I crossed over that electronic line

I have this favourite author and he jointly made a short novella called Isali Dreams – thing is, it’s only available as an e-book (which ceratinly annoys me, but it’s not their fault I guess). So Stuart asked me the other day if I had read that story yet – I hadn’t but wanted to, the only issue was just the e-book thing. So last night.. I did it.  I brought an ebook ! I was actually a little distressed by the situation, looking around to see if anyone was watching and going to pop out and say “Ha! You said you would never buy one. Look at you going against what you always rant on about!” Pointing their imaginary finger at me in disgust…  Turns out no-one did 😉

Its a little dramatic I know.. it’s just a book – electronically – and if there was a print version I would of got that.. but there wasn’t so I couldn’t.

The E ! book was great though, really enjoyed it, despite it being a short novella. I don’t know how many pages it was, my pad didn’t tell me. If it was a print book, I could of told you ;-p  but it was a great little story 😉

The books of my life

Included here are my (so far) all time favourite books, there’s no old classics in here not ones that you would say were.  To me they are the greatest books ever written.  So here they are (in order of purchase, because I really can’t decide which should be in first place).

The Attic (Nightmares) by T.S. Rue – published by Lions 1994  – Three best friends head off for a weekend of fun, when a game of dare goes scarily wrong – there is something in the attic that wants to play a completely different game.

Year of the Cat: No. 1 The Dream / No. 2 The Hunt / No. 3 The Amulet (Nightmares) by Zoe Daniels – published by Collins 1995  –  Holly joins a new school and a new life in the shape-shifters world, with ancient Egyptian myth and a head for danger does she really fit in; is her love for Alex true or can she overcome the power of destiny.  Will the world change to that of the panther or will history repeat itself?

 

The Hour Of The Phoenix by Richard Saxon – published by Consul 1964  – Stella and Kit need to get off Earth and as far away from the Blue Giant that’s going to destroy everything they know and love.  They are one of a few couples that are the humans last hope of survival, they must find somewhere they can survive and carry on the race, although they’ve been born and raised to be the last hope do they truly believe its possible and worth fighting for.

 

Rapture by David Sosnowski – published by Sceptre 1997  –  Part romance, part satire.  Zander Wiles, a small time drug dealer, starts feeling sick, next thing he knows – he has wings.  “Angelism” spreads into the world, and soon there are angel support groups and militant factions create the Feathered Nation.  Zander, the first celebrity angel, doesn’t see much point to the whole angel idea and this leads him to Cassie O’Connor, the best support an angel can get.

The Orcadian Novels: Body of Water / Memory of Water / Spirit of Water (TBR) by Stuart Wakefield – published by Magic Toy Books 2012  –

B.o.W : Leven, a troubled teenager has been passed around many different families.  Finally he finds one and seems to fit right in but he carries with him some nightmares and 1 rule “Stay away from the water.” In the search for his identity and with a broken-heart, he heads to the Orkney Islands where he finds out more than he bargained for and its definitely not ‘normal’.  Here he meets Dom and things not only become clearer, sexier but dangerous.  The water is Levens friend but also a very big enemy.

M.o.W : Shauns life really didn’t work out the way everyone thought it would, especially himself and when he finds his first love, ‘Leven’ in the River Thames, maybe redemption is possible.  But when Leven doesn’t know who anyone is, including himself, and demons start to hunt them both down, things slowly start to unravel. Can Shaun help Leven remember who is before the apocalypse lands on their doorstep?

S.o.W (to be released)

All these books are in my ultimate collection because even with a brilliant plot and characters that you fall for, each one takes me into the story and they seem like films when I read them.  I can clearly see each scene played out in front of me and can read them a million times without ever getting bored.  Each time I have trouble putting the book down and feel the same emotions as when I first read them; to me this makes an incredible book and ‘classic’.

Is 27 the best year of your life?

From about the age of 15 I’ve always wanted to be 27, I guess I thought that was going to be ‘my year’.  So has it been??

Well lets see (briefly):  I’ve ‘met’ 4 amazing people this year: Stuart; James; Andrea; Jamie and I almost adore them all (little bit too early.. maybe) 😉

I have finally seen Darren Hayes (formally of Savage Garden, for those who don’t know) live – twice – because I wanted to make up for never seeing him before; I am so glad I did.  Seeing that man only once with the performances that he puts on, that would be worse than never seeing him.  This is how I met James – at the 2^nd show, we found each other in Twitter (divine process; we were both going alone so we thought we’d meet up before the show and go together).

I also met Andrea through Darren, after the shows obviously I mentioned it loads on Twitter and she responded to some posts – and the process began as it usually does.

Has my year of 27 been any different to other years??  I guess I do more work than I ever did; I (like I mentioned) saw Darren finally; I’ve done other things this year like ‘travelling’ (UK) but I’ve done that loads before so I shouldn’t really count it.  I’ve seen loads of new artists – Frank Turner; Will Young; Coldplay; Ben Howard; to name but a few.  I also don’t sleep half as much as I did then, so I end up doing more in the day (hense the more work).  I feel good at what I do and don’t let things annoy as much as I used to (or atleast for as long as they did) and I’ve learnt to take life a little less seriously.

But, I still – 9 months later (March onwards) don’t have any idea why 27 was ‘my year’ – maybe it has yet to come or maybe I just wanted to be older.  I’ll let you know in the next 3 months (if I find out).  I just hope this carries on into the next years I have (I’m positive about it).

