Discussion - Waiting on reading a new book because you don't want it to be over

Have any of you done this?  I had to have the new Dresden Files book, Ghost Story, RIGHT AWAY!  So I preordered it and anxiously awaited its arrival.

As soon as the book showed up on my doorstep, I opened it, caressed it, and paged through it.  But I didn't start reading it.  Nope, it is still sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read.

Do I want to know what really happened to Harry?  Of course I do.  But I also don't want to read it because then it will be over and I will have to wait a whole year to read the next book!

So for now I just gaze longingly at it on my nightstand.  I'll probably read it next week.  But I so, so don't want it to be over...so I am waiting on starting it.  Silly but true.

Does anyone else ever do this with books?

BEA - Introduction to Me

Okay so I saw over on Rex Robot's Reviews that Julia did a little intro to herself and thought that was an excellent idea.

I would love to meet some other bloggers at BEA, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I will only be there through Tuesday...so hopefully I can meet some people on the floor then.  If all goes well this year I will plan on going for the whole week next year.

I usually try to keep personal stuff separate from the book stuff; if you want personal stuff you can look at my blog list and go to my personal blog that I write with my husband called Loki Is King (that's our cat's name..Loki).  Although, it is a bit neglected since I spend most of my "free time" on this blog.

Anyway....I started this blog because I read so much and people kept asking me for a way to access what I had read and for my opinions on it.  So the blog was born back in 2007 and up until 2009 had a pretty sparse following...mostly friends and family.  Then I decided to participate in some Memes and started doing more interviews giveaway etc and things got a bit crazy :-)  Which is a good thing!

My name really is Karissa, I am pretty free and easy with my online identity.  I haven't really had many negative online experiences so that's probably why.  I am 32 years old and work as a formulation chemist at a corporation in the Minneapolis area.  I love chemistry, but not as much as I love books which is why I am totally stoked to go to BEA.

I would be even more excited about it if I didn't have to travel out for a stressful run at our Oregon manufacturing plant this week and then get back just in time to fly out to NYC for BEA; but what can you do sometimes things just work out like that.

I know I use my cute three-legged cat, Seras, as my profile pic...so if you wonder what I look like I put a couple pics below.  They are both from the family vacation we took to the Bahamas this winter.  Yes, I am the one being kissed by the dolphin...that was so awesome!  That's my husband and my wonderful 4 year old son (who loves books as much as I do).

I am pretty much a geek in all things.  I love books, graphic novels, manga, anime, Dungeons and Dragons, board games, cycling, hiking and camping.  Thanks to my son I am now a leading expert on superheroes, Hero Factory, Star Wars and hockey.

I am an obsessive e-mail checker...I basically go through withdrawal if my Smartphone is out of reach for more than ten minutes.  Seriously we went camping up north for 3 days and I lost my data signal and almost had a panic attack.  So if you want to get a hold of me and meet up at BEA shoot me an email at karissae(at)gmail(dot)com.  I don't have a twitter account...I know I know I am showing my age...I just haven't seen a need for one although I am getting close to giving in.

So...see you all at BEA!  I am excited and a little nervous and not at all sure what to expect.  I will blog about the experience at some point, either while I am out there or when I get back.

BEA 2011 - Who Else is Going? Any Tips?

This is going to be my first year going to BEA (Book Expo America).  It is on the same weekend as my husband's birthday so I am combining it with a vacation to go see NYC since I've never been there.

I ended up registering as Press; which hopefully was the right thing to do.  Sadly I cannot afford the vacation time to take the whole week off of work, so I will only be there the first couple days.  Which also means that I will be missing the Book Blogger's Convention on Friday :-(

I am hoping it will be a great time and am looking forward to meeting some publishers that I talk to via email and hopefully lot of new people.  I am looking at this as an opportunity to dip my toe in the BEA pond and decide if I want to invest a full week next year.

So I have a question for all of you...do you know anyone else who is going?  Do you have any tips for a first timer?

I have my business cards all made up and in hand.  I have the list of places I want to stop by in the exhibit hall all sorted out.

I am unsure what to except.  It is super crowded?  Do you get a lot of free books?  Will I need a box to ship them all back home in?  Do you have to sign up for the author signings ahead of time?

Any other recommendations?

We are actually renting a flat in NYC near the convention center rather than staying at a hotel. We did this through homeaway.com.  This is a cheaper option and give you a place to make meals etc.  We've used homeaway.com to stay in San Diego, South Dakota, and London before so check it out it you are interested.

OT Discussion - Virtual Choir

Okay I try not to take this blog off topic, but sometimes I see something I have to share.  My dad shared this with me from TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design).  It is a classical music director named Eric Whitacre who decided to put together and conduct a choir--virtually.  The whole thing aired last year, so this is kind of old news.  You can watch it below.

Now to see how this is put together you can check out the TED link below.  It is pretty darn cool (and I could only get it to load in IE, it wouldn't work in Firefox).
http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_whitacre_a_virtual_choir_2_000_voices_strong.html

The whole reason I bring this up is that Eric Whitacre's next virtual choir video is supposed to debut today on YouTube; it is called Sleep.  So keep an eye out for it.

This just blew me away; I mean how cool is that!  This is the type of stuff the web should be used for.  Just think of people from all over the world being brought together as a cohesive whole to create something this beautiful.  It is mind-blowing and amazing.  I used to play in band and love playing music; there is some connection you feel with all the people playing with you that is amazing...the above video shows this but across space and boundaries that are phenominal.

So seriously go check it out.  After all this is what blogging, youtube, facebook etc is all about...bringing the world and people in it closer together.

