Category: Books

Nook Fun

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Nook, Products I LikeLeave a comment

I’ve been having a bit of fun with my new Nook. Since I’ve learned what makes it freeze I have learned to avoid certain ways of handling it and it hasn’t frozen all day.

Today I read 2 more chapters from “Dead Until Dark” and I finally came across a word that I wasn’t sure about. I’d heard it before but wasn’t quite sure what it’s meaning was for that particular sentence and/or circumstance. I happily touched the screen to make it light up and inthe menu was able to put the cursor in front of the word to look it up.

Don’t ask me what the word was because now I forgot but then I found 2 more words and although the definition of the 3rd one didn’t make much sense I just happily kept reading.

Reading with such big text means I have to turn the page a lot more than if I were reading an actual book but I don’t mind waiting the 1 second it takes for the screen to refresh.

When I was finished reading for the day I decided to crop and resize some images that I found on a website called nook-Look. They are True Blood images and I don’t know why they weren’t cropped or resized properly to 600×800 but whatever. I put them on the Nook and went to the settings and made them my screen saver. Every time I turn it off (or in standby) it loads 1 image. The next time it loads a different image. It keeps loading a different image in the folder that you have chosen and then eventually goes back to the very first image.

I was looking at one of the images and it was basically all black, it was an image of a werewolves eyes with the true blood logo at the bottom but the image was all black except for the eyes and the logo. It then occurred to me that “screen burn” might happen. You know when you have an image on the screen for so long then the next time you turn it on you see that image all the time because it got burned into the screen.

I decided to go searching the internet and found a nook message board and apparently I wasn’t the only one who was concerned about it because there was an active post.

Fortunately they said that e-ink screens don’t do that like an LCD screen might. WHEW!

So after I got that off my mind I was able to move on to other things and started looking around for Xanth images so that when I read the next Xanth novel I can use that for my screen saver too. Unfortunately I couldn’t find very many, only a few really. I did find enough that I am satisfied though.

I went back to that nook-look site and started going crazy downloading different screen savers lol. I think that I will not put too many on there until I am ready for them. I know they don’t take up too much space but still, I think that I’d rather not take up any more space than I really have to until I really need to.

One cool thing that I did find while browsing the Nook store via the Nook is they have some books listed through Google books and they were all free. I wasn’t expecting that. Although I didn’t download anything because I have enough books in my queue as it is but knowing that I have the option available makes me happy.

Oh and the Lend feature, I don’t know if I mentioned before but it’s kind of bogus. You can only lend a lendable book to 1 person… ever. Once they borrow it, when they lose it and it’s back on my Nook they and nobody else can ever borrow it again. It becomes unborrowable forever. That sucks so I really have to pick and choose who I lend anything to because what if I lend it to someone who decides they don’t have time to read it but then someone who actually wants to read it can’t have it because I lent it to some dipwad who couldn’t be bothered. Like I said before… LOTTERY lol.

I changed my “I am reading…” widget in my sidebar to the anobii.com image of my current book reading because for some strange reason the e-book pages are different from an actual book. Like Dead Until Dark has like 336 pages but in my Nook it only has 222 pages. So if I say I’m on page 92 you might think I haven’t gotten very far but really I have. Also, there are some books that can’t be listed through that widget that I have to enter manually in anobii. And anyway, who really needs to know what page I’m on? I mean sheesh.

So if you see the book that I am currently reading then you’ll know I’m still on that one but I highly doubt anyone really cares lol.

In my previous post I spoke of how I made my own book cover for my Nook. Well, a friend of mine who sent me all the Xanth novels in the mail last year also sent me a “Mighty Bright” lightwhich clips on the book but I thought I couldn’t use it any more because it might crush the Nook lol. Well, I was pleased to know that it clips to the cardboard of my book cover right behind the Nook. So it’s centered in the middle of the top of the Nook allowing me the brightest of lights to read in my poorly lit bedroom.

Well, tomorrow is another day to explore more of my new toy hehe. My ambien are kicking in so I better go to bed. Tootles!

My Free Nook Cover

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, crafts, eBook, NookLeave a comment

Last night while we were at Barnes & Noble, after I had already paid for the Nook, Darrin asked if I bought a cover for it. Well naturally I didn’t. I had only saved up just enough money to buy the Nook. I didn’t even buy the extended warranty (which I have 30 days to buy), how could I afford a cover?

We went over to the Nook display and I was looking at their prices. Some of them were $50. Some were as low as $10 but those were rubber and didn’t cover the book like a book cover. I don’t want that. We left with the thought that ‘I will eventually buy one’ in mind.

I’m sitting here looking at the Nook and thinking, I really wish I had a cover for it because now that I’m thinking about it, it starts to worry me. How can I possibly feel safe with the limited warranty that I get if I don’t have a cover to protect it if something happens.

