Weekly Geek 7/28/11

Last year, I saw a movie, I think it was called Definitely, Maybe, that got me to thinking. In this movie, one of the girls was on a quest to find a particular copy of Jane Eyre, I forget now the specific reason why. But in the process of her search, she ended up with this massive collection of Jane Eyre books, from all sorts of places and years and styles. She had a shelf that went all the way around her room, filled with these wonderful Jane Eyre books.

It made me wish I had a collection like hers, a collection of one particular title, in all it's various versions.

So, Weekly Geeksters, tell us, do you have a collection, (or are you starting a collection,) of one particular book title? If so, what's your story? Why that book, and how many do you have, and what editions are they? Share pictures and give us all the details.

Or perhaps you dream about starting such a collection. What title would it be and what would it take for you to get motivated to start collecting?

Or maybe it's the works of a particular author you collect (or want to collect) instead a certain book title?

Teaser Tuesday!

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Borders closes for good - what consumers need to do next:

Consumer Reports experts suggest consumers take the following steps when dealing with bankrupt businesses:

• Use any Borders or Waldenbooks gift cards immediately or you'll run the risk of the cards soon becoming worthless.

• Resist the urge to splurge. As we've found with previous chain closings, retailers can sometimes charge more at liquidation sales.

• Pay by credit card. If you have issues with your purchases, you may be able to dispute the charge with your credit card company. This is especially useful for CDs, DVDs, computer software, audiobooks, and e-book readers such as the Kobo Wireless eReader.

And in regard to the Kobo e-reader, current owners shouldn't immediately worry over the future of their device. In a statement released to Forbes, the Toronto-based Kobo start-up said:

“

In June Kobo and Borders began transitioning Borders’ customers’ eBook accounts to Kobo to provide direct access to the most up to date eReading functionality, apps, and devices. Kobo owners will continue to use their eReader devices as usual and browse and shop for new titles in the Kobo Store with no interruption in service.

”

The e-reader company, which Borders had a minority stake in, says its Kobo eReaders will still be available at other retailers such as Best Buy, Sears, and Walmart.

Happy Birthday Winnie The Pooh!!!

Happy Birthday, Winnie!

Want to feel old? Winnie-the-Pooh turns 90 on August 21. If you'd like to send him a birthday card, the New York Public Library will be celebrating his birthday at the Library's Children's Center at 42nd Street all month and is accepting cards on Pooh Bear's behalf. It's an appropriate destination, since Christopher Robin Milne's "original Winnie-the-Pooh doll set--including Winnie, of course!--is at the Library, on view in the Children's Center, in a special room surrounded by art of the 100 Acre Wood!"

Goodbye Borders

But today, we come not to bury a troubled company that has already made a difficult announcement. We come to praise its booksellers. For, despite any mistakes made at any level, from floor to corporate, at the height of its powers Borders offered the kind of handselling expertise that readers crave.

Each of the 11,000 people out looking for work has to consider this personally, so I will, too:

Goodbye to the first Borders store I visited back in the early 2000s. I marveled at a store that combined everything I wanted: a plethora of shelves, amazing magazine racks and a clean, well-lighted café.
Goodbye to Borders employees who helped me find books over the years for my two daughters, cheerfully checking "in the back" and allowing us (along with legions of others) to sit in their kids' sections for hours at a time.

Goodbye to the amazing store that had amazing events, like the Twilight party I attended for free, the Alexander McCall Smith reading and so many others I cannot list.
Goodbye to the Borders stores that we visited as a family, always knowing that there would be a congenial, welcoming staff who would allow us to roam separately, then come back together at the checkout line, eagerly sharing our "finds" with each other.

Bethanne Patrick

Talking about JERKS

Over at The Broke and the Bookish, I read a discussion about JERKS. Yeah, so I think I can come up with some jerky characters! But first let me just say that jerks, in my mind, are different from villains. Jerks you have really truly no patience for. Villains have something about them that sometimes make you feel for them. Jerks, you never feel for. Am I right? What do you think?

1. Ambrose from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (Ugh, he is awful!)
2. Hindley Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ( I blame him for everything that's wrong with Heathcliff!)
3. Fernand Mondago from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Gah! What was he thinking!?)
4. Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (Never once felt sorry for this dude.)
5. Mr. Wickham from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Slime all around.)


Do you agree with my list? Do you "feel" for any of these guys? What characters come to mind for you on this subject?

The Mortal Instruments Trilogy

Book Club is currently reading The Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare.  We have finished book 1 and are reading book 2 and 3 for the month of July.  For those of you who are not reading along with book club...this summary of the series might make you want to pick up a book.


Anyone who has visited New York City can tell you that it's a magical place. But what if the magic that resides there is more than hectic energy and a bunch of tourist-friendly sites . . . what if it's real? What if there's another layer to this world that most people can't see, a layer that's full of faeries and vampires, werewolves and demon hunters, protective runes and evil overlords? In The Mortal Instruments trilogy, Cassandra Clare peels back the glamour to reveal the magic that is usually hidden from us.


