I picked Dead or Alive as my first audiobook because I figured it wouldn’t take much attention to listen too. That expectation was based on my opinion that all Tom Clancy books are basically the same and I was mostly right. However, I either haven’t read the earlier books that included torture or they weren’t as horrifying in print. Either way, the last few chapters of this book were actually stressful to listen to they were so violent. The rest of the book was just another Tom Clancy story, with a lot of action, a few political statements, and no character development. Usually I could enjoy this as mindless fun, but the torture scenes made that impossible.

I also picked this book because the narrator is an actor from Law and Order whose voice I thought would be good for this book – and it was. His voice had just the right kind of drama for a political/military thriller. Sometimes all the Russians or Arabs started to sound the same, as though the narrator forgot which voice belonged to which character. Other than that, the voices were done well and were pretty easy to understand. Tracks were a little long for easy navigation at 7-8 minutes.

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I think the many member of the Cayuga Nature Photography group that focus on birds must be rubbing off on me. Plus this seems to be a great place for them, even just at home and at school

Shirley You Jest Book Awards: May 20th – July 22nd

This book award event is a great opportunity for authors, since the prizes are all publicity based and includes things like blogger reviews. As you might guess from the title, the awards are for books that “deliver the funny” in both a fiction and non-fiction category. Entry requirements are listed here.

Armchair BEA: May 27th – June 2nd

This online event corresponds to the Book Expo America conference in NYC. It’s a way for bloggers who don’t make it to the actual event to get to know each other by sharing prompt-inspired posts; having twitter meet-up; and commenting on each others blogs. Also includes giveaways. Sign-ups are here.

Classics Retold Month: September

For Classics Retold Month, each participant signs up to read a classic and at least two adaptations. Up to four bloggers can work on one classics and bloggers who want to do more than one classic are encouraged to do guest posts. Classics are divided into five categories and sign-ups for each category are hosted by the following bloggers:

• 19th Century and Gothic Classics: Bookish Whimsy
• Children’s Classics: The Cheap Reader
• Ancient to Renaissance Literature: Books Take You Places
• Mythology: The Book Addicts Guide
• American and Miscellaneous Classics: Excellent Library

Title: 

The stereotypical introvert is not viewed as someone who could be a great leader, lawyer, or salesperson. Susan Cain challenges that view with both fascinating research and enjoyable anecdotes. This research strongly suggests that society could benefit from the complementary strengths of extroverts and introverts. However, much of American society is designed to favor extroverts. Cain discusses why that is; why we should try to change it; and how we can begin doing so.

As you’ve probably heard already, this is an awesome book. It has all the right ingredients to make me love a science-y non-fiction book. A dash of well-explained previous research, spiced up with anecdotes that relate the research to real life. A tasty new blend of old ideas forming the authors own theories. And a pinch of practical, research based advice for improving your life and that of the introverts around you.

These ingredients are all pulled together by the author’s clear writing and intelligence. She drew me in and made me understand how some very different people feel about being introverts. She gave wonderful answers to complex questions, starting by acknowledging that some questions have no simple answer. She also very tactfully makes it clear that she is not saying that introverts are better than extroverts, just that both types of people have something to contribute. All together it made for an enjoyable and inspiring read.

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The Liebster award is an award passed on by bloggers to new blogs (less than 200 followers) worth reading. The idea is to show some support to new bloggers by featuring some that you like. I love the idea of supporting other new bloggers, but sadly don’t follow many new blogs. Fortunately, there are lots of good, new blogs out there, so I found some I wanted to follow and am sharing them with you here So, while this is a long-ish post, I promise it will be well worth your time to find out about these awesome new bloggers!

11 Awesome Bloggers

1. The Bibliotherapist is actually an exception to what I said above, being a blog I already followed and couldn’t find follower stats for. So while Maryann might already have more than 200 followers, I plead ignorance. My favorite thing about her reviews are their unique format, especially the “Initial Impressions” section which is often funny, smart, and spot on.
2. Tanya, at  52 Books or Bust, has reviewed a varied selection of adult books and is trying to read more non-fiction this year (yea!). Her posts look like they’re all reviews and they all look like great reviews. Each has a nice summary, shares anything you need to know that might have affected her feelings for a book, and ends with a great section describing who she’d recommend the book to. I thought the last section was particularly helpful and well done.
   