As I’m looking at the covers available I’m noticing that they are basically just cardboard with plastic or fabric sewn onto them. I could do that. Could I do that? Yes, I think I can.

For some odd reason we still have the big box that Chips HDTV came in. The cardboard is really thick but it’s not too thick and it’s not too thin either. I want the cover to be strong enough that it won’t bend easily. I cut the top flap and the side in a book V shape. Although I needed to add another bend because this thing is a bit thick and I need it to wrap around in more of a U shape.

I have these book covers that I bought at the grocery store in 2007 when the final Harry Potter novel came out. Luckily it came out around the same time they started stocking the back to school stuff. It’s a stretchy fabric so it starts out small but stretches enough to fit a big history or science book. I bought 2 of them, black and red. They were cheap so I bought 2. They had some other colors but black and red were my favorite.

I’m really glad I’ve held onto them all these years because I was able to finally utilize one of them. I got the cardboard cut up perfectly so it’s just the right size for the Nook. I stretched the book cover over the cardboard and although it’s a bit long it fits and it kind of looks cool at how loose it is. It looks like it was on purpose that it’s so loose.

Ok, now I have a cover but how the heck is this thing supposed to really hold it? I’m gonna need some corners to hold onto it. How do I do that?

Solution. You know Rexlace? You know, the stuff that you use to make those cool key chains? Well, in 2004 (I think) I remembered how I learned how to make those key chains when I was in the cub scouts and I wanted to see if I could learn again. I bought a bunch of rexlace, even megalace. I thought the megalace would be really cool but it turns out that it was even more difficult to make that I thought.

I’ve held onto all that rexlace and megalace all these years. When I buy craft stuff, I may not use it all up right away but eventually I will have a need for it and tonight I had a need for it.

I have some black megalace and I pulled some of it out and held it up to the corner and measured how much I would need and cut 4 pieces. Ok, I have the pieces but how to sew it on? I started using a needle and thread but that was very difficult and time-consuming and the thread kept breaking.

Solution. I have a sewing awl. AHA! That works perfectly because the needle is thick enough to go through the cardboard and the handle makes pushing it through a breeze and the wax thread is thick enough that it will hold better than plain old sewing thread.

It took me awhile and since the thread was black, the megalace was black and the book cover was black, it made it very difficult to see in the poor lighting in my room. But it worked out. I have my book cover, the nook stays in place and I saved $50.

The only issue that I have is that the cover won’t stay closed so in order for it to stay closed I have to lay it down so that the weight of the Nook lies on the front cover to keep it closed. That’s fine though. I may eventually figure out a way to sew a latch on the front and back, like a buckle or something. I don’t know. I will figure it out, I always do.

So now my Nook is protected when not in use and when in use as well. I am very happy and satisfied with my handy work.

My Nook Observations and Irritations

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gadgets, Nook, Products I LikeLeave a comment

I finally did it! I finally bought a Barnes & Noble Nook last night. It didn’t take me very long to figure out how it works but here are my observations and irritations.

I bought the first Sookie Stackhouse novel and at first I was put off by the fact that swiping the touchscreen wasn’t working but I finally got it to work and now it works all the time. Sometimes I accidentally brush my finger on it and it turns the page lol. Oops.

I was reading this morning and my dog came to me to pick her up so I sat the Nook down on my desk and when I went to pick it up again I couldn’t turn the page. It was frozen. And that happened to me a few times last night but I didn’t understand why.

My observation from that irritation is that instead of setting it down, I’m gonna have to turn it off with that metal power button on the top and watch it go into screen saver mode then lay it down. When I pick it back up it I have to push the power button again.

I was playing with the Sudoku game last night and having fun actually but sometimes if I pushed the arrow button on the touchscreen on the left side it goes to the menu and I’m forced to start a new game or go into the menu. I think that if I just go into the menu then go back to the game it might continue but that wasn’t the case for me. And when the nook shut down completely when I turned it back on, it erased my game completely forcing me to start over. HOW IRRITATING!

I probably won’t be playing it that often because of that very reason.

It seems to freeze on me a lot and at first I started to think that I may have gotten a defective one but what are the odds that I would get a defective one? I always seem to think that an electronic is defective so I return it for another and it shows the same sign of defectiveness. I don’t want to have to go all that way back to B&N just to suffer the same pains especially if that’s normal for the Nook.

When you are in your B&N library you can choose to see the little covers on the bottom to choose a book to read or you can just push the arrows up or down to choose a book. Although it’s faster to choose from the book covers. However, when you have put your own books in the Nook via the USB cable, you don’t get that option. There are no little book covers. I kind of figured that it wouldn’t show them but that’s fine, I don’t care.

