On Books

I don't know if we can still comment on how book feels or what type of font size is used, especially now that we can chose our font.  I do think that we could learn a bit or two about the book and author in their choise of names.  Why would s/he chose Kathryn over Katherine?  Why Bruce over Brice or Alice?

I’ve hit pause here.  I know, I know, books don’t have a pause button but with English, it is an evolving language that absorbs and incorporates all within its path, much like the Borg.

I’ve had to take a brake from Unfinished Tails in part because, for me, to appreciate Tolkien, I have to take him in spurts.  His writing seems to be so in-depth that I find myself having to grab my phone or computer to look up on the internet a map or a character (yeah, I feel weird looking anything up with my phone and not saying “I dialed 411 or 0).  Alas, because of life’s situations, I’m more busy right now and if I was to continue to do this throughout the book I’d never finish and would never be able to contribute to BookLikes, which we be the greater of the sin!

More on Tolkien writing:  When I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy - and yes I started with The Hobbit like you’re supposed to – I found that Tolkien is intense.  He has maps of his world, people with their own lore, and his own language.  These are the things that make for a slow read.  At least Lord of the Rings had a narrative.  Unfinished Tales – as the title suggests is a collection of his unfinished tales – is more of a history book, or really “short” stories. 

The last story I read in the book was “The Children of Húron,” which was finished by Tolkien’s son Christopher and made into its book of its own right – which I had already read but remember none of.  The amount of effort that I put into the book – and the constant drive to want to play Skyrim – is what finally made me pause the book as a whole.  I couldn’t read more than a few pages at a time, I constantly had to flip to the notes pages - yes he added notes at the end of the tales -, and I had to search for what he was referencing so I could follow along.  I sound more frustrated than I am, which frankly is the opposite.  I loved the way that I felt more interactive with what I was reading.  The searching for information kept me going.  But like I said earlier I am rather busy right now readjusting and would like to actually finish a book and then go back to reading Unfinished Tales. 

Let's go to libraries!

For all those who love reference desks and stacks :)

- I had to reblog this, thanks Kate!

When I was younger, I don’t know about most of you but this could be a testament for my Midwest, U.S. upbringing, I was told to finish everything on my plate.  “What about all of those poor kids in China,” someone, usually a relative, would decry.  At which point I imagined myself one of the characters from T.V. where they were feeding the rest of vile food to the dog (and the dog soundly rejecting it).

Being older I’ve found myself telling myself the same thing, finish it all because it cost x amount (I guess when you pay for something it is a bit different, eh?).  I’ve found the problem is that I apply this concept to other things, namely reading.  I don’t know when to put a book down.  I feel that I must finish it despite the crap that is in-between the covers.

Maybe its stubbornness that forces me through a book I don’t like.  As I labor to stay awake at night while reading and awake the next morning to not being able to remember what it is I read or even really caring, I begin to wonder if it is all worth it (not reading but the book).  If I don’t like the book, why do I keep dredging on?  Trying to plow through it like some sort of conquest, or a baked potato.

My librarian wife had once told me that a professor of hers told her to give a book fifty pages.  If you like it carry on, if not put it down.  Is it worth more than fifty pages?

In the end I need to be brave enough to put down a disappointing book, like the last one that I read.  I should’ve put that one down and just left it but my want to like an author that has written books with the great King was the driving force in this one, along with the goal to read all that is King. 

I keep thinking I'd like Straub. I've tried to read one other of his books but just didn't get into that one. I'm going to try again but A Dark Matter was not that good.

A Dark Matter is narrated by Lee Harwell who is an author and was pushed to write a nonfiction story, so he decides on a series of murders that took place near his home in Wisconsin. In course of that he really wants to study what happened to a young college kid who was killed during a ceremony which involved his group of friends and his wife (who were all in high school at the time). They all fell for a traveling "guru" who promised thins something momentous. Lee was told what had happened that nighty by anyone in his group because he chose not follow along with the "guru."

What happens in the rest of the book is a series of stories from each of his friends as to what happened that night. None of the stories honestly make sense and it seemed to me that Straub was trying to come up with something was as crazy as he can make it. To me it just seemed too extreme; like he was trying too hard. It left me wondering what has happening most of the time.

On top of of all that, I found that the characters were a bit too unemotional. Two demential.

I suppose if you are already a fan of Straub, you'll like the book. I would recommend this book to Lovecraft readers if they are looking for a more modern writer.

I applaud the BookLikes team for taking what I called earlier “vinyl inside of cold hard steal telling me how fast I’m traveling down the highway” and renaming it something more fitting of an ode to books.

Criticism without a suggestion for a possible for correction is mean.  So here are a couple of thoughts for a new name:

-  The Stacks (or just Stacks): As in library stacks of books.  It suggests being able to find what you’re in the mood for just by walking (scrolling) around.

-  The Reference Desk:  When you’re in a library, if you want to know what book you should look for, if you want to know where to look for a book, if you want to know what time it is in Tanzania, then there is a friendly reference librarian there to guide you, just like your peers on BookLikes can do with their reviews or their blogs.

-  Book Return:  This is a far-fetched one but I figure a lot of people would be using the “dashboard” as a review area.  Book Returns means they are done or gave up or are partially done and will come back for more and are willing to talk about the book in which they read.

(At this point I should have full disclosure, my wife is a librarian, hence why I think of libraries when I think solely of books.)

-  Book Club:  What do you do at a book club?  Talk about books.  Review books.  You’re around book lovers I assume and are discussing the world of books.  I’ll still suggest it, even if book clubs don’t seem that manly.

-  E-Reader:  Its electronic, we are reading it, and we are in a sense, all e-readers.

