Meme of Reading....

I rarely do Memes but since it's a reading one, I will give it a go! If you join in, feel free to leave a link to your version below. I found it at The Book Bee

1. Favorite childhood book?
Day of The Triffids by John Wyndham.Read that as a teen. Prior to that, I think my favorite was Black Beauty. I would read every horse book I could find.

2. What are you reading right now?
The Bible (KJV) and Sherlock Holmes. Still. A few others too that I keep stopping and starting (see side bar).
Just finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Great 3rd and final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Bit depressing though.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None. No longer check out books from the library, although daughter has 2 Erin Hunter books on request.

4. Bad book habit?
I have over 150 books in my To Be Read folder. Yikes! The bad habit is that I just keep adding to it.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
See #3

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Oh yeah!  Kindle 2. Would love a Kindle 3!

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
When I used to read paper books, I only ever read one at a time. Now I always seem to have a few on the go, it's easier to dip in and out of them with an ereader.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
No.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
There have been a couple. I shan't name names.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
 The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Never used to until I bought the Kindle. Now I read out of my "comfort zone" at least once a month, probably more.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
End of the world books. Supernatural.

13. Can you read on the bus?
Anytime, Anywhere.

14. Favorite place to read?
In bed.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
Daughter and I share books.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
When I was a kid, yes. As an adult, didn't. Now have no need.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
In a paper book? NEVER.
In my ebooks? Always!!

18.  Not even with text books?
Only in ebooks!

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English. My grade school French and German won't get me much further than directions to the train station and ordering a ham and cheese sandwich.

20. What makes you love a book?
Great character development. Lack of adverbs.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If I am still thinking about the characters during times that I am not reading it then I won't hesitate to recommend it. When I have to turn on Text To Speech while driving/ cooking/ gardening then it's usually a book I can't bear to out down.

22. Favorite genre?
See question about comfort zone.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
None. If I wish to read it then I will.

24. Favorite biography?
I will have to think about that.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yes. Best one ever: Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr. Numerous editions on Amazon. I quit smoking after 18 years of failed attempts. Easy peasy, haven't looked back.

26. Favorite cookbook?
I hate cooking. I have about 30 cookbooks and rarely use the same one more than twice.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Self help book on decluttering. It resulted in about 2 car-loads of stuff going to the thrift store.

28. Favorite reading snack?
Trail Mix.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
The last Harry Potter. Or maybe J.K. Rowling did that, not the hype. I tend not to read the hype.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Don't read critics reviews.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
Try not to do it unless I can be genuinely constructive with my criticism. Or if I am in a bad mood as a result of the book.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Possibly Spanish.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Can't think of any.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Not sure nervous is the correct word, but some books I feel I should read but daren't start are The Illiad and  a few Shakespeare.

35. Favorite Poet?
My husband. Unpublished, but he wrote a poem for me once. :-)
Oh, famous published poet?  Um, I like Kipling.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
N/A. But I have over hundred waiting to be read right now. Used to get 10 to 12 out at a time.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Only once I think.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Usually the one I am currently reading if it's a good book. If I had to pick one out of all the books I have ever read then I pick Roland Deschain of Gilead (Dark Tower series, Stephen King).

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Count Fosco (The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins). Suspected him, didn't suspect, suspected him, didn't suspect. Very clever, grotesque and charming at the same time, but always ruthless.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
I take 'em all!

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
All last December I was in a reading funk.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Couple of Dean Koontz that were just rubbish and I didn't bother finishing.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
The kids. The cat.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Lord of the Rings - fantastic.
The Mist, and The Green Mile - both Stephen King.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
A lot of Stephen King adaptations are pretty bad, which is a great shame.I hope they don't screw up The Long Walk, and The Dark Tower if/ when they are ever adapted!

Twilight. UGH!  Dreadful acting, dreadful makeup.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Around $150

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
If I pay for a book then I almost always get a free sample first.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Bad writing. Bad grammar. Bad ebook formatting. Ridiculous plot.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
By genre.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
Always keep favorites.


51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
I don't avoid. I simply don't read what I don't want to read.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
hmmmmmm....... I will come back to that one.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
I wouldn't read a book that I didn't expect to like.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
I've never been able to get into The Black House, Stephen King and Peter Straub. Surprising because I love SK's book and I really liked The Talisman, which is book #1.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
All reading is guilt-free pleasure reading!

Reading without my specs

I had a new experience recently: trying to read without my glasses. I've worn glasses for about 25 years and I am short sighted. Don't need bifocals (yet!) so thought my close-up reading was fine.

In recent months I have suffered a lot of headaches. Partly stress, partly the weather but mostly because of some new glasses I bought - they were a bad fit and had some damage to each lens that affected my eyesight and gave me blinding headaches. So for the first time in years, I tried to spend some evenings without my glasses in the hopes of giving myself a break from the headaches.

Being so used to spectacles, finding myself lens-free was very difficult. I couldn't see anything on TV. The faces of my family were blurry, and I could not even tell the time on my watch. But I could still read! Oh yeah! That's one of the fantastic features of a Kindle versus a regular book. For those few nights, I could go large print - or even EXTRA EXTRA LARGE PRINT (by the way, it's even bigger than that) until it was large enough to see.