I do like being able to highlight a word or type out a note but unfortunately when you go to highlight things, if it’s down at the bottom you have to push that bottom arrow and it can take forever. That’s one thing that impressed me with the Sony that you could use the stylus to tap on the word but unfortunately the touchscreen makes it hard to read books. Typing is a bit of a chore too because my fingers are so fat that I can’t even see if the letter lit up or not when I press it so I’m constantly having to look up at the e-ink to make sure I pressed it lol. I definitely need a stylus.

I also bought the King James version of the Holy Bible because you never know when you’re gonna need it. Unfortunately, navigation is a biotch. When you go to a book it shows links for all the chapters. If you want chapter 1 then perfect, it’s on that same page but if you want chapter 21 then you gotta push the arrow button twenty million times to get all the way down to 21. Ok so twenty million is an exaggeration but you know what I mean.

Once you finally get to your chapter you just have to turn the page to the verse you want.  That’s a good time to bookmark it for when you are at church and you are supposed to turn to that page.  You can just wake up the Nook and go to your bookmarks.

Highlighting is kind of a bitch if you are highlighting something at the bottom of the page because as with finding the bible chapter you have to press the arrow button many times to get to it before you can start selecting the text.  When you do go to select the text you can highlight it and you have the choice of writing a note or just hitting submit.

Unfortunately, and this is an irritation, you can’t look up your highlighted notes from the beginning of the book.  The only way you will be able to find that note is by making a bookmark.  The Nook for PC software allows you to find all your notes.  I don’t know about the Nook software for other devices such as iPhone, iPad, blackberry etc.

Despite my irritations, I’m glad that I bought it because now I can enjoy reading books that I would otherwise have to read on my computer monitor which is not very comfortable on my eyes or my back.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Nook, TVLeave a comment

One of the books that I bought for my new Nook is the first Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris.

I wasn’t going to start reading it until today because I got my Nook late at night, after 8pm, and it usually takes me awhile to read a chapter and I didn’t want to read it until I had a fresh start early in the day. However, I was impatient so I started reading it.

One of the reasons I wanted to read it is because it’s the first True Blood novel. I knew that it would be different from the actual show because people keep telling me that it has more detail and that’s almost always the case with books. A friend of mine told me that they are nothing like the show and that it has nothing to do with True Blood.

I’m a little confused why she told me that because as I was reading half of the first chapter last night, it seemed to me that not only was this exactly like True Blood but it was almost the first episode verbatim. In fact, it was the first episode verbatim.

The end of the chapter didn’t give me a cliffhanger like the first episode did, Bill fed Sookie and she got better after being beat up by the “Rat’s” and he confessed to her that he killed them. In the show, at the end of the first episode, she’s getting beat up and they go to credits then the 2nd episode he saves her.

I’m very happy that this first novel is turning out to be exactly what I had hoped it would be but I’ve only read chapter 1 so far. While I’m reading it I had the actual voices and accents of the characters from the tv show playing out each scene in my head with visuals.

When I’m reading I try to give the characters voices that I would imagine that they sound like but sometimes if I can’t imagine it then it’s just my own voice in my head. But I do try to picture the characters and their surroundings as I’m reading because it gives me a better idea of what I’m reading so I understand it better.

Sometimes I can’t and it confuses me and I tend to take longer reading but it seems that since I already have a visual from True Blood on HBO I tend to be able to read faster.

One of the things I do hate about reading and is why it took me 35 years to start reading is that books have big words and it seems like you would need a college education to understand what you are reading. What I like about these books are that I have not come across this issue. Although, now that I have a Nook if I do come across a word like that then I can look it up and get the definition then continue reading.

Obviously this is not a book review and who the hell am I to give one, I’m just saying I’m reading it now and I’m very happy with it and happy I have it on my Nook.

Barnes and Noble Nook

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, NookLeave a comment

Well I did it. I bought my Barnes & Noble Nook tonight. I bought the Nook WiFi for $149 because I really don’t want to pay $50 more just for the convenience of having 3G.

I haven’t read anything on it yet as I just bought it but I’ve been playing around with it while it has been charging. The guy at the store told me I should charge it for a few hours before using it but it’s charging very fast. The last time I looked it was at 88% and it’s only been plugged in for 30 minutes. I think they give you a 70% charge because it didn’t start off with 0%.

I didn’t do an “unboxing” video because how many of those are there on YouTube? Hundreds, I don’t want to add to it with more of the same exact thing.

It’s a lot heavier than I was expecting but it isn’t that heavy that it will cause an issue for me.

When I signed into my account and registered my new Nook I went to my library and was surprised to see that all the books in my account were already downloaded into the Nook. I didn’t have to wait at all.

