Category: Books

Bukowski Bears Bookmarks

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, Products I LikeLeave a comment

When I was visiting my Aunt Louise at Christmas time in 2006, one of my presents was a bookmark.  My aunt had friends from Germany staying with them and they had a present for me without ever even meeting me.  I thought that was sweet of them.  It was a bookmark that they found in Sweden of a little bear on top with feet at the bottom and it’s the perfect size bookmark for like a little novel.  I wouldn’t use it for anything bigger because the feet might not stick out the bottom.

I was using it for a book I was reading which was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel and then my Uncle suggested a David Eddings book, The Belgariad book 1 and so I was reading that too which meant I would need another bookmark or a post it note sticking out the top.  I wasn’t expecting her to give me a 2nd bookmark but she did so now I have 2.  A brown one and a blue one.  I use them all the time, well 1 at a time normally.  I found them online in a UK web shop at www.devongiftshop.com for about £3.50 each.

The company they are made from is called Bukowski and I went to their website but they don’t make it easy to shop there.  So I had to do a search to find them elsewhere which is how I found Devon Gift Shop.  I think the price is reasonable.  The bookmarks are furry just like a teddy bear so it’s nice to hold hehe.

I almost forgot to post 2 pictures that I took of my bookmarks.

bookmark-in-book2bookmarks

A Spell for Chameleon

On By Michel McDonaldIn BooksLeave a comment

I’ve started reading the Xanth series of novels starting with the very first one called A Spell for Chameleon.  I’m not exactly sure why they named it for “Chameleon” but I’m sure I will figure it out.

It’s about this guy named Bink who never found his magical talent and he has to go to the Good Magician Humphrey and find his magical talent in exchange for 1 year of service.  If he doesn’t find his magical talent he could be exiled forever from Xanth and he doesn’t want that.  He wants to marry his girlfriend Sabrina but he can’t if he has no magic.

On his long journey to find this magician he faces lots of obstacles like Centaurs, dragons, illusionists etc.

I’ve only read 5 chapters so far, the 6th chapter begins with him finding the castle where the good magician lives.  I had to stop reading though because my eyes get blurry after a while.  But this is a very good book.  Unfortunately, it’s a loooong story.  It only shows 17 books in the series in the front of the book but someone told me there are 24 and I’m only on book 1 lol.  I have ways to go.

My Last Kindle Obsessed Post… Maybe

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, KindleLeave a comment

Ok, 1 last thing about the Kindle.  I know I mentioned in my first Kindle post about how you can email your text files to your Kindle but as I read more about it I find out more stuff.

It’s not just text files.  It’s also pdf files so if you have a manual in pdf format then you will have it on your Kindle.  Sometimes if you buy like a DVD player or a printer or whatever, I’m pulling at straws here, you can go to that manufacturer’s website and download the manual in pdf format.  Well, who wants to sit and read the manual on the computer?  Especially if the hardware you need to read about is in the other room.  Say it’s your tv’s manual or your washer and dryer.  You can just download that and send it to your Kindle and it converts it to Kindle format so you can read it.

I’m not sure if the Kindle puts your e-books, e-magazines and e-newspapers in categories or not, I think it would be a good idea though because if you get e-newspapers you will want them to be stores in there in folders.  Like say you get the LA times and the NY times.  Well, you don’t want them to be in the same area as everything else like your books.  If you get the newspaper and magazines on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis then the list will be too long so if you want to search for the book you are reading you have to scroll through the list of stuff.

Ok getting back to what I was talking about with sending text and pdf files to your kindle.  You can also download free e-books and send them to your kindle.  Oh and I read you can send pictures too.  Now, I’m not too sure about pictures with black and white technology.  I think I would much rather enjoy my pictures in color so that would certainly be something I would want to have but somewhere down the line when it has color.  Right now I have all of my photo albums cropped to widescreen 3×5 for my PSP and the pictures are pretty small so when I go to show them off it’s still a good size to look at but you know, it’s still small.  But at least I can carry all of my pictures.  But you can’t see them in the sunlight on my PSP.

Oh that reminds me.  You can read your kindle out in the sunlight and it shows up just like a regular book thanks to e-ink.  The screen isn’t shiny either so there is no glare from the screen.  If you are using a cell phone or pda or something as an e-book you have to cover it with your hands to be able to see it outside in the sunlight.  Well, the Kindle with e-ink allows you to actually see what you are reading.  And since it doesn’t have a tv type of screen you can’t see it in the dark but the new Kindle 2 has lights around the page I think on both sides.  Or maybe that was another e-book, I don’t remember now, I’m getting them confused.  I did see a Kindle light that clips to the kindle but it was made for the Kindle 1.

