Amazon announces a new color Kindle!

Ok, so I love my NOOK by Barnes and Noble. But I think I really am sold on the functionality of eReaders in general.

Today I saw that Amazon announced the ability to pre-order their new color eReader. The amazing thing is that they've undercut B&N quite solidly at a price of only $199.99.


It's time for me to begin further research, readers. Our 10 year old son has been saving his money all year for the purchase of a NOOK Color. I knew that when the time arrived I would have to learn more about the differences and prices of color eReaders compared to tablets.


Only time will tell what we'll end up purchasing for our son. With the fact that I am guessing it will stream free video as a part of our Amazon Prime membership, I am really, very intrigued. I do believe this Christmas season holds lots of intrigue regarding eReaders and tablets. It's going to be a banner year for sales, in my opinion. I can't wait to see what other products will be unveiled and what price wars may ensue. A recession hand-in-hand with a boon of technological changes could produce a lot of fun for some of us.


I've almost decided that I want to "trade up" to the latest model NOOK. I visited our local
B&N store this week to compare the new model to my NOOK original. I really like the functionality of the new, completely touch-sensitive screen and the quicker method of highlights and notes without needing to also bookmark a page. The highlights and notes are labeled by more than the page number also, which will make them easier to maneuver.


A Google List of sites posting news of Amazon's Kindle Fire eReader

This site will answer a lot of Kindle Fire FAQs. (It won't read NOOKbooks or other epub ebooks.)

PCMag Comparison guide for Fire vs iPad2 vs NOOKColor

It's National Punctuation Day! (I used two punctuation marks.)

Today is National Punctuation Day.

Here is a site that will tell you all about it:
National Punctuation Day


Use that site to join a poetry/punctuation contest. The site also has links that you may enjoy, such as these:
Cake Wrecks ~ Cake Mistakes


Old Navy T-Shirt Mistake (as noted by the UK's Daily Mail, oh! the horrors)

A Haiku for book lovers...

I entered a haiku contest recently with this submission:

      book lust I do have 

need a new book to fix that 

       free fix...library


Now it's your turn. Take a stab. Comment with your book or reading-related haiku!


www.ehow.com How to write a haiku

Time to check in for the Jane Austen Reading Challenge

Are you reading Jane Austen titles this year or reading Jane Austen-related titles?

Have you joined the Jane Austen Reading Challenge?

I read Pride and Prejudice in February of 2010. Living in England convinced me I'd probably love her writing; and I do!

I finished reading Emma in March 2011.

I am reading/listening to Northanger Abbey right now.

I would like to read at least one more Jane Austen title during 2011.

Have you read any of Jane Austen's books? Do you have plans to?

A Faithful Journey

JaneAustenProse.com

The Life (and Lies)...

BoundTogetherForGoodAustenChallenge

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

This story is a historically-based fiction about Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, during the second world war. I wish we'd been able to visit there while we lived in England...

The story relates the creation of (and the events that follow) their literary society.

It was a fun book. The story was told by the means of fictional letters. I like stories told in that format. I have to say that I really expected to rate it higher than a four, but the end seemed very abrupt to me.

All told, if you like historically based fiction or books about WWII, it's worthy of your time.

Ask me for book recommendations.

I've had friends on Facebook ask me for personalized reading recommendations because they know I have this site. Feel free to ask me to do the same for you. It's a bit of a time investment sometimes but I really enjoy doing it.

One friend just told me she read thirteen of my recommendations in the past few months! I lived hearing her reactions to the books too! I thrive on trying to figure out what books a person will like. I find that very interesting.

Comment on this thread if you would like me to make some book recommendations for you. Let me know: what genres you enjoy, some titles you've liked, any titles you've hated, etc.

For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men by Shaunti Feldhahn

EXCELLENT. My husband and I are VERY similar and communicate wonderfully but this opened my mind to a couple things which I will always see differently from now on. 


This is my FAVORITE marriage/intimacy-related book.

Even a read through the titles will give you a glimpse at the depth of the contents of this book:


1 Lightbulb On! (How I Woke Up To What I Didn't Know About Men)


2 Your Love is Not Enough (Why Your Respect Means More to Him Than Affection)


3 The Performance of a Lifetime (Why Your Mr. Smooth Looks so Impressive but Feels Like an Imposter)


4 The Loneliest Burden (How His Need to Provide Weighs your Man Down, And Why He likes It That Way)


5 Sex Changes Everything (Why Sex Unlocks a Man's Emotions (Guess Who Holds the Key?))


6 Keeper of the Visual Rolodex (Why it's So Natural For Him to Look and So Hard to Forget 
What He's Seen)


7 Chocolate, Flowers, Bait Fishing (Why the Reluctant Clod you Know Really Does Want Romance)


8 The Truth About the Way You Look (Why What's on the Outside Matters to Him on the Inside)


9 Words for your Heart (What Your Man Most Wishes You Knew About Him)


This is NOT a book written by a woman even though the author is a woman.