People are always complaining about how long it takes to turn the page in these things, it’s really very fast. The time it takes to change to a new page is the same exact amount of time it takes for me to turn the page in a real book so I don’t see an issue. Also one of the videos I saw on YouTube said that when you change the font size it could take up to 20 or 30 seconds to do that because it has to refresh the entire e-book but that isn’t so with mine, it took the same amount of time as turning a page.

It finally charged to 100% so I plugged the USB cable into my hard drive and it installed the driver immediately. It even popped up the explorer window so I could add my own files to it. I have a few books that I’d like to add to it from Rainbow eBooks and it’s only taken a few seconds to do that. I’m also going to add some 4×6 images for the screen saver. Although they have to be 6×4.

I did the tutorial when it came up and it showed how to do things and one of the things I like was that when you turn the page you could either use those buttons on the right and left or you could just swipe the touchscreen with your finger. Yeah, swiping doesn’t work… That would’ve been cool but it doesn’t work for me.

I loaded a PDF file, that James Potter e-book… yeah… pdf files suck. I’m gonna have to figure out a way to convert that to .epub format so it’s readable. The only way I know how is to use calibre but that has issues but I will figure it out because I really want to read those.

It’s too late at night for me to start reading a new book so I’m going to just wait until I get up in the morning and start reading Dead Until Dark, the first Sookie Stackhouse novel.

It’s Hard to Convince People

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gadgets, News, NookLeave a comment

Ever try to convince someone that some “thing” is better than the other? It’s very difficult especially when that person is adamant that they do not want this new thing. They give you an excuse and you have an answer but they give you another excuse and you have an answer for that too. They can’t win this argument lol.

I’m trying to convince Darrin that when I buy my Nook he might get some use out of it too. Not just books but newspapers and magazines as well.

He said that he likes to read a regular newspaper and magazine because he can find things easily but my response was that you can find things much quicker with a Nook. All you have to do is type in a keyword and it will find every instance of that word. Or you can highlight articles that you want to go back to and then go into your highlights to find them.

He said that he likes the feeling of a newspaper or magazine, yet he has trouble letting them go. When he buys a magazine he doesn’t like to toss them afterwards because he paid a lot of money for them. Have you seen the cost of magazines? My god, those things are expensive.

A LA Times newspaper is $1 a day and I think it’s $2+/- on Sundays. Well, if he got a subscription to the LA Times on the Nook, it’s only $10 per month. I don’t know if that includes Sundays though. I checked to see how much home delivery of the LA Times is and it’s about $11.96 per month. You are only saving $1.96 per month but that’s $23.52 per year and you are saving trees at the same time. If you were to recycle all those newspapers you probably wouldn’t get that $1.96 back for a month worth of newspapers since they are thinning out so much these days. Then again I don’t know that for sure, they pay you by weight, not by how many you have.

I was looking at the eMagazines they have and they really aren’t anything that I would be interested in and Darrin never reads what they have available. The only one that would interest me is PC Magazine but I wouldn’t read it that much. He likes magazines like Time, People and Architectural Digest. Those aren’t available for Nook. So since nothing really good is available I won’t even try to convince him on that aspect.

But the key points that I was trying to convince him on is that you can look up articles by keywords, highlighting and making notes. When you write a note in an article you can refer back to your notes and it will bring that particular article up.  He said he could look something up fast in a magazine or newspaper but I bet him anything that I could find it faster on a nook.

He goes to Church, not every Sunday but most Sundays and he loves to bring his own bible that he had his name engraved on. There is no way I can convince him with a Bible for Nook. He saw how one guys bible was weathered and falling apart and all this stuff was highlighted and he made a remark about how he couldn’t wait for his bible to be as used as his was. So that I won’t even try to convince him of. Besides, when he is at Church is the perfect time for me to read and I wouldn’t like it if he had my Nook during those times lol.

There are so many things that make me giddy about electronic toys that he could care less about. Although when I actually get it he might feel differently but until then he couldn’t care less despite how much I try to convince him.

He was impressed when I told him that you could make the text a lot bigger to make it easier to read and the fact that you could visit websites and write emails and I could even blog from the Nook.  Although I don’t know if I would want to because of the touchscreen keyboard but if we were visiting family it would be a lot easier than using the mobile dashboard with my PSP.  I could also type more than I can on the mobile version.

There are some things that you have to see for yourself and when we get to the Barnes & Noble next week he can see how cool they are with the display that they have.  He’ll realize they are a lot better than he wants to give them credit for.  He’ll see.

