New Years Resolutions and Goals

2013 is going to be a great reading year!

Last year, I banned myself from re-reading anything for the entire year. Nothing but new-to-me books for an entire year. I made it, but it was incredibly hard, and is probably the reason I did not make my goal of reading 160 books.  I ended up lowering my goal several times, and in the end I made it to 128. 80% is a passing score, but it was still disappointing to me. I feel like I'd have done better if I could occasionally re-read a book I knew I'd love.

So this year, all that "no re-reading" garbage is out the window. I'll be doing a LOT of re-reading this year.

I have plans to read through as much of Stephen King's work as possible, in publication order, for the most part. I'll be skipping the Bachman books (except Thinner, The Regulators, and Blaze), and reading the Dark Tower series at the end of the year, rather than the beginning, which was originally the plan before I decided to go crazy with the Stephen King re-reads.

I'll also be re-reading Harry Potter. Duh. And some other favorites, like The Lord of the Rings trilogy and some Jane Austen.

Basically anything I want! MWAHAHAHAHA!

We're also continuing with the real life bookclub, which is exciting. I'm really glad that people seem to enjoy it, and it's even growing! We lost one of our members when he moved away, but we've gained a few others, so it's working out. I really enjoy it, and it's caused me to read some books that I really had no intention of ever reading. Some of those I didn't even end up hating! Surprises abound.

January's book is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which is another one that I really had zero intention of ever reading. It was THE "It" book for a while a few months ago, and while I don't really have anything against super-hyped books, I have read a few reviews and it doesn't seem like it will be my cup of tea. But I'm going to read it and give it a chance... who knows, maybe I'll end up liking it. Stranger things have happened, right?

So anyway, this year, my goal is to read 150 books. With all the re-reads that I know I'll enjoy, I don't think I'll have to "OMG I-DUN-WANNA!" reading slumps that I had last year, where nothing at all interested me enough to read it... for weeks at a time. Reading should be enjoyable, dang it!

This year it will be. Or ELSE.

Anywho... if anyone is still reading this defunct blog, do you have any reading goals or plans you would like to share?

New Toy! Nook with Glowlight

Remember last month when I tried out the Kindle Touch? I'm glad that I didn't keep it, because B&N has one-upped them again.They recently put out the long-windedly named "Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight", and of course... I had to have one. Everything that I already love about my Nook Touch, now with a backlit screen?? Count me in!
I got it on Wednesday, and I love it. My new Nook is wearing custom Dark Tower Gelaskin, which is awesome! Easy to customize & order, they shipped quickly, are easy to apply, and they feel great on the device. Not to mention that it looks great all dressed up. :D

The NLT (Nook Lighted Touch - which is what I've been calling mine) is selling for $139 and I think it's well worth the $40 increase over the Nook Touch. Not only for the light, but this one also comes pre-installed with a screen protector with a matte finish, which is usually $19.99 on its own.

I'll admit that the screen has taken a little bit of getting used to for two reasons.
1) The texture. The matte finish makes the touchscreen on the NLT feel quite different from the Nook Touch. It's not as smooth, and initially feels a bit dusty and grainy -- DID NOT LIKE. When I felt the screen for the first time, I immediately drove to B&N to get a screen protector to put on it, and was dismayed to find a big red warning on the package saying NOT to use it on the NLT, that it would damage it. I almost considered returning it because I didn't like the feel that much. But I wiped it down with a soft cloth and I admit that after using it for the last couple days the grainy feel has improved quite a bit, and no longer bothers me nearly as much. And I think I'm pretty picky.

2) The font appears slightly lighter. It's just as crisp and clear, but it's lighter on the grey-scale than the font on the Nook Touch. I believe that this is also due to the matte finish. Here's a picture to compare.

I apologize for the blurriness... I really need a better camera!
But, you can see how the font on the Nook on the right is just slightly lighter than the one on left.

I really don't notice a difference while reading. It's only when looking at them side by side like this that I can even tell. Here's another example, that's maybe better (my camera really doesn't like focusing on words!).

The black in the image on the left is more of a dark grey on the right.
(Flash was on in this pic)

OK, so about the backlight. This is the whole point, right? Yeah. I really like it. It's not 100% uniformly even across the whole screen, but I'd say it's like 95%, which is much better than any separate reading light can do. There's 8 LED lights across the top, and directly underneath them is a strip of bright light, and then right under that it dims a bit, and then evens out:

This is about 25% brightness in a completely dark room.

