Follow Friday, January 11, 2013

Hello Everyone!

Sorry my Friday post is so late! (It's practically Saturday!) but this is the weather we just got:

(I'm in the white area! - so much snow!)

But, we are all dug out, and got some food from Pizza Delight, and our power came back on so we could get out of bed without freezing!

This week's features are:

and

And this week's question is:

Q: IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ONE SUPERNATURAL BEING/CREATURE TO REALLY EXISTS WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

A: This is a pretty easy one for me, as the only really supernatural type of thing I have ever wished actually existed is magic a la Harry Potter! I (and everyone else I'm sure!) would love to have Hogwarts be real and be able to be a witch or wizard!

If you want to join the hop, here are the details - The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools — keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them “hi” in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to WordPress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don’t have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.

All features are chosen randomly to be the feature. They are not chosen by content or name.

Cost of an Ebook

Is anyone else as confused about the pricing of ebooks as I am?? Recently I bought the ebook of Cassandra Clare's City of Ashes and it was the first time I noticed I was charged full tax on an ebook. I thought this was a bit off, but then I went and looked at the prices for each, and the physical books is less expensive. This to me, is completely ridiculous. Ebooks should be much less expensive than physical books. They do not have to be printed, they do not have to be shipped, they don't have to be stocked, and they don't require an employee to be present to sell them. I am totally in agreement that the author should still be paid for their intellectual property, I'm not disputing that, however how is it possibly justified that an ebook can be more expensive and have more sales tax, when there is so much less costs involved?? Am I missing something here?? Because I seriously feel like I got ripped off. Its things like this that contribute to why piracy is such a problem for books.

Physical Book From Chapters (I am a member, so I would pay $12.63 + 5% sales tax = $13.26)

                       BOOK: City of Ashes

By Cassandra Clare

Trade Paperback

In Stock

• Online price $13.29
• Member price $12.63

Same book, in electronic format from Kobo is $12.99 + 13% sales tax = $14.68

City of Ashes

• By: Cassandra Clare
• $12.99
• BUY NOW
• SEND AS GIFT

Top Ten Tuesday 2013 Edition, Volume 2

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they will post a new fun Top Ten list topic so we can all get to know one another. This week's list is:

Top Ten Bookish Goals For 2013

1) Complete my Goodreads challenge of 75 books this year. That is a lot for me considering I work a full time, and a part time job, and I'm in school. That's reading 1.442 books per week, and I guess technically I'm already behind. I'm reading a big book, but it still only counts as one.

2) Stick to the posting schedule I created. I think its really realistic, and leaves a lot of freedom to post whatever I'm feeling like at the time.

3) Really concentrate on my challenges lists, but not to the point where I'm feeling burdened by it.

4) Get rid of my old books that I know I'm never going to read again. This will be a hard one for me, but I think that my books will be better served being donated to the hospital or a womens shelter than collecting dust on my shelf. Obviously I have some important ones I will hold onto, but I think its time to part with all the bargain bin chick lit I have bought, and give them to someone who might actually read them again (cause I know I won't!)

5) Stop buying books for the sake of buying. If I want a book really badly so I can read it right away, sure. But I have over 100 unread books in my possession, and I don't need anymore right now just because they are on the sale table!

6) Find some more books for BF to read. He likes to read a little bit, but he needs to be given the book. He has an ereader, and I have to load it for him and tell him "read this one now" for him to do it. He has read the Harry Potter books, and the Hunger Games series, and the Steve Job bio recently, but I don't know what to put on there next for him. Giving him a series is easiest, but he doesn't like books with too much teen girl lust in it. Any suggestions? I gave him Tucker Max most recently and I think he needs something with an actual story line to go to next.

That's all I can think of really, my goals are a bit long, so I think 6 is enough! Looking forward to seeing what everyone else thinks of!

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Goodreads Summary: I’ve lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now the very same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day! Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive :) !!
 
Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!
 
Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.
 
What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life
Why I Read This Book: I pretty much read all of Sophie Kinsella's books (or at least buy them, as I still have a few to read!) and I got this one as an ebook. Tragedy stuck while I was reading this though, because I stepped on, and broke, my ereader while I was reading this one! Writing this review reminds me of that awful time :*(

Review: Initially when I started this book, I was like, oh god, another self centered, whiny, panicky, heroine who has trouble remembering anything, and never tells the truth (I'm looking at you, Becky Bloomwood!). I used to like the Shopaholic books a lot, but the last one got on my last nerve. I was a little disappointed. But, as I persevered, I did really start to enjoy the book, the story ended up really growing on me. It is a very cute book, and Kinsella's excellent and adorable writing style sucked me in! I do hope that this is a stand alone book. I loved it just the way it was, and Poppy doesn't need a sequel!