Discussion: What books are you thankful for?

I am taking a cue from Angieville and stepping back to think about what books  I'm really thankful for!  I have a number of books that are near and dear to my heart.

Hop on Pop by Dr. Suess:  The very first book I ever read on my own.  This is the book that started it all :-)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien: When I was a little girl my dad would read me and my sister and illustrated version of  The Hobbit.  I loved it and was absolutely enchanted by it and it helped set the course for my lifelong reading preferences.

The Wonderful World of Oz by L. Frank Baum:  My mother read the OZ series to me and my sister as we were growing up.  This was another set of books that absolutely made me love fantasy.

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley: The first fantasy book I purchased and read on my own.  I loved it, I fell in love with the wonderful characters and the determined young girl who worked so hard to succeed.

By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey: When I meet my husband in high school we were both reading this book.  It was part of what brought us together as friends and I am grateful that it helped draw us together.  This also led me to reading The Last Herald Mage series which was a wonderful series and my first intro to GLBT literature.

The Eye of the World(Wheel of Time, book 1) by Robert Jordan:  This was the first epic fantasy series I ever read and it was/is fantastic.  In high school me and a couple of my girlfriends dedicated a good portion of our lives to this series.  I am still reading it and excited for its conclusion.

Moonheart by Charles DeLint:  The first urban fantasy I ever read.  This is responsible for my delving into urban fantasy and for the love I have for that sub-genre.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: The first Gaiman book I read.  It opened my eye's to the wonderful world of Neil Gaiman and the wonders of urban fantasy.

The Sleep Book by Dr. Suess: I read this book to my son a billion times during the first couple years of his life and it will always bring back wonderful memories (as well as memories of sleep-deprivation).

The Bravest Knight by Mercer Mayer: A wonderful little book that introduced my son to knights, castles, fair ladies, trolls, and irony.  Great little book, that we read with my son obsessively from the ages of 2-3.

Discussion - Ever find yourself in a reading rut?

Do you ever find yourself stuck in this reading rut?

Occasionally I go through times where I feel like I am reading lame book after lame book and I begin to wonder why I am wasting my time reading.  I begin to wonder if it is just me and if maybe my expectations of these books are too high.

Usually I get out of the rut by finally reading something wonderful and realizing that "Yep, all those other books were lame."

Occasionally it happens the other way around too.  There have been a couple months were I just love almost everything I read.  Then I feel like I am giving out too many 5 star reviews. 

Anyway, just something I was thinking about and wondering if other readers/bloggers go through this too :-)

Discussion - I going to do it...I am going to buy an e-reader

After over a year of agonizing over whether or not I should embrace the an e-reader I've decided to go for it.

What do you guys think?  Have you invested in an e-reader yet?  Will you?  If you have do you like your reader?

More and more publisher's are offering ARCs in ebook only formats.  It is much easier to get my hands on free ebooks than the paper versions. 

What were my main reasons for waiting?  Well there are about 170 of them sitting on my shelf in my bedroom.  I just have way too many paper books.  The other reason is I get a lot books from the library and the library doesn't rent out e-books yet.

What sold me on getting one?  Three things.  I got to play with one that a guy I work with bought.  I loved it.  The text to speech is quirky but cool for finishing up a book when you have to hop in the car.   Second thing it supports audible.  So I can put all my audio books on there.  Yeah, I have an ipod for that...but it would be handy to have them all in one place.  Third, it supports pdfs.  I have to do a ton of patent reading at work.  Often I go to meetings with a twelve inch tall stack of patents.  Then the group struggles through them as we try to find chemical cmpd names and references.  No more.  I will bring my patents on my Kindle, I will not have sore arms, and I will quickly search for terms I need to find.

It helps that more and more ebooks are available; often for free.  Netgalley.com has a wide range of ARCs available for Kindle.  Amazon Vine is starting to offer e-books, Librarything.com Early Reviewer program offers a ton of e-books, and when authors contact me they want to send me an e-book.  I have had to turn down a number of authors because I don't have an e-reader.

So I am going to do it.  Hopefully I enjoy it.  Another major perk it not having to drag along half a suitcase full of books when I go on long trips for work.  I think I am still trying to convince myself it is a good decision.

Needless to say I am getting a Kindle.  It just seems to be more compatible with other things. 

Discussion: Classics and Epic Fantasies

I keep thinking I should make some sort of resolution to read books that I have trouble picking up. My favorites are by far urban fantasies, young adult, and middle grade fantasy. I still do like to read other things though. It just gets tough to prioritize them. Two things that I love to read, but rarely do, are epic fantasies and classic literature.

I am trying to commit to read more of these two things. So once a month I will try to do the following
- Classic Review: Any book old or new that could be considered a classic
- Epic Review: An epic fantasy book

The above are always tough for me because they just take more time to read. For those of you that are curious I have the following books in these categories waiting for me to read them (these are the ones I can recall off the top of my head):

Classics
- Jane Eyre
- Treasure Island
- David Copperfield
- Great Expectations
- The Kite Flyer
- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Epic Fantasies:
- The Coldfire Trilogy by C. S. Friedman
- The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
- The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Caravan (not strictly epic but kind of)
- The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
- Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
- The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
- The Godless World series by Brian Ruckley

I am going to challenge myself to read one of these in each category once a month. So this should give me a good start on getting through some of these books. For February I already read "The Picture of Dorian Grey" for a classic and I am finishing up "First Lord's Fury" by Jim Butcher for my epic fantasy.

What about all of you out there? Do you have books that you want to read, but never seem to get to? Do you have certain genres that are harder for you to commit to reading than others?