True Blood Vs Twilight – Which Has the Bigger Bite?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, Movies, TVLeave a comment

Two of the biggest and most anticipated paromantasy series are making (or have made) their debut this month. True Blood hit the small screen on June 13th with its season 3 premiere, and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse hits the big screen on June 30th. My question to you is:

Which is the ultimate vamp saga: True Blood or Eclipse?

The battle of the Twilighters and True Blooders has been raging on, both with huge followings. This doesn’t mean that the Twilighters aren’t fans of True Blood, or vice-verse – it’s just the debate of which one is the better of the two series, both in literature and on-screen.
Twilighters are fierce in their support, as seen by Twilight’s complete take over at the MTV Movie Awards this past Sunday. True Blood is not slacking in the awards arena, with both an Emmy and a Golden Globe under its belt.

It is also clear that neither phenomenon is going anywhere. Alan Ball confirmed in January that True Blood will be back for a fourth season and Wyck told the Times earlier this year that Breaking Dawn is going forward (still not sure if it will be one movie or two), and shooting will begin this Fall.

So, what’s the verdict? If you ask me: True Blood wins – Hands Down!

Wait! Before you hit send on the hate email you just put together, hear me out.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the Twilight Saga and consider myself a Superfang, but True Blood has it all: Action, Romance, Mystery, Horror, plus it is just plain steamy. Vamps and Werewolves are scary, sinister and sexy – which is pretty much why we love them. True Blood brings this to the forefront making you love them and fear them at the same time. Key Examples: Remember when sensitive and tranquil vampire Bill went a little loco and killed Sookie’s molesting uncle – wasn’t that the sweetest and scariest thing you ever saw?! How about Eric Northman? Do I even have to give you an example? That vamp is walking danger and sex on very long legs (sorry, you can clearly tell who my paromantasy vamp is).

Twilight can be the complete opposite. It does have moments of action, but it is essentially a love story, without the added bonus of gore and suspense. We can pretty much predict what is going to happen from beginning to end. Even the fans out there have to admit that it can also get down right depressing at times! Remember the scene where Bella sat at the window for months after Edward left – ugh. I was screaming at her to get up and get over it already. Sorry, that part just ticked me off. That leads me to the next bit; True Blood characters are just more entertaining. Let’s take a look:

Bella vs. Sookie

Sookie can be ditzy and downright annoying at times, but she doesn’t take crap from anyone (or anything!). She sticks up for what she believes in and isn’t afraid to take the bull by the horns, or should I say the vamps by their fangs. This lady is fierce when she wants to be. Plus, she can read minds and that’s hot.

Bella is the complete opposite. She’s smart and shy, but she is too dependent on others. Come on – Admit it! When she lost Edward, her world turned upside down. She was pretty much the walking dead, which is funny cause isn’t that Edward’s job:)

She stood in that crazy zombie state until she started hanging out with Jacob. When Jacob wanted to ditch her, Bella nearly went insane again – she begged him not to leave her. Not cool! Like I said before, Bella and Sookie are complete opposites. Bella’s power: The vamps can’t read her mind.

Winner is: Sookie

Leading Men

Do you prefer a vamp that sparkles or is completely dead in the sunlight?
Do you prefer a vamp who will recite poetry to you or a vamp that will make you scream poetry in the bedroom (if you catch my drift)?

When you look at the leading male characters of Bill and Edward, determining a clear winner is pretty hard. These two are particularly similar. Two vamps that want to go against the grain and lead “normal” lives. They want to better themselves instead of becoming the monsters that you hear about in scary stories. They are both intelligent, old fashioned and are very protective of their ladies. Both are melancholy and a little to blah for my taste. That is why I am team Eric and team Jacob!

Winner is: Tie. They are too much alike to call a clear winner

Lady Stealer

You can’t have a paromantasy without throwing in a love triangle. Not to worry: Eric and Jacob are here to give us the drama we want.

Eric: Ah, Eric. What can I say about him? He is walking sex, danger and evil, with a hidden soft spot in that non-beating heart of his. Isn’t that an oxy moron for you? He locks up and tortures Lafayette one minute, then saves Sookie and cries for Godric in the next. His character leaves you on your toes at all times. Do you trust him or not? Are his intentions pure or does he just want something from you? Is he hot or is he hot? Okay, that last one doesn’t make sense. The point is: with Eric, nothing is predictable, nothing is straightforward and everything is erotic and sexy. This is why we love him. Men want to be him and ladies; well we want to do much, much more to him;-)

Jacob: He is the lovable werewolf who will die defending the people he loves, especially Bella. He is both immature and mature for his age. This is confusing, but true. When it comes to Bella he is naive, but when it comes to life – he gets the big picture. This werewolf is cute with an edge.

Winner is: Eric. Did you even have to ask?! This one is no contest.

