As You Wish Behind The Scenes

Happy New Years!  What better way to start of this fresh and shiny new year then to finish a brand new book?  How about three books?!?  Yep, I finally actually took my days off to read instead of picking up shifts lol.  So get ready for some ramblings my friends.  Let's start with...As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden.  Since it is more of a non-fiction book the rambling may be a bit different then normal, but let's give it a go shall we?

In essence this is a behind the scenes/memoir of the making, releasing and results of one of the best movies ever The Princess Bride which is based on the book The Princess Bride by William Goldman who also wrote the screenplay.  I love the book, I love the movie, I love Cary Elwes (Westley) so pretty much happiness all the way around.  The book is written from Mr. Elwes point of view and we follow him from the beginning.  We hear about his audition, how nervous he was and how wonderful Rob Reiner  (Director) was/is (we hear this about 1000 times so it must be true :-) )  He moves on to the intense and insane amount of training he and Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya)  had to go through, not only initially, but in between every take during filming to be ready for their epic fencing scene.  It is described as the best in the book so therefore the two were expected to be up to snuff.  We are with him when he meets the beautiful and enigmatic Robin Wright (Buttercup) and the two hit it off in perfect movie chemistry.  Wallace Shawn (Vizzini) apparently is terrified of heights and failing in his role.  Christopher Guest (Count Tyrone) and Chris Sarandon (Prince Humperdink) add there two cent's about playing the villain's in this amazing show.  Billy Crystal (Mad Max) and Carol Kane (Valerie) kept the cast in stitches during their brief days of improvised filming.  I think though it's the stories of Andre the Giant (Fezzik) and his astounding gentleness that will really get to people who read this book.  Through out the filming we learn on how Cary Elwes was injured twice...once because of his own questionable choice of hopping on an ATV, and once when he insisted on having Christopher Guest actually hit him on the head with a sword...not really understanding how heavy it actually was.  Cary tells us about the dinners that they all shared in each others rooms, and even more about how great Rob was.  We get stories from on set, especially the stunts required for the Fire Swamp scenes.  All of this is supplemented with little blurbs from other cast and crew members tucked in through out the book.  The book ends as most of the casts gets together for the 25th anniversary amazed and thrilled at how much a part of peoples life their movie has become.

World Building - Obviously this is non-fiction, so what we are looking at is how well the author conveyed his environment, and our friend did a great job at that.  At any given time I could tell where and even when we were in the process of the film.  I think sometimes it is harder to convey a real place then an imaginary one because you can't take near as many liberties with your descriptions.

Story - It was pretty cool to see a person who was pretty much in almost every scene of the movie tell us what actually went on.  Mr. Ewles gave us all of it from audition through the 25th anniversary so no time was left out.  That being said I felt that there was a lot of repetitiveness overall and that things were reiterated ad nausea.  This was reinforced by the blurbs of the others that should have added to the story, but instead felt like a borderline word for word repetition of what the author had already said.

Character - Mr. Ewles gave us a lot of insight into the crew and cast of the film.  I felt like I got to know the people behind one of my favorite films better.  Billy Crystals parts were hilarious and made me love him even more.  I have always heard stories of Andre's gentleness, but getting to know his history and his struggles added even more of a glow to this guy.  The only real thing I found lacking was the effusive praise that went on in the book.  Everybody loved everybody so much, no body irritated each other, everybody was perfect...I understand that this was really not a rowdy bunch and that they all behaves for the most part...but the over the top continual and repetitive love fest got a little old.

Editing - The flow of the book was really good.  You always knew where in the process you were so as far as that went good editing.  The tone as I've mentioned (and am now of danger of being guilty of myself) was just so repetitive.  You would feel like the story was about to move on and then BAM we were once again reiterating the wonderfulness of everybody.  I feel like the editor (or maybe the ghost writer) should have found a way to mix it up a little.