This book was written by doing a great amount of research and asking MEN what there responses to marriage/intimacy-related questions would be. The author then compiled the results and explains them in depth.


The major insight I gained from reading this title was financially related.


I asked Hubs if he felt the way that was described in the book (on that particular topic)...
He replied "Yes. Without a doubt. It never leaves my mind." This means that first and foremost he sees himself as a provider.


From that moment my approach to our family's expenditures changed drastically even though I never felt I was far outside any bounds. He noticed my changes immediately and told me so. One thing we used to occasionally argue about just a bit was...finances. 
No more.


Now, there are still times when there is more month left than money but Hubs knows that I do my best to budget our spending so that he doesn't have to worry about things.


This book is VERY INSIGHTFUL!

Even if you have never read a book on marriage and intimacy you might really enjoy this selection. Its depth and frankness is tremendous. It's my favorite book in this category, for women.


Read the first chapter here:
ForWomenOnlyFirstChapter

5,000th site visitor!

Be the first to comment on this post and you'll be considered to be my 5,000th blog visitor!
You'll also receive a small prize from me!

Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan

I really wasn't sure about reading this book but I enjoyed it!

~~
Here is the book blurb:

"Bibi Chen is dead.
And she wants to tell you a story.

Busineswoman, patron of the arts and socialite Bibi Chen has been killed in mysterious circumstances. Her death may or may not be linked to the disappearance of eleven American tourists in southern Burma. They are "Following Buddha's Footprints" along the Burma Road, on an expedition dreamt up by Bibi. But when her body is found just days before the departure date, they go without her. Robbed of their guide, it isn't long before the travellers stumble into difficulty with wary tribes and the military junta.

Seduced by notions of Shangri-La, and oblivious to the cautionary cries from the watchful presence of Bibi, they continue on their ill-fated journey, becoming ever more lost in the heart of the Burma jungle ~ where a desperate tribe await their saviour...

~~~

Since the book is about 13 people the author had to take the time to intruduce the characters to the reader and that took a while. I didn't have too much trouble remembering the traits of each character though, they were each different enough. As I read this book I experienced the same thoughts the author is investigating in her writing: all actions, even the best, have side effects which weren't intended and are undesired. Is it ever possible to truly choose the best option?

Amy Tan is also the author of The Joy Luck Club which I have not yet read.

I love seeing the differences between American and British versions of books.

My particular book happens to be a British version as I bought it while we were living there. I prefer its cover...but then again it's MINE and I do believe that affects our affinity to our books.

At Home by Bill Bryson

What an incredible book!


I have to say that I am a fan of Bill Bryson's writing. I qualify that because I once tried to listen to him read one of his own titles as an audibook. He writes with such great humor but, boy, did he put me to sleep when he read! I had figured he'd be an amazing reader of his own books. Ah well... 


I find him quite funny as a writer. He easily bounces from thing to thing. In this book he certainly has a million and one opportunities for doing so! The whole book is about ONE single topic, the home. The book explores from the time of the earliest homes on earth up to modern day. On the way he looks at just about every possible related topic too!


If you like conversations that meander from topic to topic then this is a book you should pick up!
Bryson begins atop the house he lives in and while tracing its past he goes from room to room in his story-telling. As he discusses the roles of each room he also discusses related topics to each room.





Let me see if I can think of a few of the things explored in the book:


telephones and their place in the home
heating of homes
home libraries
gardening by gardeners and then by homeowners and...even (gasp) women
mice and other pests around the house
and of course the bedroom


~~~I only wish I had the ability to go through my notes for this book and post more in-depth. Again, this was a selection I checked out from our library's ebook lending service. Once the lending period for the book you are reading expires...so do your notes. (Unless you choose to renew it and are able to.) Unfortunately, when my book went *poof* so did my bookmarks and highlights and notes.




At 512 pages this selection is a pretty hefty one. It isn't filled with quite as much humor as most of Bryson's books are. Still, I enjoyed it a lot.

Tell us the three books you most often recommend to others.

For me the top two are easy to decide:


The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Niffenegger's writing is somewhat mesmerizing. She was able to make me believe in the possibility of a "chrono displacement" disorder that could cause people to travel through time. I read it, read it again, told my best friend and brothers to read it. I gave my hubby and audio copy to listen to on his way to 
and from work. I couldn't wait for the film to be made. 


One Day by David Nicholls
I don't love love stories really. However, Nicholls' way of writing this book by looking at one particular day every day over a period of twenty years was brilliant. Dex and Em, Em and Dex; they just belonged together.


My third most recommended book would probably be (since late April 2010) 
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.


Prior to that date and still, at times, the other possibility would be an author 
and not a particular title.


I would recommend Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series or his Nursery Crime series depending on whether one was looking for a laugh with some cultural 
and literary references or just a laugh.


What are the books or authors you find you recommend the most?