  Much scientific theory, economic perusal and of course prison stuff occur through out this story.  The seven men carve out a menial living before starting to turn on each other.  In the end Jack kills the remaining prisoners with a glass knife (hence the name Jack Glass) and ingeniously uses the bodies to make himself a sort of morbid space suit to escape in.  I know this sounds sick and twisted (and in some ways it is) but it is mostly fascinating.
Part II-The FTL Murders
This is a whoddunit type of story in which we are introduced to the future of the Argent clan, the teenage sisters Diana and Eve.  The girls, along with their bodyguards, servants, and tutor Iago have all come to Earth to get used to gravity before Diana's big 16th birthday party.  The girls and their crew live in what they call upland in zero-g so Earths gravity is very very oppressive and debilitating.  Right off the bat a servant is murdered and Diana (who loves to solve mystery's) is put in charge of solving the case (with the sanctioned help of the local police)  We go through several clues and Diana deduces who the killer is in a fairly straight forward manner.  This however is just a small piece of a larger mystery as she soon discovers.  Her and her sister are attacked by the Ulanovs (who are the ruling family) in a bid to take them down before they can start a revolution...I know a bit confusing.  Diana discovers that the murder of the servant and the subsequent solving of the case was actually a set up by her tutor Iago (who is of course Jack Glass in disguise) as a birthday present/test to see if she was ready to lead her family.  Diana decides to trust Iago and runs away with him and the servant Sapho (who was the murderer, but had good cause because the murder victim was trying to rape her).  They head out to the bubble towns of space to hide with the trillions of people who inhabit them.
Part III-The Impossible Gun
This is a more direct continuation of the second story in which Diana, Iago (Jack Glass) and Sapho tell a story backwards.  We start by Jack and Diana bringing a robot to a friend to ensure that the data on it is not corrupted.  After they verify it's completeness they take us back to why the information is so important.  Jack takes the two girls to his own bubble home for safe keeping.  On the way he tells Diana that they have located her sister Eve and that she is safe, Diana is even able to talk with via encrypted channels.  They

arrive at Jacks supposedly unfindable home bubble and proceed to try and formulate a plan.  Alas they are found by a police cruiser carrying the famous police man Bar-le-duc who wants to bring in Jack Glass and gain the reward.  Jack makes a deal witnessed by the above mentioned robot to come peacefully if he lets Diana and Sapho go.  Bar-le-duc agrees and comes down to the bubble to get Jack.  While this exchange happens Bar-le-duc gets himself vaporized by some unknown super weapon.  This sets off a closed room mystery...which the solution to is kind of cheating, but still ends up ok.   We find out that Eva (Diana's sister)is the one who orchestrated the whole downfall of the clan in return for being named head of the Argent clan.  The story ends with Jack declaring his love for Diana as his reason for being willing to trade himself for her freedom.  Diana gently reply's that she does not return his love, and goes on her way.  The servant Sapho stays with Jack and is the one who writes his story.  The End.

I realize that this bare bones synopsis seems a little chintzy, but it is really the best I can do.  I have read other reviews of this book and I am not the only one who is having trouble putting into words my feelings on it.  I loved it, it was rich and dense and at time humorous,  and at times gory and at times horrifying and at times well almost everything.  The author amazingly puts together an old time whodunit type story with a truly hard core Science Fiction story with a bit of a love story a political story and an incredible ability to build this future world.  I kept thinking I was going to get bored with it because it is a heavy read, which is to say there are some very advanced scientific, economic and political concepts liberally sprinkled through out the book, but the author always manages to mix it in with a very readable story.  There were several times where I had to stop and put the book down to digest and think through some concepts introduced because the more I

thought about them the better sense they made and would make my poor little brain go down so many cool rabbit trails.  The author also makes several nods to a ton of different books and authors that add even more flavor to this already full book. I am so used to zipping through books in a couple days it was really nice to read a book that took some effort (in a good way), that I actually had to do some thinking and take my time.  I was initially worried that this "critically acclaimed" book would turn out to be a pretentious slog, but I was so wonderfully surprised.  In my little opinion, this is how your write a smart book, this book does not talk down to the reader, does not expect the reader to have a Phd in astrophysics, nor does it over simplify or ignore laws of physics.  I know this is a super all over the place ramble, but this book was just really awesome in a completely indescribable way.  This book is not for everybody, if you are looking for a light beach read, or a quick space opera this is not the book you are looking for.  This is a book if you are looking to be a wee bit challenged, or want to feel smart, or are just looking for a great SciFi book, then go pick this one up.  I give it 8 out of 10 FTL drives.
What was the last book you were surprised by?  How do you describe a book that seems one thing but once you ready is something completely different? How much do you wish I could write a coherent post?