Any-which-way, I am excited to see what others suggest and what the BL team finally picks up and runs with!

Side note: I love what you've done with the "Reviews" filter.

I don't know why but lately I've been thinking about reimagining a couple of books in classic literature.  Updating them really.  Again I don’t know why and it isn’t because of some want to be like the Spiderman movies.

I just so happened to read an article about originality from the blog The Thing About Flying (Warning: the post is not about books but about music but about being creative none-the-less).

I won’t give away my first inspirational thought into the updating classic literature but I will my second.

What if we updated Fahrenheit 451 by the late, great Ray Bradbury?  What would this world look like?  I imagine, instead of a world where the firemen go on burning books, it is where digital hackers are sent in to rid the world of their evil.  Where instead of reading webpages they are all interactive video.  New is broadcast on the internet and never read.  Instead of hiding books in nooks and crannies to be glanced in on, Guy could have a password-protected server hidden in a cold dark basement room.  He could be sneaking peaks at the written word and when his wife walks into a room he quickly turns off the monitor like a teenager about to be caught by his mother sneaking peeks at adult websites.

There would be no printed word, just video displayed on a paper like product to be thrown away (we are working toward that technology, and this link was back in '07).  What would they do when they came across a physical book? The printed word?

Please reblog this and tell me what you'd think would make a great remake?

This something that my wife and I have went back and forth on constantly.  What we think of e-readers.

We didn’t want to go with the Kindle.  Kindle, at least at that time and as far as I still know, doesn’t have a way loan books from libraries.  Seems they opted out of that ability, where as both Sony and Barnes and Noble e-readers (Reader and Nook, respectively), do. 

When I first heard about e-readers I was excited.  No more taking a duffle bag full of books on deployment.  Now I could carry all of my books in my cargo pocket.  I knew then that I needed one (I don’t like to splurge too often and like to think of myself as frugal).  So I did what all responsible consumers do before, what I considered, an expensive purchase; I did some research on the best product out there.  My criteria was 1) it had to fit in my cargo pocket, 2) I had to be able to place other readable files, such as .pdf, on there and be able to read it, and, most importantly, (3) they had to support the library system, in that you could checkout books from your local library.  This led me to the Sony Reader.  It was a good first start, I still have it but don’t really use it.  Then I transferred to the Barnes and Noble Nook after much cajoling from my wife.  We first had the larger version and when the Nook Simple Touch was reduced in price we traveled to our local BN and waited for the store to open like a couple of Star Wars fans before a new opening (except it was December, Maryland, and cold, so we waited in our car).

All of this is great back-story as to how I found myself last night back into my mental debate of real book vs an e-reader.

Last night I laid in my bed, wanting to do what I do every night before sleep and mostly on the crapper, read.  I open my quaint little Nook Simple Touch to find that the battery was dead.  I am a responsible electronics owner.  I keep my electronics typically fully charged; in fact I had charged the e-reader two nights before knowing that a charge usually lasts me about a month.  So I was perplexed why my Nook would be telling me that I don’t have a charge large enough to READ A BOOK!

If I had a paperback book I would’ve been reading and wouldn’t have to wait fifteen minutes for a charge large enough to turn on a piece of electronics.  Oh I know fifteen minutes, not a big deal, but when you’re tired and trying to close out the day, you don’t want anything to get in your way of some relaxing reading!  So, last night I was cursing the e-reader.

Let's do it only the right way :)

-Thanks for this one Kate!

I think that this preview makes me want to buy this book and read it!  Although, I'm wondering, is it really right to make a preview, in video format, for a book?

For this and more, see tessiedesigncompany.blogspot.com.

My previous post was a link to a story published on the UK Guardian’s website about how boys are losing interest in reading.

First I must deviate from what I want to say on this subject to ask a question.  How, in this day and age, with the prevalence of the internet, can anyone go without reading, thus developing some sort of enjoyment of reading?

Now on with what I really want to say.

I don’t see a failing in the enjoyment of reading as something that could only plague boys.  I think there are a myriad of reasons of why boys are less likely to read, one of them being that it isn’t a part of their play and their heroes, whereas girls seem to have literature spattered throughout fantasy worlds.

Reading enjoyment is something that kids will learn at an early age, be it boy or girl.  Like most activities, it will be the parents who mold this behavior into them as a good thing or as something that is mocked at worst, or ignored at best. 

A person will be able to mold reading behavior into their children not only by being seen reading but also by reading to their children.  If you have children, take the time to read to them.  An hour, a half and hour isn’t too much to ask in your busy day.  It’ll probably be relaxing and on the plus side you’ll be able to add more books to your “read” shelf on Booklikes.  There are any number of fun authors to read to your kids to kick start their R. L. Stein, Frank W. Dickson (this is a pseudonym for any writing about the Hardy Boys), Robert Lewis Stevenson, Shel Sliverstein, Jack London, and many, many, many more.

Side-Note: No I do not have children, so take that advice as you will.  You can say I’m full of crap but I was once a child and I remember my dad taking the time out of his day and reading the Hardy Boys to my brother and I.  Those I consider special moments between me (the child) and parent (my dad); I’m sure your children will be the same.

In the article Michael Morpurgo puts forth the suggestion of teachers setting aside a part of the day for the exploration of their students reading.  I agree.  I remember my  fourth grade teacher reading to us as a class.  Though we were all old enough to read, it lit a spark in me to hear how someone else would say the words.  Made books like The Bridge To Terabithia and The Magician’s Nephew come to life for me.  Years later, as a college educated adulating holding down a demanding job in the military, I had to, had to find those books.  They still called to me from my youth.