a bit of reading

Public Service Announcement: Banned Book Week is this week! More info can be found here and here. Go read a banned book, this week and every week. I’m going to try to read at least start one this week. Lolita, The Great Gatsby, Ulysses, Catch-22, The Jungle, and Satanic Verses are all likely candidates of banned books I haven’t yet read. I own Lolita and Ulysses, I’ll see what is “in stock” at the library as well. ;) (I’ve added a button to the side bar. It was found at the ala.org site (there are others available) and came from here.)

I didn’t finish very much this week, I chipped away at the books I have out from the library in order to try to make progress and eventually read up what is in the book stash instead.

Copyright’s Highway by Paul Goldstein, 238 pages
This is another book for class. Goldstein provides a pretty good history of copyright and what the future could bring. There is also discussion for the celestial jukebox (link also here).

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, 336 pages
One day I’ll go back and reread this series and give it the proper attention. I enjoyed this volume even if large chunks of it probably soared right over my head because I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Herbert was definitely a master story teller.

Bedlam’s Bard by Mercedes Lackey, 624 pages
She did it again. The first chapter didn’t really pull me in but I became quite hooked in a world I don’t really understand (most of the confusion focused on LA and San Fran!) . It’s modern urban fantasy, a genre I didn’t know I liked (even though I’ve read some before (Industrial Magic : Women of the Otherworld by Armstrong, Kelley) but I found it interesting. Acceptance of others. Listening to your heart. Believing in yourself. Simple messages, but well told (as always) by her pen.

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, 336 pages
Because of Rhinebeck and my presumable participation in Rhinebeck bingo, I finally ordered some pins from Cafepress. It was difficult to limit myself and choose. I ended up with 5, 4 for everyday craziness (“will work for yarn” among others) and one for bingo. They also have these two pins (among MANY), one and two, which tempted me greatly. I rarely go to the movies for many reasons, not limited to: the cost, that I don’t fit in the seats (they are too big, I am too small, and no, a booster seat would make it worse), and the cost. Anyway, I really wanted to see Gore’s treatment to the subject of global warming, something which I’ve sadly been silent on here, but I am greatly concerned about. Bli neder (without a vow) I will try to post more on my thoughts and some resources available for making a difference here in the comings weeks [I’m somewhat realistic].

Monthly book/reading stats are:
Total books 16
This month 5061 pages
Month Average 337.4 pages/16 books
This week 1534 pages total over 4 books

Randomness:
* wave to my tea swap pal. Hiya! Feel free to ask away. I’ll try to help. Friday should have a post (bli neder) explaining some basics of kashrut and celiac. [oh the joy of being impossible to feed]
** Request to those who have a Cafepress shop, *please* make your designs available as mini buttons. I like mini buttons. I do not like yellow messenger bags.
*** I’m working on making a penguin girl something, probably for cafepress. My FIL found out about this domain finally, I wonderful if that will cause similar problems as before. ::shrug:: Lots of thoughts in my head. I should be asleep right now instead of doing this but a cup of green chamomile tea with milk and honey sounded nice. I’m off caffeine until after Yom Kippur. Waah!!
**** I discovered I can indeed fit my laptop into a backpack I already own. YAY! I do still wish it was an older better made one. I’ll continue to search ebay. This looks promising, but I did like the saftey stripe. Ok, This and This are the right style except for the stitching and bear on the front. See how the pouch is in the front? That’s what they screwed up the most with the new designs (an example of screwup is here. Unfortunately that one has the wrong type of loop on top. I miss the flat handled loop. I’ll try to draw pictures soon. Hmm.. that purple one seems very tempting and the bear doesn’t bother me too much as we do hike a good deal. It’s purple! Who knew I would come to enjoy purple as much as I have the past few years. I must ask E about it tomorrow. It’s close to what I’m looking for, but it’s not mine. *sigh* I am obsessed aren’t i?
***** I really do not like this reemergence of my insomnia. I have a very long day tomorrow (I wake at 5:30am, I come home from class at 10:30pm with many hours of work and meetings in-between.)