The Gift - I know I have mentioned it in a previous post...but I've got to again mention the coolness of how I got this book.  My amazing Mamma took months and I'm sure no small amount of money to obtain a copy that was signed by the Dread Pirate Roberts/Westley/Cary Elwes himself.  This alone would have made it pretty awesome.  The fact that this is a) a book about b) one of my favorite movie that is c) based on one of my favorite books and d) is signed by an actor I adore who e) wrote said book in point a.  So pretty much the worlds most perfect gift.

Book/Movie - Aside from getting some insight into the making of the film...this book made me crave a rewatch of the movie and a reread of the original book.  Upon watching the movie again, it was cool to see some of the secrets that were revealed in the memoir.  You can bet I paid special attention to the fight scenes.  I also need to reread the book.  Hearing about the passion of the author when it comes to what he considers his favorite work...in let's face it, is a hugely accomplished body of work, makes me eager to enjoy it with a new perspective.

Lovefest - Ok Ok Ok, I know I just spent half this rambling complaining about the repetitive love fest...but on a totally different note...it's kinda cool to know that the cast and crew seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience.  You watch movies like this and hope that everything about it was magical, and to find out that it seems like it actually was...well it kind of gets me right in the feels.

Overall Impression - The absolutely awesome amazing way I obtained this book will always give it a very special place in my heart and on my bookshelf.  That being said...I would have loved it even more if it was a bit better written/edited.  Without hesitation I recommend it to ANYBODY who loves the movie (so pretty much any real human with any sort of heart) and can't get enough.  I give it 10 out of 10 on a nostalgia Cliffs of Insanity Scale and a 6 out of 10 on rereadability R.O.U.S. scale.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Fantastic Beasts And Why I Love Them

HI!  Guess what I saw?  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is based on the encyclopedic style book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling and Newt Scamander.  I've had the book forever and when I heard they were gonna make a movie based on it I was a little confused 'cause it's not a story...it's a list of magical creatures and some cool facts about each one.  While the book was entertaining and fun, not so much movie material.  That being said there was not way on God's green earth that I was gonna miss the change to get some much needed wizarding world magic, especially during this holiday season.

So Hubbin packed me up and hauled me to the movie theatre were I was alternating between apprehension that this all new, unprecedented untold story would not live up to expectations (slim as they were as again the book wasn't really a story) of the great world of Harry Potter and sheer and utter child like excitement of the idea of finally having any sort of magic back after years of nothing.  The movie started...and people it was sheer and utter magic!  Sure it had a few dark moments, and sure it was probably twenty minutes longer then it needed to be and with out a doubt the "revelation" at the very end of the movie was just...dumb...but seriously folks over all the movie was incredible.  It felt like it should be over the top, but as Hubbin said, it was just the right amount for us poor HP starved fans.  A couple of highlights.  It was set in New York in the 1920's which was pretty much the awesomest thing ever as it totally set it apart from Harry Potter and expanded into a full fledged Wizarding World.  We got to see a different era, a different place, different customs, different laws and all seen through a foreigners eyes so that the explanations and confusion made sense.

   The over all story tied directly into the history we learned in HP and gave us a connection to our beloved stories without retelling Harry Potter.  The best part for me however was the sheer number of Fantastic Beasts that were shown and discussed in the movie.  Seriously they actually made a movie off this book.  Mr. Scamander's suitcase filled with so many magical creatures each in their own makeshift habitat made me ache to go live in the suitcase.  Beginning to end with a very few minor considerations, this movie was sheer magic and made this Wizarding World fan so very very very happy.  Here is to the next four movies being as good!  Happy Reading Everybody!

Book Sandwich

This week kicks off the start to binging on every sort of food one can find for the next three months.  YAY!  To start us off I found this nifty little book.

This is an art piece/book by the artist Pawel Piotrowski and I absolutely love it!  Go check out the rest of his stuff too!  Happy Reading Everybody!