Again, I honestly stop noticing this while reading - it's only slightly dimmer, and perfectly readable. The light is adjustable, and at some brightnesses the unevenness is more noticeable than others. I've tried it with a variety of settings, and I think I like it best at around 25% brightness. Even that is plenty bright enough to read by in pretty much all settings. In bright background light, it just lightens up the background display for a little contrast, but in dark settings it's quite bright. 100% brightness is VERY bright. It's almost bright enough to use as a reading light for another reader!

Wasn't kidding. O_o

Anyway - I love it. If you're in the market for an e-reader, I would absolutely recommend this one. Little clip on lights can't hold a candle to the backlit e-ink display. No glare, no unreadable dim spots and adjustable.

Good job B&N! :D

For those of you curious - here are front and back images of the Gelaskin:

Wait, wait - Don't tell me!

Last night at my bookclub, my friend Jen announced her choice for next month's selection, "We Need To Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver. She then proceeded to talk about how it was a story of a mother's struggle to come to terms with her son's actions, and...

...And then I tried to stop listening. Not because I was trying to be rude, (though some people take it that way, I'm sure), but because I'd rather experience the book on a clean slate without "spoilers" influencing my experience.The less I know before I start, the better.

I rarely even read book descriptions, because too often, I find that they give too much away.

I'm very open minded about my reading otherwise, which is something of a contradiction. I want to know nothing about what I want to read, yet I'll read just about anything. Yeah, think about that one a minute...  *Head explodes*

I just like to experience whatever a book has to offer for myself first. I don't want to go in thinking a certain way, or expecting anything in particular. I just want to live in that book while I'm reading it and let it share its story with me. Afterward, I'm all for someone telling me all the themes and concepts and symbolism I missed... but I don't want to go into a book looking for it, if that makes sense.

So my questions are:
- How much information about a book is too much?
- Does knowing more detail about a book make it easier to choose what to read, or harder?
- What's your level of tolerance for spoilers?

Let me know in the comments... I'm OK being an odd duck (obviously!), but I'm curious what other people think! :)

My Day As A Kindle Touch Owner

Ooooo... Shiny!

For all of my e-reading life, I've been a loyal Nook owner. I have never been drawn to Kindles at all. Until they made a touch model with a web browser, and X-Ray feature, and MP3 player, and Audible support, and downloadable games, and... and everything! Plus, I liked the sleek look.

And so I researched. I read reviews, I watched YouTube unboxings and reviews and comparisons, I even went to three different stores to play with display models! I did my homework. And you know what, none of that stuff helped at all. Playing with the display models was practically useless. There was no option to leave the demo and play with the actual working device! Grrrr! >_<

And let me just say that the demo on the Kindle Touch is... less than helpful. It didn't go over any of the features that the device has. Instead it covered how to use the touchscreen to change pages while reading, how to use the touchscreen to access the menu, how to use the touchscreen to change the font size, how to use the touchscreen to shop the Kindle Store from the device and how to use the touchscreen to select a book from the library.

All things that are intuitive to touchscreen users and are easy to figure out without the guided tutorial.

So, I decided that I would take the plunge and just buy one, play with it at home, and see how I liked it. I bought at my local Staples store, because not only are they insanely helpful there, but they have a kick-ass return policy. Yay Staples! (Plug, plug)

Obviously, from the title of this post, I didn't keep the Kindle. There were a lot of features, but they just didn't really impress me enough to justify switching from Nook to Kindle. Mainly this was because of the interface. I'm used to my Nook's layout and customization, but I'm open to change if the change is an improvement. I don't think the Kindle's interface was an improvement over the Nook's. Here's why:

• Both have sortable ability to view books by shelves (collections on the Kindle) or by title, or by author, but on the Kindle, everything is in a text-only list view. On my Nook, I can view either text or covers.


• On my Nook, there's an actual homepage with the Currently Reading book, current page number, new reads and recommendations (click for example image), whereas the Kindle's "home" screen is the library. It just felt like something was missing.


• On my Nook, from ANY screen outside of a book, there's a quick-jump button to return to the page I was last reading. If I go to my homepage, the settings, shopping, whatever... my page in a book is only one tap away. I LOVE THIS FEATURE. I really had no idea how much I used it until I tried the Kindle and continually had to find my book again in the library to go back to it.