Ok, I can’t make any promises that I won’t obsess any more about this.  I’ve pretty much touched on everything that I can think of but who knows, maybe tomorrow I might read about something that I didn’t know and obsess about that.  Maybe my obsession will have so much text that you will have to convert it all into pdf format and it will be so long that it will be your next e-book or e-novel.  Maybe I’ll shut up about it.  Who knows.

Amazon Kindle 2

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, TechLeave a comment

In my previous blog about e-books I talked about the pro’s and con’s of e-books.  Well, most of the day I’ve been obsessively researching e-book technology and I have to say that I’m really excited about the future.

E-books use e-ink.  They don’t hardly use any power so the battery lasts a whole week.  You turn it on, press the menu and find the book you are reading, and by the way it shows in that menu the page you were on so you don’t have to find where you were at, it keeps it bookmarked from the last page you were reading.  Then you click the book you want to read and start reading.  Once that page is loaded it stops using any of the power from the battery.  You can have it sitting there for an hour on that page and it won’t use any power.  Once you press the button to turn the page then it uses power to turn the page then you see the words change and then no more power usage.  The battery will last basically a week before you have to charge it at all.  And when you do charge it, it takes about 2 hours to charge.

If however you are flipping through the Amazon website and flipping through pages of a e-magazine then yeah, it’s going to use a lot more of your battery and it will probably last 2 or 3 days before needing charged.

I love the idea of waking up every morning and the newspaper is already downloaded on your kindle.

It would also be good if the catalog companies would deliver their catalogs directly to your Kindle so that you don’t have to 1, wait for them to come in the mail and clog up your mail box and 2, waste paper when you throw it out.  This way you can flip through them then delete the file when you are finished reading it.  That is if you decide you want to, you can keep it if you want.

Another thing I want to obsess er um I mean discuss is the hard drive.  The previous Kindle 1 from last year only has a 256mb hard drive allowing you to store 200 e-books but the new Kindle 2 has a 2GB allowing you to have a hell of a lot more.  I don’t know exactly how many but it’s a lot.  Can you just imagine maybe in another year or 2 when they come out with the Kindle 3 it might have 2TB.  Then you will have a crap load of books and magazines and newspapers.  You won’t ever have to delete anything because you will have tons of room.

As I said in my last post, I’m waiting for it to be cheaper, in color and have touch screen.  Well, I watched a video today of the guy who invented Amazon talking to Martha Stewart and she kept mentioning color e-ink and he said it was in the labs.  Not their labs but in labs period.  Well, I’ve been seeing e-books with color e-ink so I know it is possible and I’m sure in Kindle 3 it will have color e-ink.

My other issue is about the touch screen.  I think it is a lot better than buttons.  I saw an e-book from Dvice.com that was touch screen, all you do is press and drag the page and it turns the page, or you just press the right side of the pager to flip it.  And also when you are on the website trying to buy a book you touch the screen for the keyboard and it comes up so you can type the name of the author or book title.  I think the Kindle keyboard is just too much.  Although it does have more of a use than just buying books, you can make notes in your books.  You can also highlight sentences.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book)

On By Michel McDonaldIn BooksLeave a comment

I have finally finished the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which is Rowling’s 7th and final book.  It is in my opinion most unfortunate that this will be her last Harry Potter book because I just love the story and it’s not too difficult to read.  Harry Potter is a children’s book but it has a strange adult following.  I think out of the 8.1 million books sold on Saturday the day it was sold about 90% of that are people ages 20 to 70.  It’s a story for all ages not just the kiddies.

I will not be giving you a spoiler warning because I am not spoiling anything for anybody.  I keep my promise J.K.  I loved this book.  I laughed, I cried, I was concerned for the 3 main characters on their quest.  I cried some more here and there.  Let’s just say, if you read this book invest your money in a box of tissues.  Or a roll of paper towels.  Or just get a beach towel, you never know.  Your sleeves are going to need to be put in the dryer if you have to resort to that.  Trust me.  I’m a guy and I cried like a baby.  And not all of that were sad tears either.  Ok, half and half.  I’m not kidding.  BUY IT!

Let me just end by pleading to J.K. Rowling…. “Please, don’t stop writing.  If it can’t be Harry Potter then something else, but don’t stop writing.”