In City of Bones, Clary can hardly believe her eyes when she sees a trio of teens slay a demon at her favorite nightclub. Little does she realize that it's merely her first glimpse into a world that she was born into—a world that her mother, Jocelyn, has tried desperately to keep from her. But with her mother missing and Luke—her mother's oldest friend and the second most important person in Clary's life—pushing her away, Clary must turn to these same demon-slaying teens, known as Shadowhunters, for answers. Along with her best friend, Simon, Clary struggles to absorb all that she is learning. Demons attack her; Simon is turned into a rat at a warlock party and stolen by vampires; Valentine, an evil Shadowhunter long thought dead, is back and trying to find the Mortal Cup so that he can create a Nephilim army. Through it all, though, there is Clary's intense attraction to Jace, the Shadowhunter who both drives her crazy and draws her to him. Can Valentine be right? Can Jace really be her brother?


The story continues in City of Ashes, with Clary attempting to forget her love for Jace by avoiding him and dating Simon. All that changes, though, when she hears that Jace has been imprisoned in the Silent City by the Clave's Inquisitor, who refuses to believe that Jace isn't working for Valentine. When Valentine chooses that night to kill the Silent Brothers and steal the Mortal Sword, it only makes Jace look more guilty. After figuring out that Valentine is killing Downworlders in order to perform a ritual that will turn the Mortal Sword into a powerful instrument of evil, the teens visit the Seelie Court to ask the Faerie Queen for her help. In short order, Clary's love for Jace is revealed, Simon is turned into a vampire, and Jace confronts Valentine on a ship in the East River. Clary discovers that she has the ability to create new runes, which serves her well during the climactic battle on board Valentine's ship, as the Nephilim fight a host of demons and Clary tries to keep Valentine from converting the Mortal Sword. Clary manages to destroy Valentine's ship, but not before he escapes, many Nephilim are injured, and Simon finds that drinking Jace's blood has made him impervious to sunlight. Things seem to be getting back to "normal" when Madeleine Bellefleur appears to tell Clary that she knows how to wake up Jocelyn, who had been captured by Valentine's demons and into a deep sleep.

Teaser Tuesday!

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Monday Musings

CAN you judge a book by its cover?

Sometimes, I think you can. I’m a total cover-junkie, so I very, very often pick out books based on their cover art. And, sometimes, yes, I’m disappointed, as the cover turned out to be better than what was inside. But, a lot of the time, the covers actually are fantastic, and the story inside turns out to be really good, too!

July Book Club

June's book was City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.  We all enjoyed it so much that we decided for July, let's finish book 2 and 3.  For those of you who just don't have the time to go through two books in one month, take your time, enjoy the book.  The discussion questions will be posted in the side bar and I will update the blog with comments and reviews.

Happy Reading!

Friday Finds

What is everyone reading this weekend?

Teaser Tuesday!

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Monday Musings

What’s at the top of your must-buy list, right now? (or, if you don’t wait — if you’re more impulsive — what books have you recently purchased?)


My must buy list includes:


Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Modern Faerie Tales set by Holly Black
Map Of Time by Felix J. Palma




Books I recently purchased:


The Named by Marianne Curley
The Dark by Marianne Curley
The Key by Marianne Curley
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz

Sunday Salon 7/10/11

Do you read books “meant” for other age groups? Adult books when you were a child; Young-Adult books now that you’re grown; Picture books just for kicks … You know … books not “meant” for you. Or do you pretty much stick to what’s written for people your age?

Yep, I love Young Adult books, and I’m in my 40′s.  Usually they’ll be fantasy (vampires, werewolves, etc), or romance, or a mix of both. Some examples of what I’ve read this year:

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

The Named/The Dark/The Key by Marianne Curley

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

The Hollow People by Brian Keany

Play Along...

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted byMizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Edgy Books vs. Gentler Books

What is edgy? And what is gentle? Do authors really yearn to be able to write a more gentle book? Do readers need it? Or are they, as was suggested, clamoring more for the edgy?

The term "edgy", to me it means pushing the envelope a bit. It means there's stuff in the book that may make you squirm a little. Perhaps the subject matter is hard. Perhaps there's lots of violence and street talk and rough characters. Perhaps there's parts that make you want to close your eyes in denial. Things you just don't agree with. "Stuff happens" in edgy books I would say.

However, in gentle books, there's not necessary a lot of stuff happening. It may be that it's more about the characters. It may be that it's more about relationships instead of stuff happening. The action, if any, is quieter and slower. People are perhaps, nicer. We might use the word "heart warming" for gentle books.

Let me be the first to say that I like both kind! Obviously, sometimes you are in the mood for one, and sometimes the other. But do you think that there's more of a market for the edgy? Do you think that if someone were to write a gentler book, no one would want to read it because it's boring and "nothing happens!"? I think there's a bit of truth in that.



What are your feelings on gentle books? Do they bore you? Are you looking for more action and edge? Or do appreciate the slowness of a gentle read?