Supporting Cast

True Blood
This is where things get interesting. True Blood has a huge array of characters that are all interesting, entertaining and down right funny. Case in point: Lafayette. Who doesn’t love the flamboyant gay guy who can be your makeup artists, stylist and your bodyguard all at the same time? He dances, wears makeup and can throw a killer punch. He is the manliest guy in a skirt and I love him.

Jason: He is the dumb, hot, athletic blonde brother of Sookie whose main goal is to get laid any chance he gets. He is funny and strong. A trouble seeker, but loyal to those he loves – sweet and incredibly stupid. He is the ladies man whose escapades leave us dying, figuratively and literally.

Tara: She is a complete aggressor. She will take on the world, but is also quite gullible. I must admit that she is not my favorite character and I prefer the books version of Tara to the TV version, but there is also never a dull moment in her life and that makes for great entertainment.

Pam: Eric’s sidekick may not be a regular, but when she is on – she is memorable. She is classy, pretty, snarky, witty and sarcastic all wrapped up with a comically evil bow. This fashionista vamp can take a crowd down in seconds without wrinkling her outfits or messing up her shoes, except when she was looking for Maryanne – wasn’t that part funny. She is also hot, but don’t underestimate her. She’ll eat your kids for dinner – literally.

Jessica: She is the newly made vamp that is driving Bill crazy. She came on the scene and was an instant fan favorite. Why? She is funny and sexy – innocent and wild. Plus, teens are crazy as it is – teen vamps are just insane. Hey, even Eric couldn’t deal with her, and that is saying something.

The Werewolves: They are coming to town this season and those familiar with the novels have already been introduced to them. They are strong, fierce and incredibly hot. For those who haven’t been keeping up with TB news, the character of Alcide has this last requirement down pact. Take a look:

Twilight
The supporting cast in Twilight is just that: a supporting cast – Alice aside. None of the Cullen clan is given the chance to really connect with the audience. Sure you catch a glimpse of them here and get a word from them there, but they are never given the opportunity to shine. They are potential that is completely stifled. Personalities are not really shown and other than Alice, none are really extraordinary. Just to be fair, I’ll go over the Cullen’s anyway.

Alice: She is lively and vivacious. Fierce and lovable (did you see her snap James’ neck – so yes, I did mean fierce). She can also predict the future, which is just awesome. I love her character because she demands attention. She is the cutest, sweetest vamp you’ll meet, plus she has a sense of style.

Carlisle: He is the caring “father” that is the head of the Cullen clan. He is devoted to his family and friends. He is like a doctor vamp angel and you just got to love that!

Esme: She is the “mom” of the Cullen clan and is pretty much the female version of Carlisle. She’s patient, loving and angelic (except for the fact that she hunts and drinks animal blood).

Jasper: He is the newly made vamp who is not as restrained in his desire for human blood. He constantly looks like he’s in pain or smelled something really funky because of this desire to kill.

Emmett: He is the golden boy of the Cullen brood. He’s athletic, modern, loves cars and is super hot. Too bad he only has two lines per movie. At least he is great to look at!

Rosalie: She is the designated bitch of the clan and I personally love her. She is straightforward and is very vocal in her dislike for Bella (although that does change later on). If you want an honest answer and/or opinion – this is the girl to go to!

Winner is: True Blood

Plot
True Blood addresses a number of underlying issues, while giving us the nail biting, hair pulling, adrenaline / heart pumping action that keeps us on our toes. They tackle racism, segregation, religion, and vamp rights in society.

Twilight gives us the typical forbidden romance with the normal background of vamps hiding amongst the humans and battling a few evil human blood spilling vamps that threaten society. The only twist is that they can come out during the day, but even that is not fun because they sparkle, which causes them to hide on sunny days.

Winner: True Blood

Final Verdict
True Blood and Twilight are like their respective vampire bites. True Blood vamp bites are erotic, dangerous and mind blowing, while a bite by a Twilight vamp pretty much leaves you lifeless or turns you into a cold one.

As for me: I prefer hot and dangerous. The Ultimate Winner Is: True Blood!

The fans seem to agree with me. On a poll given on my Paromantasy website, True Blood held the crown with a whopping 90% of voters voting for them over Twilight.

This article is written by Evelyn Amaro. You can find news, spoilers, pictures and articles on True Blood, Twilight, along with all things paranormal romance and urban fantasy on her Paromantasy website: http://www.paromantasy.com

Evelyn Amaro
http://www.paromantasy.com

Author: Evelyn Amaro
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Barnes & Noble Nook Vs Amazon Kindle – Which is the Best eReader?

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

Amazon’s Kindle eReader has been the leader, at least in the US, of the eReader market since the introduction of Kindle 1 in 2007. Sony has held 2nd place with 30 – 35% of the market.