• I could not find any way to see the percent of the battery remaining. Both have "Device info" areas in the settings, but the Kindle doesn't display the battery info there, whereas the Nook does. I use this a lot as well, considering that the icon isn't exactly the most precise at showing the remaining charge. It's just a little icon, so what looks like a 50% charge may really be 35%. Also, on the Nook when I unplug the USB or charger, it tells me the battery's charge in a pop-up. The Kindle doesn't.


• Searching the Kindle's library for a book was... weird. I searched for a book's title, but instead of taking me to the book in the library, it showed me instances inside the books in my library where the phrase ("Ghost Story") was found. I thought maybe I was doing it wrong, so I tried several more times, and even had my boyfriend try, and got the same thing every time. Maybe there was another option somewhere that I didn't see, but search usually means search, and I was sure that I was searching "my files" in the dropdown. Scrolling through the library list got pretty old pretty fast.


• The responsiveness of the touchscreen wasn't as good as my Nook either. Sometimes it would respond to the lightest touch, but other times I would need to tap several times to get a response. Often there was a delay, so I wasn't sure if it was just slow or if I needed to tap again.


• Also, the Kindle took several minutes to load and display the 200 titles I sideloaded on the device.  I wasn't sure it was even working at first because nothing at all happened for almost 45 seconds after Calibre said the transfer was complete. Removing the titles from the Kindle was the same way. When I load books onto my Nook via Calibre, once the transfer is complete, the titles are there and displayed immediately.

Regarding the other features, the Nook doesn't have a web browser, MP3 player, Audible support (or sound support at all). It does not have the X-Ray feature, or Text-to-Speech, or Easy Reach (for page turns). I did really like that you could pinch to resize (in-book and in the web browser), and also zoom in on images. Also, the e-ink display was crystal clear and crisp - very nice. And the Kindle's internal storage capacity is 4GB compared to the Nook's 2 GB (segmented to allow only 256MB for non-B&N content). So these things were all points in the Kindle's favor. (However, the Nook wins overall for storage space since there's an expandable memory slot.)

The MP3 player and TTS aren't very loud, and the controls were accessed in the menu by touchscreen, so there's no way to control volume without interrupting your reading. Also, I wasn't able to find the X-Ray feature to try it out, so I don't know how it really is to use. I found a video review showing the feature, and it looked cool, but not really something I think I'd use often, since I read for pleasure. I do think it would be useful for reviewers or college students.

Finally, regarding the keyboard, I thought they were pretty similar, except that the Kindle's keys were smaller and spaced out more, and the save/cancel/delete buttons were above the keyboard on the little text window rather than part of the keyboard as the Nook's cancel/done buttons are.

Overall, the Nook may not have all the bells and whistles, but as an e-reader (and e-book storage device), it does the job and does it very well. So I ended up returning the Kindle. I'm glad that I gave it a try though, because the Kindle is really an attractive e-reader, and for someone who is used to the Kindle interface already, I would definitely recommend it. For me, it just doesn't beat the Nook, though. Plus my Nook allows me to customize my own screensavers, which is awesome.

Shadow felt a little betrayed that I'd sized up the competition, but he retained my love, so in the end, that makes him...

Top Ten Spring To Read List

I'm a little late getting this one posted, but I thought I should do one anyway!

So without further delay, here's my Spring Read Top Ten:


1) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2) Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus by Victoria Grossack & Alice Underwood
3) Timeless by Gail Carriger
4) The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
5) The Alienist by Caleb Carr










6) The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
7) The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
8) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
9) Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia
10) The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

Musing: Series Books, FTW!

Musing Mondays are hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

I haven't done one of these before, but I saw it on MizB's blog and I liked the question for today, so I thought I'd give it a try. :) So, here are this week's musing questions:

- Do you read books that are part of a series?

- Do you collect all the books in the series before starting? What if the series is brand new, and the only book that’s been published so far is Book one? As subsequent books in the series are published, do you go back and re-read the preceding books?

To answer the first part: Yes, absolutely! I love series books. I love being able to fully submerge myself in the story, and usually one book isn't enough to do that... or it is, but it leaves me wanting more!

Regarding the second part: It really depends on the series.