Rating:

Feature and Follow January 4, 2013

This weekly feature has 2 hosts Parakjunkee and AlisonCanRead and each blog features a different blogger to introduce us to.

This week we have:

and

Lost in Thought

This week's question is:

Q: What New Years Blogging or Writing resolution have you placed on yourself?

A: This year I need to get a posting schedule and stick to it. Before I used to just post a review whenever I was done a book, and if I had a back log I would post a bunch in one week, and then there wouldn't be any for awhile. Now my schedule will be:

Monday - Book Review

Tuesday - Top Ten Tuesday List

Wednesday - off

Thursday - Personal interest content (movie, TV, etc.)

Friday - Feature and Follow

Weekends - whatever I feel like :)

I think that this is something I can easily stick to, and not feel overwhelmed. That is my main blogging goal for 2013. As a secondary, I'm also hoping to make a few blogging friends that I chat with somewhat frequently. I can't get into Twitter or even my blogs Facebook page, but I will definitely be doing more commenting. I'm always hopping around reading, so why not let people know I was there! That's what I would want people to do for me :)

My First Time Watching Star Wars

Over our recent move, we had internet troubles, which I'm sure you are all tired of hearing about... However, I took the time to watch something that I had always been meaning to see, but never got around to it, and that is the Star Wars movies. After a through poll of my Facebook friends, I decided to watch them in the order that they were released, Episodes 4,5,6 then 1,2,3. We finished the last one on New Years Eve. This is a summary of my thoughts.

I was expecting these movies to be like THE MOST EPIC sci-fi films ever. But, in reality they were actually quite goofy. They characters were often pretty funny, which for some reason surprised me a lot. I guess I had no idea what to expect, but it wasn't that. I laughed several times throughout all 6 films.

Especially where Han Solo was involved!

I'm surprised that when people think of Princess Leia, they always seem to think of this hairstyle. This is only really in the first part of Episode 4, and then you never see it on her again. How did it become such a trademark? I know Padme wears it once as well, but I still don't know how it became so well known.

• 

I'm also surprised that there were so many things that I had heard of/could recognize from the films that really didn't get a whole lot of screen time.

Darth Maul



Ewoks!

Overall, I did really enjoy the movies, the special effects were cool, and I liked the story. I guess I just don't really know how they turned into such an earth shattering epic sensation. They were really good, and I really enjoyed them, but I still just don't fully understand the cult following they have.

Top Ten Tuesday 2013 Edition, Vol. 1

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they will post a new fun Top Ten list topic so we can all get to know one another. I routinely participate in this, but have not for awhile. I'm hoping to be better at my participation, but I say that a lot... so we'll see! The first edition for 2013 is:

Top Ten Books I Resolve To Read In 2013

1) Life of Pi - Yann Martel

I have been saying I was going to read this book for so long. It was on one of my challenge lists for last year, and its there again this year as I still haven't read it... It WILL get read this year. And most likely very soon.

2) City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare

I have been dying to get on with this series, and I haven't bought this book yet! I got some Xmas gift certificates, and I am definitely getting this one!

3) The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - Michelle Hodkin

I wanted to get this before it even came out, and I pre ordered it, and I still haven't touched it! Getting to this one soon I hope!

4) ...Then He Ate My Boy Entrances - Louise Rennison

I love this series, but I seriously feel like I have been trying to finish reading it forever. I think its just time to get through them and be done with it. They are starting to feel like a burden I feel so bad that its taken me so long to read them all.

5) Glory In Death - J.D. Robb

Since this series is such a behemoth, I really need to keep going, or I might as well not bother!

6) The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

I started this book sometime this year, and I just couldn't get into it. But this year, I will try again!

7) Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

I have been meaning to read this since I wanted to see the movie (which I have also held off reading). I am going to get to it this year!

Other than that, I just really want to do a good job on the challenge lists I made. I plan to try really hard to get to all of them (although I don't even know how many I have actually listed there...) I want to do them justice since I put so much work into making them!

You can see my post about 2013 Challenges here