But now there is a new kid on the block. In October ’09 Barnes & Noble announced its nook eReader that sold out on pre-order within a few weeks.

The nook is revolutionary primarily in its looks. It will be hard for your average gadget boy/girl to see one and not develop a serious craving. But does this mean that the nook is the best thing since the printing press for bookish boys and girls?

Let’s look at and compare some of the features of the nook and the Kindle eReaders.

For the most part reading on the nook’s e-ink screen is very similar to reading on the Kindle eReader’s e-ink screen. Both eRreaders use the same or a very similar reading screen.

What is dramatically different, and what in fact attracts many people to the nook eReader is the small LCD touchscreen under the e-ink screen. On the Kindle, navigation is accomplished by using the chicklet keyboard and the 5-way controller. The controls for the nook are mostly accessed through using the LCD touchscreen.

The nook’s touchscreen is also used for browsing books in your library or for selecting books to purchase from Barnes & Noble over the wireless connection. A virtual keyboard is available on the LCD screen for typing.

The nook’s color LCD screen looks really nice and would seem to be a very desirable feature, but there are problems with the software implementation, which we will get to in a bit.

Connectivity:

The Kindle eReader has a 3G wireless connection through AT&T for the Kindle Global, and Sprint for the Kindle 2. Amazon calls its wireless service “Whispernet”. Using Whispernet, you can usually purchase and download a book within a minute or less. You also can use the somewhat clunky but functional browser to access the internet, check email, research your reading on Wikipedia, even access another online ebook store than Amazon to purchase and download books, etc. With Kindle Global you also have access to the Kindle store in many other countries besides the US, though you have to pay a surcharge for downloading a book on the Whispernet outside of the US.

The nook eReader has both a WiFi connection and a 3G AT&T wireless connection. The difference is that the nook’s connection can only be used for purchasing and downloading books from Barnes & Noble. No internet, no Wikipedia, you cannot use it to connect to another online ebook store and purchase books.

The nook’s WiFi connection will be useful if you carry your nook eReader into a B&N store as it will download coupons and special offers to your eReader. You can also use the WiFi to browse ebooks while in a B&N store, but you can only read each book for a maximum of one hour in a 24-hour period. These in-store features are not yet fully implemented so we don’t yet know how useful they will prove to be.

Sharing

One of the nook eReader’s features that received a lot of press coverage is the ability to lend your ebooks to friends. Unfortunately, this feature is not as great as first thought. For one thing, publishers must opt in to let their books be loaned. Some have said they will not allow this. Also there are restrictions: you can only loan a particular book once ever, and only for 14 days. While a book is loaned out you cannot access it on your own nook.

The Kindle does not at this time allow this type of lending. However, you can share ebooks with up to 6 (it can vary by title) Kindles that are registered to the same account. This works well for multi-Kindle families. It is even possible to set up a reading club with your Kindle owning friends if you feel comfortable sharing a single credit card to register your Kindle eReaders to.

Other Features

One nice feature that the nook eReader has is a user replaceable battery. The Kindle’s battery is hardwired in and therefore will need to be sent back to Amazon for replacement ($60). Amazon says that even after 500 charges (ten years or so) these batteries will still hold 80% charge, so this may not be an issue for most people.

The nook also accepts an SD card for additional storage. The Kindle only has its internal storage, but that is enough to hold around 1,500 books, so this may also not be an issue for you.

A nook feature that has not received any official Barnes & Noble acknowledgment is the ability to borrow ebooks from your local library if they use Overdrive’s digital distribution service. To do this you need to install Adobe Digital Editions on your computer and use that to sideload the ebook onto your nook. You can borrow an ebook from the library for 14 days, after which it will be automatically deleted. You cannot renew library ebook checkouts. To find out how useful this feature will be in your case you should check your local library website. Most libraries do not have a large catalogue of ebooks yet. Kindle does not support borrowing library ebooks at this time

The eBook Stores

No matter how attractive the hardware, an eReader’s primary purpose is to read books. Since today’s eReaders tend to be tied to proprietary DRM formats for current titles, you want to make sure that the hardware that you choose is backed up by the best ebook store(s).

The nook’s primary ebook supplier for DRM’ed ebooks will of course be Barnes & Noble. You can also purchase DRM’ed ebooks from other online sellers that support Adobe Digital Editions. The nook is also compatible with non DRM’ed EPUB and PDF format.

With Kindle you will purchase most if not all of your DRM’ed titles from Amazon’s Kindle store. Kindle also uses a few other formats for non-DRM’ed ebooks such as MOBI and PDF. Public domain ebooks are also available for the Kindle eReaders. I suspect that at some point Amazon will also have to allow EPUB compatibility for the Kindle, as there is increasing pressure for this.