3. The Sleepless Reader‘s reviews are a little more stream-of-conscious than I would usually like, but her reviews were great because they gave me a good idea what she was thinking about while reading each book and were still well organized. She’s also currently listening to Hyperion, which I hope she loves as much as I did!
4. Short and to the point, Wandering in the Stacks does a great job quickly conveying the feel of a book and reads a wonderful variety of books, including a good amount of non-fiction.
5. Adventures in Voracious Reading writes some thoughtful reviews, uses GIF’s to great effect, and demonstrated the ability to write a first class hilarious rant in her recent review of Half-Blood.
6. The thoughtful and often funny reviews, especially some really great ones on non-fiction books, are my favorite part of The USB Review of Books.
7. Little Swag of Books focuses on Australian books and ends with a fun variety of genres. Perhaps because of this focus, a lot of the books Raelke reviews are ones I’ve never heard of and her clear, well written reviews make me want to read them all.
8. I Am Sam Tule is another blog with short reviews that still give you a good idea of what the book is like. I also felt like I shared Sam’s feelings about the books I’d read, so hopefuly this will be a good blog for me to get some recommendations from
9. I enjoyed getting caught up A Year In Books enthusiasm in her well written reviews. I also aspire to read as many independently published books, since I think highlightling little known books is a great thing for bloggers to do.
10. Larts and Etters had me from her funny, talking-to-a-friend style review of Madame Bovary. I think I’m going to very much enjoy reading and laughing along with her posts in the future.
11. Sundae Writers has many of the qualities that you’ve probably realized that I like, including short-ish, helpful well written reviews in a variety of genres. In particular, they seem to have some good mystery and spy novels recommendations.

11 Questions For Nominees (in which I shamelessly steal ideas from the nominees before me) 

1. How did you get started blogging?
2. Do you have a favorite genre?
3. What was the last thing you read, watched, and listened too?
4. What are your hobbies?
5. Of the books you have read this year, which is your favorite?
6. Where would you go for a dream vacation?
7. Are you a cat person or a dog person?
8. Do you always match your socks?
9. Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla?
10. Ebooks or hard copies?
11. Do you play an instrument? If so, which one?

Woot! Doing Dewey has just received it’s first award! The Liebster award from Dani at Book Paper Cut. Thanks Dani! The Liebster award is an award passed on by bloggers to new blogs (less than 200 followers) worth reading.

Recipients of the Liebster Award must:

1. List 11 Random Facts about you
2. Answer the questions that were asked of you (By the blogger that nominated you)
3. Nominate 11 other blogs for the Liebster Blog Award and Link to their Blogs
4. Notify the bloggers of their award.
5. Ask the award winners 11 questions to answer once they accept the award

11 Random Facts…

1. My hobby obsession lately (other than reading), is playing Guild Wars 2.
2. I can’t get enough frozen blueberries, which I like better than fresh ones.
3. I’ve only ever broken one bone, a pinkie finger when I crashed my bike.
4. I used to be scared of toll booths – what if I hit one?! But I got better
5. My first pet was a small blue lizard I caught outside.
6. I currently have a cat named Maggie.
7. The first 100+ page book I red was Redwall by Brian Jacques.
8. I’m currently learning how to golf.
9. Fall Out Boy is my favorite band and I’m going to see them in Niagara Falls!
10. I also love 90′s music in general.
11. My favorite flowers are daisies.

Answers to Dani’s 11 Questions

1. What are your 3 go-to books when it comes to giving out book recommendations?
   I’m currently planning on recommending After The Ending to everyone because it was independently published and is one of the best fiction book I’ve read all year. For fans of fantasy, I’d recommend Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series and for fans of sci fi, I would recommend Hyperion.
2. Why did you start blogging?
   I was inspired to start blogging by Gretchen Rubins’ The Happiness Project. In her book, she decides to read magazines on various topics and that sparked my idea to read through the Dewey Decimal system.
3. Zombies, vampires, or werewolves?
   Vampires or werewolves, as long as they’re done well. Anne Rice is my favorite for vampires and I loved Blood and Chocolate for werewolves.
4. If you could meet any living person in the world, who would you meet?
   Tough question! Maybe Julia Stiles. I love the characters she plays and think I might like her if we met.
   
5. What was the last thing you read, watched, and listened too?
   I’m currently reading Queen of the Air – A True Story of Love and Tragedy at the Circus. The last thing I watched was an episode of The Daily Show and the last thing I listened to was Call Me Maybe.
6. Of the books you have read this year, which is your favorite?
   My favorite fiction would either be After the Ending or The Time of My Life and my favorite non-fiction is definitely The Botany of Desire.
7. What is your zodiac sign? (Western/Chinese or both) 
   I’m an Aquarius, but I had to look that up
   
8. What is your favorite quote? 
   I’m not sure I have one, but in case you need a laugh, I’d like to take this opportunity to direct you to this page of hilarious Douglas Adams quotes.
9. Who would you: marry? befriend? hate? (book characters)
   I haven’t met a book character I would marry. I would definitely befriend Lucy from The Time of My Life  or any of Meg Cabot’s character. And I recently read a review of Glitch which pointed out how terrible one member of the love triangle is and agree completely!
10. How long have you been blogging?
    I’ve been blogging for about 18 months.
11. What are your hobbies?
    Reading, photography, gaming, and golfing.