How To Make A Better Day In 10 Easy Steps

Soooo yeah...it's been a long four days and I am finally home for the next 24 hours.  I am tired, sore, hungry gross and in desperate need of a distraction.  Lucky for me I know just how to do that.
1. Take a long hot shower
2. Put on comfy clothes (unless your home alone then you can skip this step...just make sure the curtains are closed).
3. Pour the wine
4.  Pour some more wine 'cause who are we kidding here we know we are gonna drink it all.
5. Grab a book
6. Grab a couple more books just in case 'cause who knows how long it will be before we move again.
7. Go pee...'cause see above step
8. Turn off your phone...well turn off the ringer...well promise your self you will only answer if it is really really important...or Johnny Depp...or Thor..or that cute neighbor...
9. Read, drink, dream
10. Repeat until all better.
Happy Reading Everybody!

Panic Reading!

Ahhhh!!!!  We just signed on our new house and now I am in a bit of a panic freak out mode.

So if anybody needs me I will be hiding under the covers with my face buried in a book pretending that the real world of 30 year loans doesn't exist.  Happy Reading Everybody!

I Can't Believe I Read The Whole Thing!

With all the crazyness and adulting we have been experiencing lately, Hubbin declared yesterday a day of do nothing we don't want to.  These happen very rarely and we decided to take full advantage.  To make it even better the day was all cloudy and stormy...perfect for some reading.  I have been finding it difficult to read more then a chapter or two of any book at a time so I looked forward to some uninterrupted reading.  Lucky for me I even had a new book on hand.  So we made a big cup of coffee, Hubbin settled on the couch and I snuggled into my favorite giant reading chair.  I found every available pillow to cushion me and started reading.  I kept reading until the book was all done!!!! I have not been able to read a book start to finish like that in ages.  It reminded me of when I was young and still in school without all my adult responsibilities and tearing through whole books in a single day, especially during the summer was actually pretty normal.  My poor parents would have to take me to the library for insanely large stacks of books on a regular basis just so I could keep up.  I very much enjoyed my day of literary immersion and will try and build in a little more down time for the brain freeing experience that is the ability to read with no interruptions.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Lost In A Book

This amazing piece of art pretty much sums up how I feel when I read THAT book.

Get Lost in a Book

Love it!  Happy Reading Everybody!

Ash And Mist

Tough month this month, some amazing things, some not so amazing things and some straight up super crappy things.  This is a month where I am so grateful for the ability to read and the means to feed my addiction, I think it is the only thing that got me through it all.  So let's ramble about one of the books that got read this month of chaos shall we?  Today we shall ramble about Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, the first book in the Mistborn series.  I have read a couple other books by this author and really enjoyed them and decided to pick this one up based soley on that premise.  This book enchanted me, frustrated me, intrigued me, made me think, made me scream, made me roll my eyes, but mostly made me want to read the next book.  Let's get on with it shall we?  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

I'm not even going to pretend to cover this whole book, it is insanely complicated and in depth so I will just go with a quick bare bones summation.  Our book is set in a world of haves and have nots.  We have the nobles, a high class that is beloved by virtue of having ancestors who supported the current immortal ruler (more on that later) and we have the skaa, a peasant/slave class who are doomed to a life of servitude and destitution due to their ancestors opposing the current immortal ruler (talk about sins of the father...).   The world has become a place of falling ash chocking off most living things and a supernatural mist permeating the night.  In this strange and dreary world a man named Kelsier bursts with his unnatural optimism and a talent for Allomancy, which a kind of complicated magical use of metal alloys to produce various results...and as one reader put it a bit of a video game way to fight...it's hard to describe...just read the book.  Anyways our boy Kel decides to get a band of his buddies together to pull of the greatest caper ever, to overthrow the Final Empire.  To this end he gathers a motley crew that includes Breeze: known as a Soother he burns brass and is able to calm peoples emotions; Hammond a pewter burning Thug who enhances his physical prowess; Dockson, who does not burn metal, but can organize a group like nobody else; Marsh, Kels brother who burns bronze to reveal other Allomancers; Sazed a Terrisman (who is apparently different from a skaa and a noble) who possess the unique ability to internalize his own strengths into metals on his body and call upon them later, he is also a Keeper, a person who searches out and remembers an astounding amount of information in a specific area, religion in Sazeds case; and Vin,

