Fun Quote and Free Audio books

This makes me laugh:

"...closely followed by [the bulldog] Smith who, now convinced that interesting events were in progress which might possibly culminate in cake, had abandoned the idea of sleep and meant to see the thing through."

- PG Wodehouse, Three Men and a Maid

Yay! I love events that culminate in cake!

Related, does it count as reading a book if you listen to the audio book? I ran across a fun site a bit ago, Librivox.com that has free audio books of books in the public domain (like Project Gutenberg but audio). They are read by volunteers but I'm on my second one now (the first was Three Men and a Maid and I just started The Enchanted April) and they seem to be of good production quality and so far enjoyable to listen to. So if you like audio books, go check it out! Thanks to the site, I've increased my audio books from under 20 to over 50.

Go free stuff!

What I'm Reading

Apparently, I have rediscovered the world of books. Go me.

While Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ultimately wasn't a winner for me (I sort of checked out on it in the last 80 pages), it has made me rediscover that I actually like reading books and that the internet does not truly contain everything. (Plus, I pretty much exhausted the internet's entertainment a couple of months ago).

So in my desire for more (and better) entertainment, I have returned to published books. Right now I'm reading two of them and I'm liking both of them so I thought I'd share.

The first one, In Defense of Food, is so far pretty interesting. Mind you, I'm only on page forty. But it is basically about viewing what we eat in it's proper context - that is, as something that should be food, rather than just nutrients. It makes me want to only eat things that have ingredient lists that I understand. Which really rules out a lot of foods! But it makes a lot of sense. After all, Dan and I have totally changed our views on cat food after doing some research on what things like "animal byproduct" and "corn gluten meal" actually mean. Why would we not want the kitties to eat that junk and us still eat it? (Seriously, check it out).

The second book is a YA novel, Little Brother. This one takes place sometime in the future when everyone is being watched (and Vista is an "antiquated operating system" - so what, five years from now maybe?). I'm only into it by three chapters and have just gotten to the actual plot (or the startings of) but I find the character's voice really engaging and fun. Well, the first part (pre-plot) was fun. Now that the plot has been introduced, it is still engaging but much more impactful. Plus, it can be classified in the same dystopia/utopia type books that I enjoy so - 1984, Brave New World, We, The Handmaid's Tale, Utopia X ,etc, etc.

I don't know exactly why I love this kind of books so - it paints such a bleak picture of the future (and as wacky as some of the ideas in these books seem, reality seems to be edging closer and closer to them - this seems particularly true with Little Brother), but it probably has something to do with the inner rebel in me enjoying seeing someone resist such a restrictive system, even if the system is not destroyed in the resistance. Brave New World has my all-time favorite ending image (with the feet turning one way, then the other) which is ironic because usually I am such a happy ending type girl. But that ending? Pure awesomeness. Dystopia/utopia books are pretty much the only exception to my HEA rule. Yeah, I love these types of books.

Off topic for a moment (okay, further off), Jasper Fforde (who I love) has a new book coming out at the end of the year, Shades of Grey, which fits into this category. I pre-ordered it like three months ago. It seems more serious than his Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series but I still have high hopes for it.

Anyway, back on topic. I've already been so enthralled by Little Brother that I've checked into Cory Doctorow's other books. And super-neatness, he allows (and encourages) distribution of free ebook versions of his works. Seriously. How cool? So tottle off to Cory's site, search around and download a book (clicking on the book cover will take you to that book's page and the DL link is in the top menu bar which will then take you to a page to select the format you want to DL the book in). If his others are as enjoyable as Little Brother is so far, I'm going to be a big fan.

Anyway, those are two of the books I'm reading (and enjoying) right now. Both very different books but so far I'd recommend both of them. Hopefully this will last all the way through the book (unlike some zombie-related books that I won't mention here).

Yay books!

Bookness and Babbling about Women

I've been reading more lately. Mind you, not as much as 2005 when I read 153 books, but I'm on page to read more than the 20 I did last year. I recently finished Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next: First Among Sequels. The only bad thing about it is that it ended in a cliffie. *sigh* It frustrates me when books do that, but I was sort of expecting it. The third in the series ended in a cliffhanger, too. But even with the detestable cliffie, I really enjoyed the book. Though I really want to know more about the black market cheese....

Wednesday night, I just finished another book, Max Barry's Jennifer Government. This was a fun book; it was about a society that had taken capitalism to the extreme. The government was unable to pursue criminals unless they got funding from the victims or their families, corporations such as Mattel and McDonald's operated schools, and everyone's last name was the name of the company they worked for (thus the name Jennifer Government). I do think this book suffered just a bit having been read after Jasper Fforde's book (because I so enjoy Fforde) but it was still a good and worthy read.

It took me a bit to figure out who I needed to get attached to character-wise, but wasn't like Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue where I disliked the main characters - there were just a good number of characters and it took a bit to figure out who was "good" and "bad" and who was a focus and who was a more side character. Anyway, I love utopia/dystopia books and this one was one that qualifies but unlike so many books in that genre, Jennifer Government wasn't depressing and dark. It was fun, ironic and humorous, but a little disturbing, as are all good utopia books. (Though I still love me some disturbing, dark and messed up dystopia books - the ending of Brave New World with the feet rotating different cardinal directions is the best ending ever).

The combination of reading Thursday Next: First Among Sequels and then Jennifer Government did allow me to realize something: I have difficulty liking female protagonists. Thursday Next is an exception to this rule. The way Fforde writes all of his female characters is enjoyable and likable, well except the ones he wants to be annoying but they are annoying for the reasons he wants them to be annoying. But Jennifer Government was a bit iffy for me. Ultimately, I liked (but not loved) her; it just took me a bit to warm up to her. It says a lot for Barry that I actually did.