Disguised As A Book

Sorry my posting has been a little spotty, life has been a wee bit hectic.  I should be maintaining a fairly regular schedule for the foreseeable future.  I think we all know that electronics have completely taken over many of our lives (mine included), but there is something sad about seeing all of these shiny top of the line toys taking over shelf space.  Here are some perfect solutions to help your toys blend in to your awesome book decor (if that sentence did not make any sense, I blame the lack of coffee).

Laptop Book Cover

I love the black and red options for this cover...I think I would get one of each and switch them out depending on my mood.

Old Book ipad Cover

I love the old style of this simple case for your ipad

E-reader Book Cover

These covers are for all of those die-hard "real" book fans who think an e-reader is selling out, maybe this cover will convince them otherwise.

Phone case/wallet

This nifty little book cover does double duty as a phone case AND a wallet...I need one!

Book Laptop Skin

I love these easy on/ easy off skins for laptops and tablets, it's a quick fun way to disguise your electronics, and if you get bored you can always switch it out!

Are you ashamed of all of your electronics that take up precious reading time?  Are electronics disguised as a book more acceptable?  Are a forward thinking technophiles who thinks it is awesome that you can now get books on demand on all of your electronic devices?

Calling All Book Lovers

Browsing for gift idea's and  found some of these phone covers and I am kind of in LOVE, what a perfect gift for any book lover on your list.

Pride and Prejudice Phone Cover

Perfect for any Austenite

Vintage Book Phone Cover

Great idea for the nostalgic types

Colorful Bookshelf Phone Cover
This one is made out of one of my favorite bookshelf pictures.

Cloth Book Phone Cover

I like how this one makes your modern device look like an old book

Alice in Wonderland Phone Cover

An instantly recognizable illustration from one of the best books ever.

These are just a tiny fraction of covers I found that relate to books, and once you get into holders, cord storage and charging stations the possibilities are endless, so go crazy!

Is it weird having a vintage book cover on a modern technological device that may replace books someday? Is there such thing as having to many book themed things?  Do you have a schedule to change out your phone cover on a daily basis so that you can have all the covers you want?

Techno Babies!

I love technology!!!!  As much as I sometimes wish I were a pretty pretty princess in a castle sharpening my sword to go slay dragons, I would still need my ipod, a computer with internet capabilities and Skype! (Also really good indoor plumbing and running hot water for a good shower).  One of the reasons technology is so important to me (besides the fact I love toys) is that my three nephews all live way too far away from me, but with email, texting, facebook, and skype I keep in almost daily touch with them, which makes it much easier.  For instance over Thanksgiving I actually got to play tag with my almost 3 year old nephew lil G using an ipad and computer, he would start at one end of the room run up to the ipad and touch the camera yelling TAG, I would then take of and run back and forth and touch the camera and "tag" him, we had a great time.  I also got some quality face time with my other two cuties the almost 2 Baby R and the recently turned 4 K-man.  Baby R entertained us with songs and some great drawings of "O's".  K-man used his time with us to draw us a picture of The Lorax by Dr. Suess.  This was pretty cool on many levels, the first being I am so stoked at how much all my nephews LOVE books, I love reading to them, they love being read to, they love to look at books by them selves, it's pretty awesome. 

Real picture of my nephews house!

The Lorax is even more special because it is one of my Hubbins favorite books, so to see his little nephew enjoying it is very cool. 

Anyways this is one more reason we should embrace some of this technology, as much as I love a good old fashioned book, I'm glad that there are ways available for me to share these stories with my nephews across the country.

How do you use technology to encourage the next generation to read?  What modern conveniences are a must have if you ever get taken away to a magical kingdom? Do you adore my nephews as much as I do?