OMG BOOKS! ... for people who read books

[luna]

@ spade- I've got Murakami's 1Q84 on my list too. Love his stuff.

Ooh that sounds really interesting, it's not out on kindle until Oct so got a sample of the wind up bird chronicle to try

[Goose]

edit: BTW, I find myself constantly underlining sentences and marking pages with post-it notes, so I don't see how this would be actually possible with an e-book...

Amazon calls those "annotations" and "bookmarks", respectively.  Some other eBook readers don't have those features, but the Kindle does.  Actually works pretty well, all things considered.

I will probably get  a Kindle when solar chargers are at the point where you can charge and operate a laptop or kindle device at the same time.

Thinkgeek says hi.  And waves.  And blows you kisses.  And lifts up its skirt suggestively.  And twirls nipple pasties.

Any of those could charge any USB-based device, like a Kindle, MP3 player, or cell phone.  Only the last one could actually charge a laptop.

[spade]

Re: Murakami

I haven't read anything from him in a while; I'll say something about 1Q84 when I actually read it.

As for the Kindle, I think it looks interesting. The problem I have with that is similar to what happens with CDs (ie: it's not an actual problem but more of a personal preference generated by nostalgia inducing habit): I like the smell of books*. I love how old books smell, I love how new books smell and I like having each separated as an entity of their own. I like it when I pick up a box of books and it just has that smell of old paper. I think, however, that unlike CDs and MP3s, the experience of reading an actual book is different enough from reading on a Kindle-like device that one could want to have both.

*It's not just that, though: it's the feel of different types of paper, turning the pages and such things associated with the physicality of books.

[tim]

Amazon calls those "annotations" and "bookmarks", respectively.  Some other eBook readers don't have those features, but the Kindle does.  Actually works pretty well, all things considered.
And twirls nipple pasties.
the last one could actually charge a laptop.

Wow.

I need.

[tim]

Ok, now I'm wondering - could that thing power up a projector? And could it power up a projector and a laptop simultaneously, so I could give powerpoint presentations and show films in rural parts of Sudan with no access to fuel generators never mind electricity networks? Is this being too greedy?

[Goose]

No, it definitely couldn't power a projector.  The lightbulbs in those puppies require waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more juice than your average solar panel could provide, especially at a brightness required to project a visible image in a situation where you'd actually get juice out of a SOLAR panel.  Ever tried to operate a projector outdoors in the daytime?

[Nadia]

so far I have not found a good source for book recommendations anywhere on the internet which seemed any useful to me. I guess my question is, where do you, fellow bookworms, look for new book ideas? I'd be really interested to know.

Isn't there like a pandora.com for books somewhere in the internet world? Or does Kindle have a kind of program like that maybe? I would imagine so. I don't know.

I have yet to graduate from childrens books. I just can't stay drawn in with books any reading level past young adult I guess. Jurassic Park is the only book I can think of that I read that wasn't a childrens story. Right now I am reading the Time Quintet by Madeline L'Engle. I just finished A wrinkle In Time and have just started A Wind In The Door. 

--EDIT--
Actually, I forgot I have read quite a few "grown-up" books but they were all about pregnancy and child birth. So as long as I am able to feed my obsession I guess I can read books that aren't for children.

[tim]

No, it definitely couldn't power a projector.  The lightbulbs in those puppies require waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more juice than your average solar panel could provide, especially at a brightness required to project a visible image in a situation where you'd actually get juice out of a SOLAR panel.  Ever tried to operate a projector outdoors in the daytime?

Oh well. Thanks for the link, it's still awesome & could make eg taking resources for teaching without an electricity supply considerably easier.

[sin]

about halfway through the third book in Fred Saberhagen's Swords trilogy.  I'm somewhat surprised this doesn't get more credit within the fantasy genre.  Although it's not as good as Empire of the East (another book that should get more credit within the genre), it has everything that fantasy geeks usually love.

Except elves, I guess.  That's his problem.  Not enough elves.  Also, I'm hopeful but not confident that First Book of Lost Swords, Second Book of Lost Swords etc. will be released on the Kindle.  I never read all of those.

[sin]

Now that I'm finishing up Saberhagen's Swords, I'm going to re-read Berserker.  One of my favorite sci-books of all time (actually, a collection of short stories that appeared in various sci-fi magazines from 1963 to 1967).

To us, the Carmpan watchers, the withdrawn seers and touchers of minds, it appeared that you had carried the crushing weight of war through all your history knowing that it would at last be needed, that this hour would strike when nothing less awful would serve...  The skills of peace and tolerance were useless, for our enemy was not alive.

What is thought, that mechanism seems to bring it forth?

[Aaron]

Has any one read Game of Thrones? (The first book that is.) I really like the show, and since most always the book is better then the show (then again I hate comparing the two things since they are very different...) I wanted to check it out. SO anyone like/dislike it?



I'm still plowing through the DT books.

I'm also reading Oryx and Crake I like it. But at the same time, I feel like I'm missing something big about just what is going on... I'm fallowing it pretty well, its not that hard to do. But there is some elements that leave me wondering just what is happening...

[spade]

Studying for my greek exam tomorrow. I just started reading some random Borges to break up the monotony. I suck at studying. (Especially since now I'm posting here to avoid reading... in print.)

[luna]

Ooh that sounds really interesting, it's not out on kindle until Oct so got a sample of the wind up bird chronicle to try

This is really good. Will definitely check out more of his stuff.

[chimera]

Has any one read Game of Thrones? (The first book that is.) I really like the show, and since most always the book is better then the show (then again I hate comparing the two things since they are very different...) I wanted to check it out. SO anyone like/dislike it?

Get the sample for your Kindle, but I think you would like it.  I read the sample and enjoyed it, so at some point I'll get the whole thing.

[Aaron]

I'll get the sample tonight. Thanks for pointing that out.