Many people disparage the Kindle’s being locked into Amazon’s ebook store for DRM’ed ebooks. While this may be true to a large extent, the fact is that the Kindle store has more titles available than B&N and all of the online stores selling ADE format ebooks put together. In most cases Amazon’s prices are less as well, although Barnes & Noble has been trying to match their prices.

If you primarily read books on the current best sellers lists you will likely be able to find these available in most formats at similar prices. The more off the beaten path your reading is however, the more likely you are to find what you are looking for at the Kindle store.

So Which eReader is Best – Kindle or nook?

If the nook eReader had not been rushed to market to make the holiday 2009 season, and if Barnes & Noble had waited until they had the software ready and the bugs worked out, then I would say that the nook would have been a very close second choice and maybe even equal to the Kindle.

In fact, the nook at present is crippled by its faulty release version software and unless B&N gets it fixed in a timely fashion the nook will be leapfrogged by the next Kindle release. Barnes & Noble has said that they are working around the clock to update the software and fix the current nook problems; and to their credit they have released a couple of updates as of this writing. However there are still lots of bugs and the nook is slower than the Kindle, which will be distracting when you are trying to immerse yourself in that next great book. In its present state the LCD screen does not play well with the e-ink screen and can be very frustrating to use.

Also, I prefer the Kindle store. My reading tastes may be different than yours however, so I would suggest you make a list of books you want to read and make a price and availability comparison between the Kindle store and B&N’s offerings. Higher ebook prices can add up pretty quickly.

The Kindle’s ability to connect to the internet and Wikipedia, etc. is also not to be underestimated.

I think that the nook eReader has the potential to be a great eReader and possibly equal the Kindle, but it is something of a gamble buying one now and waiting to see if Barnes & Noble can get all of the glitches fixed in time and also match the Kindle store’s offerings.

For more ebook reader news and reviews, please visit me at  http://www.findebookreaders.com

Author: Richard Greenlee
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Pubit!

On By Michel McDonaldIn Amplify, Books, eBook, NookLeave a comment

I was just browsing the Nook page on the Barnes and Noble website when I came across this new thing called “pubit!”. It’s a thing that will allow regular people like me write their own book and upload all the files to the pubit page and they will sell your book and give you a cut of the money.

You know it’s funny because I am in the process of writing an autobiography. I’m not famous enough to write one but people have been telling me for years that I should write a book with all the stories I have told about my messed up childhood. So why not write a book?

Well, I’ve been thinking, if I do write this book I have no guarantee that a publisher will publish it for me. I could spend the next 6 months to 2 years writing just to be turned down. So, this gives me a chance to do it and make it happen.

So I signed up. It’s not available yet but they say to sign up and I will be told when they start-up so I can begin uploading all my files. Well, I still have awhile. I’m only in the middle of my first chapter and who knows how long this book will end up being with all the stories that I have to tell.

One thing I’m going to do is read an actual autobiography from someone who is famous to give me more of an idea of what I should put in it and what I should leave out. Oh there are a ton of things that I’m not going to reveal only because it’s very sexual. Yeah that part of my life will be left out lol.

Amplify’d from www.barnesandnoble.com

See more at www.barnesandnoble.com

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James Potter

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, NookLeave a comment

I accidentally found a book that J.K. Rowling wrote that was a prequel to the Harry Potter novels, it was called Chapter Zero. Apparently it was a prank that J.K. Rowling was playing on her fans but that’s quite alright, I can take a joke.

While searching for the name James Potter I stumbled onto this website which is a fan novel series called James Potter by G. Norman Lippert. These novels are based on J.K. Rowling’s novels but they are not hers. It’s a fan fiction novel(s) based on the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

So far there are 3 novels. James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing, James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper and James Potter and the Vault of Destinies.

I have not read them yet because they are in pdf format and I really don’t like reading pdf files on the computer screen. It’s too hard on my eyes and I’d much rather be able to lay down on my bed and read it. When I get my Nook I’ll be able to read them on that.

I am really excited about reading these books because 1 I’m a huge fan and 2 they are FREE! Who doesn’t like free?

The one thing about these books for those who are unaware, James Potter is not Harry’s father, he’s his first-born son.

“Your Father’s Battle is Over. Your’ Begins.”

If you are interested, they did some videos for YouTube to advertise the first book. You can click the big picture for “James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing the FULL FILM” I have to warn you though, the acting isn’t A grade but it’s something. And it’s not a full 90 minute or 3 hour movie, it’s 5 videos all under 10 minutes. Watching it will give you an idea of what’s coming in the story.

As soon as I get my Nook I will add it to it after I convert the pdf files to epub format then I will add it to my very long list of books to read. I’ll push it up near the top because I am very interested in it.