a girl who like Kelsier himself is what is called a Mistborn a rare person who can burn all the metals and have all the powers.  With this motley crew of half breed ska (only noble born...or people with noble born blood aka half breeds can be Allomancers) Kelsier comes up with a multi point plan to overthrow the Final Empire.  Vin's part of the plan is two-fold, the first part is to learn to use and control her substantial powers and two to infiltrate the nobility as a young country noble relation of an up and coming house.  Vin of course falls in love with the heir to the most powerful house of the nobility, Eland Venture who of course is secretly sympathetic to the cause.  As one can imagine all kinds of chaos and craziness ensues as the merry band tries to accomplish their gargantuan goals.  Through out the book we find out snippets of the history of this world.  The immortal ruler that has been in charge for close to 1000 years, according to vague stories was a normal guy who went on a quest to defeat the Deepness, and unexplained terror that threatened the world.  The hero defeated the Deepness at the Well of Ascension and then became the immortal ruler.  He then divided the population into the nobles and the skaa, rewarding the people who helped him and punishing those who defied him.  We learn that nobody actually knows what happened, that the world was a different place before the mists and ash and that the Lord Ruler is assumed to be an insanely talented Allomancer.  The story culminates in Kelsier being killed by the Lord Ruler and by doing so becomes a martyr who sparks a new type of religion.  Vin takes the opportunity to infiltrate the Lord Rulers castle and after more madness an mayhem guesses the Lord Rulers secret.  He is not the Hero everybody thought he was, he was a Terrisman who felt that the Hero was the wrong man for the job and took his place some how.  Using this information Vin pulls out his embedded metal and the Lord Ruler dies.  Vin's love interest takes over as ruler (in a good way) and we end the book with much contemplatives.

World Building - This world is a mix of a very complete medieval style fantasy world with a complicated government and a magic based on metal and a whole lot of confusing details.  I feel like the world itself is fairly complete, but the author threw in a ton of stuff that was never really explained.  This led to a world that worked, but had gaps...not sure if it was successful or not...yes on some points, no on others...but yes...I felt that there were a lot of contradictions that were never satisfactorily resolved and I admit that it took me out of the world on occasion.  That being said the parts that were complete, were very complete and I felt I got a good grasp on the feel of the parts we were shown at the very least.

Story - This was very complicated story, not in a bad way necessarily, just a lot to take in.  I very much appreciated how the author understood that most societies are not based on "good" and "bad" but on various nuances, individuals, and groups.  The author also made sure to have a mix of broad world scope stories and small personal stories.  I love it when stories are told like this, I feel it gives perspective and realism to the who thing.  The only part of the story that I really had a hard time with was the history.  The whole of the story is based on the idea that their was an epic event in this worlds history that led to this point.  The history is never really made clear which leads to frustration and confusion...that being said the author made sure that to get the point across that the reason WE don't know the history, is because the inhabitants of this world don't know it either.  This at least gives a plausibility, but it is still frustrating.

Character - I loved the characters in this book.  They were all varied and individual with stories, families, histories and just enough of a twist to make them all interesting.  Kelsier has every right to be a depressive, morose, violent leader, but he makes a point to be as positive as possible...at least in public.  I love watching his struggle to maintain an optimistic outlook despite the myriads of things against him.  He is never unrealistically cheerful as we get to see the struggle behind the smile.  Vin is the character who has to essentially reassess her whole life, she is thrust into a whole new world and her views on all kinds of things have to slowly change and the journey is both realistic and fascinating, also for once, a character who doesn't LOVE to read :-).  Sazed is the type of character I love because of his extensive history and his different outlook on life.  His views on religion and belief especially intrigue me.