For some reason, my dislike is not just for female fiction characters. I also tend to shy away from female recording artists and also tend to enjoy fiction written by men more than women (romance novels being the exception, but then the men that write those types of books tend to have female nom de plumes). I even tend to like TV shows where there is a male (vs female) lead - Burn Notice vs. Plain Sight on USA are two examples of this. Very similar shows, similar sense of humor, but I stopped watching Plain Sight because I just couldn't like Mary. Michael from Burn Notice, on the other hand, I enjoy. Ironic because it is obvious that Plain Sight was created to entertain Burn Notice viewers in between seasons.

Anyway, congratulations if you've stuck with the babble this far. Sad to say, there is little point other than the following:

Thursday Next and Jennifer Government: both recommended reads (and I would also suggest any of Fforde's books and the other Max Barry book I have read, Company)

and

I don't, as a general rule, connect well to other females

I wish I had some fascinating insight about what that second item means. I don't think I'm self-hating or anything like that. I do tend to get along with men more than women. *shurg* Who knows. Ultimately, I don't care. And I'm tired. And this is long. So I'm going to bed.

Why I love Jasper Fforde

I've been all sorts of productive the last week or so. Actually, I've mostly been antsy, so I've been reading to distract myself since the Internet has lost its power to entertain me (a sad day for which I am in mourning).

Blah blah blah. Anyway! My productivity has come in the form of reading books. More importantly finishing books. I have so many books I've started reading, not so many that I've actually finished. But, in the past 10 days, I've finished two: Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore and Mormon America by, uhm, not Christopher Moore.

I enjoyed Coyote Blue some of the time. I really like the humor and overall writing style - very funny - but couldn't stand the characters. And it is really hard to like a book when you hope the real main character just hasn't shown up yet. I actually "lost" this book for about two weeks and didn't realize it was gone. I will say, once I found it again, I enjoyed it much more. Time and distance allowing me to forget how much the characters bugged the ever-lovin' snot out of me in the first half of the book? Probably.

Mormon America was really interesting. Okay, there were a couple of chapters that were oh so very yawn, but the later chapters made up for it. The second half of the book hit on the Mormon's beliefs and general church set up. Fascinating. I also think the book was fairly even-handed, but then I think Mormons are a bit wacky with their theology so maybe it wasn't. But since the only "Mormons are wacky" bit was the little voice in my head repeating it over and over, I think it was a fair handling.

But I'm not getting to the point. The point is that I love Jasper Fforde.

Currently, I'm reading book 5 in his Thursday Next Series, First Among Sequels (courtesy of SIL). Just started it, in fact. And I read this line that I just adore (though everyone else reading this will probably think I'm a total dork, and I am (though not because I like this line) so whatever).

Landen looked at Pickwick [the dodo], who who had by now recovered and was staring suspiciously at her left foot, wondering if it has always been there and, if not, what it might be doing creeping up on her.

*snort* I've read this line like five times while writing/proofing this post and it still makes me laugh.

Fforde's Nursery Crime series is also mucho hilarious, if you have a desire to read something fun.

Anyway, just had to share. Off to read!

This stuff scares me....

I don't know why I insist on reading dystopia-type books. I just love 'em. Animal Farm, 1984, Brave New World, A Handmaiden's Tale... I just love that genre of books. Apocalyptic books, too. I mean, really, what else is the Left Behind series, right?

Lately, I've also been reading dystopia-esque non-fiction lately, too. And it scares me. What I am reading now would certainly qualify as one of those types of books. It scares me.

Maybe I scare too easily. I just have this horrible feeling that in 50 years, no one will be able to publicly proclaim themselves as Christians or even mention God in any way that isn't cursing.

I really should read fluffier books.

But if anyone has any good dystopia books, let me know (let's aim for fiction, though!)

Reading Material...

Just thought I'd share what I'm currently reading....

There is Eternal Life for Animals by Niki Behrikis Shanahan

It's a scripturly-based book showing why all animals go to Heaven. I'll admit, I've only made it to through the introduction (but I did only just start it tonight) and it's already gotten me thinking about whether I thought animals went to Heaven or not. I'm sure you won't be surprised when I say that yes, I think they do.

That line of thinking, of course, lead me to think about the pets I've had in the past who are no longer with us, Bushy-tail, Fritz, A.J., Mimi...; the fact that the ones I have currently will one day pass away (Ashes and Princess are both going to be 15 this year); the turtle I saw vainly trying to cross a busy highway, stretching his neck out but not making any progess because his back half had been run over and crushed into the road....

Needless to say, I've already hugged a couple kitties. And I think I need to go hug a couple more.

May I suggest...

If you are looking for a good book to read, may I suggest Jeff Talarigo's The Pearl Diver. What a moving book! And I don't say that often because I think the word "moving" is cheesy. Anyway, I started - and finished - the book today. It is not a difficult read or very long (only 237 pages), so it goes quickly, but on top of that, the story itself is so enthralling that I just couldn't put it down. Dan had to work in the office until almost 11pm but I didn't mind because it meant that I could keep reading!

It is the story of a 19-year old pearl diver who is forced to live in an island leprosarium after she is diagnosed with leprosy. It starts off in 1948 in a village in Japan and goes until sometime in the 1990s. It is split into three parts: part one is her life before she is taken to the leprosarium, part two is her life at the leprosarium, and part three is the epilogue.

The bulk of the story takes place in the second part. Using items and memorabilia from the leper colony, this section relates events, horrors and the day-to-day pattern of the girl's life at the leprosaruim. Talarigo's prose is unique and the pacing of the story makes it truly come alive.

Great book. Buy it. Read it.
The Pearl Diver by Jeff Talarigo