Meanwhile here’s what I think the sexiest video of the year has got to be :

settle back and have a cuppa

So.. for anyone that reads these things that I put up you know that I missed a day and technically I shound’t be posting today !! .. Well I am.. because I missed Saturday. Internets been down all weekend and I thought for the rest of the day. I was just about to give up when I thought I’d try that old trick of ‘switch off, switch on’ and TADAA!! so here I am making up for Saturday.

As the system is all messed up though, Im going to have a cuppa with you instead.. FAIR ?? ~Mines a Douwe Egbert no.3 .. so yummy and today I have honey in it as its winter. The music for today is Melpo Mene:

So sit back, have a listen and pour yourself a drink .. or go to the nearest Starbucks / Costa and pick one up 🙂

Are E-books the way forward?

As I don’t use an e- reader and thought that I didn’t even own one – imagine my shock when I found one on my eee pad! I can only do a view of looking in and what I read and see of a Kindle, along with what people tell me (tell me if I’m wrong anywhere).

I’m not sure what the most annoying thing is with an e-reader, so this isn’t in order of gripe.  I guess one of the main ones to me is that I feel it makes books obsolete and un-interesting to ‘next generations’.  ‘All’ they will know about are books on a screen – like everything else is now-a-days, unless its electronic they don’t want to know – BAD thing.

I guess a benefit to this is that more people are reading – people used to look strangely at me when I walked down the street with a book in hand – now pretty much everyone is doing it!  It’s like books never existed before the Kindle arrived and suddenly it’s amazing to read.  Maybe it’s just more convenient for people to pick it up and go or maybe it’s just ‘popular’ now – either way this is a GOOD thing (throws party).

Another GOOD thing is that e-books are so much easier to buy.  There’s no travelling or waiting, YOU WANT IT, YOU BUY IT, YOU GOT IT.  But.. the problem I have with this is authors know this too and so this is the first place they sell their books – BAD thing.  This means I have to wait for an extra month (sometimes) before it gets published (if ever) as an actual book (I know what you’re thinking – I don’t have to wait) well no but because this happens, I get stubborn and protest about buying it like that.  With this in mind thou, it is a GOOD thing for new authors – as they get more notice and creating an e-book is cheaper for them to produce and sell.

(Almost finished now) – Another reason why I don’t like the e-books is that I feel people lose the sense of what a book is (this could just be me).  A book to me is like a keepsake, it’s a special piece of history that I treasure.  Be it a book that someone gave to me or just one that I’ve had for so long that special memories are attached to it.  With people growing up only having books on a screen – nothing collectable – they can’t pass them along like we used to do and put little messages in them; e-books take away this simple traditional gift.

You also don’t get to go to book signings – I like the idea of meeting the author and having a (be it brief) chat to show your appreciation.  What’s the author going to sign if it’s an e-book!

 

~ My previous post explains why I love books – check it out if you can ~

Titles are pointless unless they’re amazing

This is PART 1 in a 2 PART (or maybe 3 – depends how much I want to rant) on Books – vs –  Kindle.  I’m going to start with saying why I love books and then slowly (a day in your world) head into why I don’t like Kindle or ebooks in general.  You’ll probably realise it before the end of this part but play along 😉

So .. this new found fad that’s sweeping the world (minus 3^rd world) and gripping people with a new joy of sophistication is annoying me.  I’m highly addicted and dedicated to books, as in paper; cardboard; glue and paint.  And seeing everyone with one of these electronic devices is irritating. (Oh how I sound old)

I like the action of turning pages with my hand, putting in a bookmark of whatever item I desire – a traditional cardboard rectangle; a sticker, a bit of fabric or if you’re feeling posh a £10 note (depending on wealth) – I have (should I admit this) used a £5 note before but I was out and it was a new book.  I even – although it annoys me at the time – love/like the action of losing the page because the bookmark decided to do a runner!

When I want a new book, I get to go the nearest book shop and stand around, sifting through all the books on the shelf (legally.. seriously no-one stops me), choosing a couple and taking them to the indoor coffee hut and settling down. Granted the downside to this is you might need to talk to someone when actually purchasing the book, but hang strong.  Alternatively you could go online and buy one (most of the time ‘look inside’ the book beore you buy) – the downside to this is you may have to wait (depending on delivery times) for 2- 8 days for the book to come to your house from the magic red vans!

Books are also a fantastic way to travel back in time and live in someone else’s life and I don’t mean through the plot lines and characters.  I mean going to a second hand book shop (yes they do still exist) and looking for hidden messages by previous owners:

And also highlighted or underlined words which I love to guess why they chose them, like: ‘With open ears, and with unfolded arms’. Apart from just liking the words, what do they mean to the previous owner?

I’m sure that I don’t need to point out that only with an actual book, physical handheld object, can you get to do such things.  The above is a brief (I’ve tried) explanation of why books are better, next post on Thursday (weather permitting) will be on why Kindle annoys me.. but there will also be pros to them in that ramble too (promise). 

Mundane Monday Trading Times

Today we (me) will be finishing up the research and word sentences for tomorrows gift to you. Typically I’m going to be posting every 2 days (mostly, never a guarantee). So it will be Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Today I’m messing it up just to let you know this is going to be happening – so you could say this is rare or an exclusive !

So just to pad this out a tad.. We put up the decorations for this thing called Christmas yesterday. Not really sure what it’s all about, no-one seems to know but we get to mess the house up and spend money, so I’m going with it ! Unfortunately we don’t have an angel (apparently they go on top of the tree) so I grabbed the first thing white thing I could find – What do you think ??