There are some, like the Dark Tower series, that I didn't read until all of the books were out. That makes it really nice, because I can just fall into that world and see it through all the way to the end. I just let myself get caught up in the story and the characters and everything and enjoy the ride without interruptions. It's a wonderful thing to be able to read an amazing series from start to finish.

But others, like Harry Potter, I found while new books were still being released, and that was frustrating. It was great, in a way, because I was able to think about the story and theorize about the direction it would take and what would happen to the characters I love (and the characters I hate) and how things would play out. But the waiting to see what the official story will be was torturous. And for Harry Potter, I only had to wait for 2 book releases after I was hooked. Waiting for 5 or 6 of them would have been awful! I did re-read the previous books in the series with each release. I adored revisiting Harry's world, and then at the end seeing more of it was a treat that I anticipated highly.

I will read series books before the rest of them are released, but it's always a tough decision to make that commitment. George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is a big commitment, but one I'm glad I made, because the books are fantastic. But there's no telling when books 6 & 7 will be released. Another example is Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. It was A-MAZ-ING. I absolutely loved it... but now I have to wait for the next book. And the next. And the next... and so on. For another NINE books.O_O

But I can't really complain, because the stories are already so fantastic that reading them again is no chore... it's a labor of love.

Well, actually I CAN complain... WHY AREN'T THEY OUT YET???! *whine* ;)

Good series books make me a happy, happy girl. ♥!

My New Reading Room... err... Bedroom.

I do the majority of my reading in the bedroom. The living room is the Boy's domain... where he does his art, and whatever else it is that boys do. I do have a nice sunny chair in the extra bedroom, but I don't like to read in there very much... I like to sprawl out on the bed and read.

The problem is that my new(ish) downstairs neighbors like to have parties... a LOT... and they like to have these parties in the room directly below my quiet bedroom sanctuary. Unfortunately, it was too much of a distraction for me (seriously... it sounds like they play circus jug-band music every day... I couldn't take it anymore!), and so my boyfriend and I decided that the living room and the bedroom should swap places, because it doesn't bother him.

So we did... This has been a work in progress for 4 days now, and I've finally gotten things how I want them.

And it's nice and quiet and peaceful. *contented sigh*

Pictures below! Read on!

1st 2012 Thrift Store Score! :D

I haven't been buying physical books lately, since I've been doing so much reading on my Nook, so naturally, I haven't been raiding the thrift store book section, either. Which is a shame, because 1) thrift store books are super inexpensive and 2) those purchases help my community.

So, the boy and I were out and about last night and stopped in on a whim. And I bought these:

From left to right:
- The Fate of Katherine Carr by Thomas H. Cook
- Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther King Jr.
- Odd's End by Tim Wynne-Jones

Hmm... 3 books... 3 authors... 3 names each. Weird.

Anyway, The Fate of Katherine Carr and Odd's End are both unknowns to me... just thrillers that sounded interesting, but I was really excited to find the MLK book. A little late for MLK Day, which was Monday, but not the end of the world... But, since I did miss it, I'll definitely be reading this book for Black History Month.

I ♥ MLK.

2012 Goal - No Re-reads!

You hear that sound? That quiet weeping? That's not the friendly attic ghoul - that's me. That's me mourning all of my favorite books for all of 2012, because I've banned myself from re-reading them.

No Harry Potter.
No re-reading The Shining, The Stand, The Dark Tower series.
Nothing I've read before... ever.

Dawson feels my pain. And I didn't even watch Dawson's Creek. That's how painful this is.

Shhh... There there, Dawson. I know. It's hard. But, we'll get through this year, Dawson. We WILL.

I mean, unless the Mayans were right. Then we're just screwed. O_o

Plan ahead or close my eyes and point? How to choose what's next?

A small group of friends on Goodreads do small, informal "mini-reads" with each other. Generally 3-5 people for each book, and we've already planned as far out as September. The list is mostly fantasyish and includes some chunksters like George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire, and the Shannara series as well as some stand-alones like Tigana.

But this planning thing is new for me, and weird, because I never used to plan what I was going to read in advance. Generally, my reading involved whatever single book I was in the mood for at the time, and then I'd try to vary my next book genre as much as possible from the one I just read. So for example, fantasy would lead me to read historical fiction which would lead to horror which would lead to a fun YA, etc.