Editing - Overall the editing of this book was pretty good.  For the most part it flowed and made sense, I kept reading it and didn't realize how quickly I was turning the pages...always a good sign.  The format was a little skippy with the view point switching with no warning, making it a bit jarring when I had to wrench my brain to a different character.  Also a couple of times things were mentioned without any explanation, like since the characters knew what was going on, we should too.  This made me flip back and forth a couple times 'cause I thought I may have missed something...not cool dude.  I did however love the bits of journal entry at the top of each chapter, it gave a cool history vibe to follow along with, especially with the twist at the end of the book.  I also like that the journal was talked about in the book, a bit of meta editing.

Allomancy - So much to say about this central magic of the book.  First off I found it a bit weird that the metals used in this fantasy world were all Earth metals...kind of made me pause and wonder if their was a connection.  I liked the idea of Allomancy better then I liked the execution of it in the book.  The use of it was fairly consistent which was good, every element assigned to a certain action that when used did a certain thing. I like the idea that most people with Allomancy were only able to use a single metal with the rare few being able to use more then that.  I also really appreciated that Vin saw the wisdom in learning from Allomancers who specialized in one metal to truly fully appreciate the full potential use of each metal.  I still don't understand how/why only nobles could use Allomancy.  Are the nobles and skaa two different races?  Was the Lord Ruler able to "gift" Allomancy to certain people?  How many generations removed could Allomancy be genetically viable?  Like I noted earlier, another reader stated that a lot of the Allomancy sequences read like a video game, which is a very accurate description.  I think the bigger problem was that the fight sequences were numerous and all felt the same.  Obviously Allomancy is a central part to the books, I just wish it was better explained and more streamlined.

Religion - I think one of the best things about the fantasy genre is the ability to explore sticky topics like religion with out offending to many people.  I absolutely LOVED the questions of religion posed in this book.  Let's star with Sazed and his Keeper memory.  In this world, the only "acceptable" religion is the one where the Lord Ruler is considered the Sliver of Divinity.  During the...whatever it is that happened, religions were the last organizations to fall to the Lord Ruler.  According to Sazed it wasn't because of the religion, but because of the belief that people had.  Sazed as a Keeper has over 300 religions in his head and is working on discovering more.  As he interacts with people, he tries to find a belief that fits them, to give them something to fight for.  I like the idea that belief...in whatever..is the true important part.  This inspires Kelsier, who figures out how to turn himself into a religion, knowing that his death will spark the rebellion needed to win the fight.  This brings up uncomfortable comparisons with the Lord Ruler who essentially did the same thing.  I  just love love love when a book makes me think, and this aspect send my brain reeling in a million directions.

Genetics - One of the things that was never really clear to me was the genetics of this world.  I can't tell if the world is made up of genetically different races, or if the Lord Ruler made different races, or there were some differences before the Lord Ruler and more after...I don't know, it's all really confusing.  It seems that maybe the Terrismen were a separate race from...I don't know what they were called originally and then the Lord Ruler did his Well of Ascension thing and then maybe turned everybody else into two races, noble/skaa.  Also what are the nobles called?  Is there race just called the nobles?  Are there more races/people we haven't seen yet?  Are the mist wraiths and kanda (which we also get very little explanation for) of the same stock? Animal? Alien? Demon?  SOMEBODY JUST TELL ME?!?

Overall Impression - Many aspects of this book intrigued me, made me thing and kept me turning the pages.  Many aspects of this book drove me crazy, made me flip back and forth and just generally made me scream.  It is complicated, full, and overall pretty good.  I want to keep reading, I want to know more, and I have a feeling that I will like the series as a whole better then I will any individual book...which is not a bad thing per se, I just have to read the books with the whole series in mind.  I give this book 7 out of 10 metal coins and will continue the series and see where it takes me.
Happy Reading Everybody!

Chilly Read

I have a quick break between work...and well work to give you a quick picture of how I look right about now.

Snowman Reading

Yep in between patients I've been trying to get a couple of pages in resulting in me turning into a reading snow person, teeheehee...I think I might need some sleep...Happy Reading Everybody!

This Year I Will...