Title: 

The many characters in The Obsidian Mirror are all drawn together by one thing – the mirror’s amazing ability to bend time and space, allowing the user to travel forward or backward in time. Jake desperately wants to find out what happened to his father, who he believes was murdered by the mysterious recluse currently in possession of the mirror. Others want to own the mirror to gain power, others to destroy it, and others for reasons yet undiscovered. Unfortunately, they can’t all get what they want…

It took me a little while to get into this book and even after the mystery had me hooked, I didn’t feel like there was a protagonist I could relate to. All of the characters but Jake were simply enigmas, too poorly understood for me to empathize with them. And Jake, while understandable, is too selfish in pursuit of his own goals for me to like him much. Fortunately, the plot and the fascinating setting made this still a very enjoyable and engaging read.

Without a main character to root for, I couldn’t stop reading for other reasons. I couldn’t wait to find out who everyone was; where (and when!) they came from; and what exactly was going on with the mirror and the supernatural creatures that started showing up. Everyone had their secrets and it was often difficult to tell who was telling the truth. There was constant action and adventure. And the book ended with some great potential for a sequel, in which we’ll hopefully find out more about all of the awesome characters introduced in this one.

Amazon|Goodreads

Title: 

After a virus kills nearly everyone they know, best friends Dani and Zoe are stranded on either side of the country and working their way towards each other. They quickly discover that those not killed by the virus are developing side effects, from murderous rages to unbelievable new abilities. In order to survive the frightening new world, they’ll have to develop their own new abilities and learn to fight to survive.

Although post-apocalyptic novels are a dime a dozen lately, After the Ending was brilliantly unique. I haven’t read anything else that has such relatable characters or that so vividly captures the terror of watching the world around you fall apart. The authors also avoid two things that bother me in most post-apocalyptic or dystopian novels and I loved them for it. First, many books have characters who take too long to admit that something out of science fiction is happening. I realize that I would take some convincing before I believed the events in this book were happening to me, but I think the sci-fi I’ve read would allow me to adapt. The characters in this book are, in my opinion, right on the money, adapting to their new reality at a believable speed. Second, a lot of books draw out interpersonal conflicts by having characters be so stupid I want to shake them. The characters in this book instead actually talk to people when they have problems with them. As a result, the plot advanced at an exciting pace and the authors were able to fill the book with an incredible amount of adventure.

In general, the characters were believably intelligent, not too perfect, and very relatable. While their e-mails to each other did sound a little young for their age, I thought the authors did a pretty good job capturing the way real people talk without giving the writing an unprofessional feel. The e-mails were integrated into the story nicely and didn’t break up the flow of the writing at all. In fact, I think they added information about the characters’ feelings which benefited the story telling. The view point swapping was also executed flawlessly. I’ve never minded books that swap between multiple view points, but I still appreciated that the authors would sometimes give a character consecutive chapters when something exciting was going on.

Finally, the science was a little bit of a stretch, but fairly believable. Of course it turns out someone nefarious is behind the whole thing, but the authors don’t rub your face in the fact, which for me made it feel less cliche. The ending was a bit of a cliff hanger, but an acceptable one since the main conflict of this book was resolved first. The writing was superb and this is by far the best edited independently published book I’ve read, on top of it’s many other good qualities, so I’m waiting with bated breath for the next book. Highly, highly recommended! (Also, only $3 for the kindle version and free if you have prime, in which case you really must give it a try!)

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Happy Friday all! I hope you’re still enjoying spring as much as I am, because I am loving being able to get outside for photography so much

Investing is a topic that makes me anticipate being confused, bored or both, so I approached this book with a certain amount of trepidation. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up at all if it weren’t for two things. First, my significant other and I are reaching a stage in our careers where knowing something about investing seems responsible. Secondly, my attempt to read through the Dewey Decimal system made this day inevitable. Fortunately, the majority of the book was a much easier read than I expected.

With a few small exceptions, everything I was interested in was explained very clearly. The writing was generally easy to follow with great analogies and helpful numeric examples.  Sometimes the writing was even funny. At the end of every chapter, there were a series of review questions which I found very useful for clarifying and reminding me of points made in the chapter. The important concepts were always in bold text, which also helped.

The last short chapter or two got into overly complicated investment ideas, but the majority of the book was a very useful intro to how stocks, bonds, and mutual funds work. I particularly liked that the book mostly refrained from making judgments about investing options, but gave the reader the tools necessary to begin making decisions themselves. As someone with no previous knowledge about investing, I found it very helpful and would recommend the book to other beginners.

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