If I started a series, I'd read through all of the available books in a row, and then move on to something else. But now, I see that I'm not only spreading series out with other books in between, but also reading a lot more at once and in multiple formats.

This has changed my whole reading method! Not that I'm complaining. I love the books that I'm reading and discussing with this group of friends, and I don't see that the change is a bad thing... it's just different.

I'm now experimenting with a list of the next few books that I will be reading (on Goodreads it's my "To-Read_Coming-Up" shelf) to see how this works for me. Here's what the list currently looks like:

1. The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson [Nook]
   
2. This Vacant Paradise by Victoria Patterson [HC for review]
   
3. Act Like We're In Love by Christi Barth [E-book for review/Nook]
   
4. Swan Song by Robert McCammon [Nook]
   
5. Little Bee by Chris Cleave [PB]
   
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell [Audiobook]
   
7. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville [Nook]

The bolded books are scheduled either with a group or for review. I'm curious to see how this works for me, or if I push some of them to the back burner to read what strikes my fancy in between the "scheduled" books... Should be an interesting experiment!

So tell me... How do you choose what to read next? Do you have a system? Do you plan or wait to see what calls your name? Do you even have a pile of books at home waiting to be read or do you buy or visit the library on demand?

Inquiring minds over here! ;)

HarperCollins vs Libraries Lending Ebooks: Round One

*sigh* Oh HarperCollins... This makes me sad. :(

HarperCollins (HC) has recently decided that ebooks licensed to libraries will now be subject to a 26 loan cap, meaning that an ebook can be loaned twenty-six times, and then their license expires and the library would have to purchase a new one in order to keep lending the ebook. If a standard lending period is two weeks, that means that after ONE lending year, the ebook license would have to be repurchased -- EVERY lending year.

Apparently, this number was chosen after reviewing "a number of factors, including the average lifespan of a print book, and wear and tear on circulating copies."

"HarperCollins is committed to the library channel. We believe this change balances the value libraries get from our titles with the need to protect our authors and ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come."

(Quoted from LibraryJournal article)

*sigh* Come on guys... really? I love HarperCollins. They publish some of my very favorite authors. They publish amazing and beautiful and memorable books. But I cannot help but find myself disappointed in them for this decision. I cannot see how this would "ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come."

Libraries are already underfunded and hurting. Libraries are already finding it necessary to reduce their staff, hours, branches and stock. They are already finding it hard to operate and continue to serve their communities as they have done for so long. Every few months, there's news of another library that can't stay open on its own, and (thankfully) many communities rally to donate and support them. 

Libraries are not just places to read and borrow books, movies, and music. These are community hubs that provide many different services to the residents in their area. My local library alone offers many different educational groups and forums, from illiteracy help to special needs student study groups to after-school programs to book discussions and themed book clubs. They offer assistance with searching for job openings and offer help with resumes and applications. They offer the local homeless a warm place to spend bitterly cold winter days. These are just a few of the things that my library offers... Others probably offer even more. How could they possibly continue to offer these services if they had to repeatedly "pay rent" just to keep their stock of books?

My library system does not support ebook lending now, and if instituting a 26-loan cap is the trend to come, I doubt they will be able to do so in the future. Nearly all of the library books I've ever taken out of my library were donated, not purchased. My library has books on their shelves that are decades old -- older than I am in some cases. My library barely has the funds available to purchase print books that are in need of replacement, let alone potentially renew licenses for ebooks that are undamaged and unchanged, but have just been limited by a publisher.

I do understand that print books are subject to wear and tear and eventually need to be replaced, while ebooks do not. I understand that publishers will lose money if libraries only ever need to purchase ebook copies one time and never replace them.

But there should be a reasonable middle ground. This is an industry that needs to work together and support each other. I do not want to see HarperCollins or any other publisher fail, but I do not want to see libraries fail either. A loan cap is not unreasonable, however the extremely low limit they've set is. Books last longer than one year in EVERY format.

How can this possibly be good for libraries that are already struggling? Why not set a loan cap at a realistic figure, taking into account that ebooks DO last longer than print books? Say 300 loans and then renew? That would be a new license every decade or so (depending on lending of course), which is MUCH more reasonable to me. I am afraid that to prevent themselves from having to pay repeatedly on HarperCollins ebooks, libraries will just stop offering them. :(

What do you think of this decision? Let me know in comments!