Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Kindle, Kindle, Kindle

So I just bought my first Kindle. It should get here tomorrow. Whee! I'd wanted an ereader for some time, but utterly balked at the prices. With their most recent cutback to $189, it fell smack into a doable price range for me. (And yes, I've read that they should drop even more by the holidays. If they do, I might buy me a Nook too, just to compare. Ha.)

So, hooray! Now, years ago, when the concept of ereaders first came out, I was among the many skeptical. I love the heft and feel and smell of a real live book. Growing up in a household of readers and books, I early on acquired the habit of collecting as many books as possible. I am far more choosy now...but my shelves still groan with alarm at the sight of yet another paper book entering the house! Nothing will ever beat the feel of a real book in hand. Nothing.

However. All that said, here are my reasons for finally buying one of them new-fangled futuristic ereader things:

1) I feel bad for the trees. Like, really bad.
2) I feel bad for my bookshelves. I feel especially bad when I buy new ones and am faced with putting them together. Grr...
3) I love e-publishing, and reading tales pubbed in such form on my laptop is very hard on my peepers.
4) I love the idea of carrying around tons of books...in one slender little package.

So hats off the developers who could see into the future. And thank goodness for the competitive market.

Now, back to waiting with one foot tapping for the man in the brown uniform to show up at my doorstep with my lovely new delivery...

Monday, June 28, 2010

Books I'm Reading

Okay. I'm trying to get *slightly* more regular about posting on here. (Snort. This I ask of myself, the woman with waaaay to many projects to complete in one lifetime if I also wish to have a, um, life!) So today's is simple but fun:

Latest Books I've Read (and enjoyed)

1) Stormwalker by Allyson James. This was fabulous fun. I live in the sunny, skinwalker-y, spirit-inhabited Southwest, similar to the setting of this paranormal urban fantasy romance. (That's my label, at least.) A feisty, young, yet reasonably mature heroine, plot twists & turns that left me smiling and turning the pages, and an imagination and creativity that seemed boundless. Fun stuff! I'm looking forward to the next one, Firewalker.

2) Rosemary & Rue and A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire. Ah...gritty, magical, classic urban fantasy. Totally fascinating. Must admit, I was actually pretty freaked out by A Local Habitation. Very creepy premise, in my mind! Well-done.

3) Blood Cross by Faith Hunter. I am utterly in love with this series and this writer's voice. She does an amazing job of characterization, setting, plotting, and description. I love the skinwalker concept, slightly different here than in many other books/real life (hey, believe what you want--but skinwalkers are out there!). I love the "Beast" concept, and Beast's voice is so perfect. At least, it's what I imagine a mountain lion's voice might be.

4) Blood of the Demon by Diana Rowland. Fun, dark, sensual, sexy, intriguing, full of "otherworld" things like demons, but set with the realistic and sobering insight into a detective's life. I eagerly anticipate the next installment!

5) Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs. I love Mercy. I love her journey as a coyote among wolves (and all sorts of other things that go bump in the night). I love shifter books, yet what I also love about this is that the world is not only inhabited by shifters. Cool, cool stuff.

Clearly I'm on a paranormal kick. I don't see that stopping for quite some time. There are so many books out there to read...drool.

If anyone is even remotely reading this (ok, I just hurt myself laughing), I'd love to hear what you're reading now too. Love finding new books!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

summertime....

Ah, summertime! My busiest time of year. Clearly, as I haven't posted since March. Right now is a bit of quiet time, actually. I have a lull before the real summer madness kicks in.

So I'm watching the second season of Breaking Bad on Netflix right now. It's actually giving me plot ideas, frighteningly enough! Sadly enough, right here in my lovely little town we probably have real life Breaking bad stories going on. Sometimes, I wish fiction were just that...only fiction. But sometimes, it happens in the real world too. So, for writers, that means that the sweet but slightly zany woman who rescues kittens can also be a meth dealer...and suddenly you have a character and a whole new storyline! Ah, perfect for the hero and heroine.

Back to the TV. Stories in visual form. I do love them!