The downside is having to turn the page much more often, but hey ho. At least I could read.

Of course, I could also have turned on Text To Speech. The ebook I was reading supported it, and if my headaches were too bad even for the large print, I could still have the book read to me. So I might have forfeited TV or a movie, or driving or even walking. But even with blurry eyes, I was not deprived of my books.

[Tip: To change text size or turn on text to speech, press the Aa button on the bottom right of your keypad].

Kindle sellout

Amazon's new Kindle 3rd generation 6 inch display has been on pre-order for release later this week, but if you're still hoping to order one and have it next week, you may be disappointed. On the Kindle page right now it says:

New Kindle 3

"Temporarily Sold Out. Order now to reserve your place in line

Due to strong customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Order now to reserve your place in line. Orders are prioritized on a first come, first served basis. Orders placed today are expected to ship on or before September 17th."

I'm not surprised. I saw a life-size photo of the new Kindle on the back of TIME magazine recently and wow, it looks great! I kept holding my Kindle up to it, comparing size and the text contrast, the great new "5 way" .... and an internal debate began!

I've been planning to buy one for one of my kids, either for her birthday in October or for Christmas. That would be a great surprise to her as she just keeps asking if she can have my old one when I ever get a new one. I hadn't planned on buying a new one for myself - I love my Kindle. But oh boy, the new one looks fantastic!

Can I justify buying two of them? And perhaps selling mine? A 3G model for me and a WiFi only for the child? That's so very, very tempting!

Tip #25: Kindle's Popular Highlights.... or not??

I like highlighting on my Kindle. Anytime I read a "worthy" passage or line in an ebook it gets highlighted. Sometimes I paste them somewhere, like an email or a review. It's not something I used to do with paperbooks, but it's a feature I use greatly now that I have it. 


You can access your book highlights online if you sync your Kindle with Amazon: log into Personal Kindle Page - your book notes & highlights to see them. Here you will find your highlights and any corresponding notes you have made.


This option has been around for as long as I've had my Kindle, but with Kindle 2.5 update came a new option: to see popular highlights for the book you are reading, that is to see which sections of the book other people have highlighted too.

This comes in various levels. First of all you have to turn on the option:

• MENU > SETTINGS > POPULAR HIGHLIGHTS > click and turn on

At the basic level, you can see in one place which other passages have been highlighted by other anonymous readers. Within the book, click MENU and scroll to VIEW POPULAR HIGHLIGHTS. This brings up such highlights by other people. From what I can tell, it needs to have been highlighted by at least 3 people to appear as a "popular" highlight. (So you won't have thousands of individual highlights to sift through!)

You can also see the highlights as you read. Passages that have been highlighted by other people appear with a faint dotted line beneath them. You also have the option to see how many people have highlighted it. Beneath the dotted line, in very faint lettering, it will say "x highlighters". You can turn off this latter option by clicking the enter key.




Do you use this feature, or not? I am in two minds. No surprise there, I am indecisive about hundreds of things every day. But I have good reason, I think. For one thing, I find it a little distracting. The dotted line is faint but I still notice it when I turn the page and it takes my eyes from the story straight to the highlight.

On the other hand, if I turn it off, I wonder what I might be missing! Am I finding the pages as exciting/ funny/ inspiring as others?  And if I happen to highlight it, I wonder if anyone else highlighted it also? And if not, why not? Am I really the only person who was moved by that paragraph? Immediately I am distracted again!

I've taken to keeping on the highlight, but turning off the numbers. I don't really need to know that 11 other people liked the same line in a book, do I?

Mockingjay Pre-order for Kindle

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've been clicking frequently to request Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) on Kindle.  It was only a pre-order for hardback, but yesterday I noticed that a Kindle pre-order had been introduced! Excellent! This time we won't be waiting a year for the ebook version; Scholastic Press are letting us have it at the same time as the hardcover.

In addition, Amazon are setting the Kindle ed. price, not the publisher: that means it's currently at $8.45 - the same as Amazon's price for the hardcover. Not sure what will happen to it post release, but I've pre-ordered at this price.

If you don't know the series, The Hunger Games is a trilogy by Suzanne Collins, probably aimed at the YA audience, but a cracking story whatever your age. See my short review of book 1: The Hunger Games

Kindle Active Content (2.5 or higher, DX)

If you have a Kindle DX or Kindle 2, version 2.5 or higher, you can now add software - such as games - to your Kindle.

Currently there are 2 free games available, both word games, and you can shop for them from your Kindle - they appear right on the front  page of the Kindle Storefront.To get them from the Amazon website, search for the term "Active Content". These are the only 2 items currently available for Active Content but I am sure there will be a few more things coming.

The current games are really quite simple and basic, and I don't think they take away from Kindle's core purpose as a dedicated reading device. Shuffled Row is very like a one-person Scrabble and Every Word is an anagram-type game.

If you have a Kindle 1, you won't be able to get these although you can still access Minesweeper, a built-in game.

 If you have Kindle 2 but less than 2.5, time to get your software update.