Ok time for some literary New Year Resolutions.  A few of these may sound familiar, but hey if at first you don't succeed...pour a glass of wine and read again.

1.  As my nephew Lil G would say, I need to get off the videos.  I find myself lamenting my lack of reading time, yet spend an insane amount of time in front of some sort of screen.  This year I am going to try and set out at least an hour if I can most days to read.  This shouldn't be hard as I love love love reading (obviously), but I just need to keep better rack of my time.

2.  I need to find all of my books.  This year I have bought, been given, or been loaned a ton of books.  The problem is I'm not exactly sure where I stashed most of them (this would not be a problem if I had more book shelves my sweet Hubbin).  So I need to scour the house and find all of these cool books and read them.

3.  I want to find and read some of the older books that I have discovered through various means.  To often my selections are based on what is screaming at me from the book store shelf and I know there are a ton of older books that I am dying to discover out there so I need to make a conserted effort to find them.

This is what I am going to attempt in my reading life this year...we will see how it goes.  Let me know what your literary resolution is.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Dust Jackets

Do you know what I hate?  Dust jackets.  Yep those paper/plastic covers placed over books (mostly hard cover) that are there to protect and add color and pictures to our tomes.  I usually take them off the minute the book is purchased.  Usually 'cause the sound and the slipperiness of it drives me crazy when I am trying to read, but also 'cause the book underneath is usually so much more elegant looking.  I also like how my series that are in hard back look all similar without the dust jacket and even the most ludicrous of books looks awesome on my book shelf when in it's naked glory.

The funny thing is that as much as I hate dust jackets...I can't bear to throw them away...yep I'm a weird one folks.  I don't know if I feel guilty throwing away any part of a book, or feel at some point I might regret getting rid but for some reason they all get kept.  So I now have a big giant pile of dust jackets stashed on the bottom of on of my book shelves just waiting for me to figure out what to do with them.  If any of you have any ideas let me know.  Until then I've gotta go take all the dust jackets of my new books and add them to my stash.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Post Holiday/Work Sleepys

Hi Everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick...any Simpson fans?  anybody?)  If I seem a little loopy it's 'cause I am.  Holiday's were awesome (yay more books) and my 48 straight hours at the fire station were insanely busy, but so very productive AND I even got some reading done.

That being said, I am beyond exhausted and I have another 24 hours coming up, so this is gonna be short and sweet.  In fact this is all there is to it :-)  Happy Reading Everybody!

Christmas

The Birth of Jesus
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Book Of Thankful

Sometimes I think I should write a book of things I'm thankful for.  That way when life is sucky and it feels like the whole world is never gonna get better, I can open up my book and remember how awesome I have it.  Here is what the first page would look like

Things I'm Thankful For

Part I of Endless

Even though it has been a rough year for several of my friends and family, we are all still here and all still kicking, me people are seriously rocking it.

When watching all the horrific events that happen in the world, I can always find examples of love and courage being shown, turning these awful events into a showcase for how amazing human beings can be to each other when they need to.

I not only have an amazing family of my own, but I have multiple adopted families who take such great care of me, even when I am not at my best.

My firehouse and crew who make my life worth waking up for on a very regular basis.  Whenever I am feeling lost or overwhelmed, one exhausting shift at station 13 with my girls and boys and I am all better.

Used book stores that make my book buying obsessions easier and cheaper and more frequent.

My over flowing bookshelves that make me smile ever time I walk in my door.

The ability to read.

This is just the start and I think I will constantly add to it so that I can always know that the world is a better place then I think it is sometimes.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Just Reading In My Coffee Cup

Long week so far...just a couple more to go.  This pretty much sums up how I wish my life was (just substitute dark purple hair for the blond).

Happy Reading Everybody!

Wreck It

Spent the weekend hanging out with my lil bro (known as Bubby to me), his awesome wife and the Hubbin.  We got to hang out down in the National Mall area in the worlds most perfect, drizzily, cool October weather WOOHOO!  As we wandered the museums, Hubbin and I headed straight for the books.  One of the books I discovered made me squeal in delight.  It is called Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith and it is so cool.

I love the sheer wrongness of purposely destroying a book.  The best part though is the insanely creative ways people have come up with to "wreck" this book.  I have seen people purposly ignore directions, create art from the ruins, and come up with completley out of the box ways to follow the instructions.  This is an interactive book that encourages all the best part of reading and writing, creativity, different thinking and doing things your own way.  I want this SO BAD!  Happy Reading Everybody!

Books Have Feelings Too

During one of our random conversations, Hubbin wondered aloud if using a bookmark made a book feel anal probed...yep conversations with the Hubbin ladies and gentlemen.  As weird as that remark was, it did get me thinking what books would say if they could talk.  Would they freak out every time I read in the tub?  Would the brag to the other books on the shelf when they got taken on vacation?  Would they feel lonely if they didn't get read?   I can just imagine the conversation now as I once again pull my worn copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe off the shelf.

TLTWATW: "Oh no not again...can't she read something else for a change?  My spine is cracked and tired."

Other book:  "Oh shut up, at least you get read, I've been sitting here so long I'm covered in dust!"

Book still in my vacation bag: "Hey at least you get to see daylight, I've been stuck at the bottom of this back since July"

Fancy Old Hardcover collectors edition book:  Hush children, thou all gettest a chance to interact, or at least see the reader...I am stuck all alone behind this glass, never to be held or read, only to be viewed through the barrier as an untouchable treasure."

Ebook: "I don't even have pages to turn...(sad face)"

It may be that I have to much time on my hands...or not enough, but I really think my books have some of the personalities and now must go pull out and hug each and every one of them...even the old collectors editions, just so that they don't get depressed and lose their pages (or words in the case of my e-books).  I encourage you all to go do the same.  Happy Reading Everybody!

The Perfect Day Of Reading

I have really been getting my reading on lately and I have to tell  you that it has been WONDERFUL!  Today is no exception with the perfect fall weather, a cup of coffee, my snuggly blanky and a good book.

So instead of one of the many many ramblings I had planned, I am going to go read some more.  Happy Reading Everybody!

"The Book"

Here is an awesome piece of art that I stumbled upon on Deviant Art.  I really really love the mood it evokes.

The Book by Zancan

I like all the different little pieces and over feel of this piece, hope you enjoy it too.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Renn Fest!

Woohooo!  It's the last day of August, which means in my twisted little brain I can put out all my fall stuff tomorrow WOOOHOOOO!!!!!  I've been waiting for this since July.  To this end I got to do one of my favorite summer to fall transition events The Maryland Renaissance Festival.  This is one of the events I look forward to all year, and go at least twice while it is going.  I love this festival for many reasons, are you ready to hear about them?  Good.
1) People can be whoever they want, you want to do a ton of research and dress in a historically accurate manner...go ahead.  You want to dress like your favorite book character...sounds like fun.  You want to do your own special steampunk, fairy, Dr Who with a jedi sword and green man mask...well why not.  I have seen everything from jeans and t-shirts to the most elaborate and amazing costumes.  It is like walking through a library and seeing all kinds of stories playing out in front of you, pretty awesome.

2) You get to be part of a story.  Seriously, all of the various actors, performers, and shows are pro's at involving the audience.  Wether it be a quick chat with the King while you are walking around, participating in a magic show, or getting heckled by a singer (yep, here the performers heckle the audience as much as it is the other way around), you will always be able to be an integral part of the show.  All of the workers, shopkeepers and artisans also stay in some sort of character or another adding to the feel that you are walking around in a book.
3) Food on a stick and as much beer/ale/cider as one can drink...also turkey legs.
As you can probably tell, I love love love the Renn Fest as us pro's call it.  It does have the side effect of me wanting to quit work and read for the next month or two...but that is most of the time so...anyways I am stoked that the Renn Fest is here, that fall is just around the corner and that I get the opportunity to be a part of a cool, imaginative event and can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks.