It’s been a busy week for me — I’ve written a couple of reviews but I’m way behind, so I apologize for the lag. Between craziness at work, studying madly for the GRE (two weeks away), and trying to decide what do do about grad school, blogging has been on the back burner lately.
Big news from Amazon, of course — what do you think of the Touch and the Fire? The Kindle Touch doesn’t excite me, because honestly, turning a page is turning a page whether you press a button or the screen. I suppose they had to go touch-screen or get left behind. I think Amazon’s given us a few too many Kindle options, and I’m definitely not enthused about buying a Kindle with “special offers” (e.g. ads).
But I’ve been teetering on the edge of buying a tablet, and the excitement of the Fire pushed me right over that cliff. Do I need a tablet? Not really (does anyone?). In fact, one of the things I loved about our Europe trip was being “unplugged” most of the time. But I can’t resist the price and the chance to buy one of the first ones. The IPad costs too much for what I would use it for, but the Fire seems just right. It’s a loyalty thing too, I guess. I love my Kindle, so if it’s a gadget war out there, I’m siding with Amazon.
As for reading, I’m in the final chapters of Goliath. Scott Westerfeld is awesome as always. If you haven’t read his Uglies or Leviathan series, I can’t recommend these books enough. Keep in mind that Leviathan is a bit like Harry Potter — not a great first book but necessary to the rest of the series. Westerfeld may write for teens, but (also like Harry Potter) his writing is never dumbed-down. In fact, Goliath has so many different settings, characters, and technologies, it’s no easy read.
Another book recommendation: Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday cookbook. The husband and I stayed in and cooked last night, and had an amazing — and amazingly easy — meal. I love, love, love Mexican food and this cookbook rocks. We made this dish with steak, onions and pinto beans, and it doesn’t sound all that exciting but it was so good. We discovered Bayless from Top Chef — we’re big fans — and everything in this book has been fantastic.
In the last week we’ve seen two movies, one about deadly disease, and one about cancer. Definitely time for something a little more cheerful! Contagion was good — it’s exactly what you expect, but good. 50/50 was really good — but bring tissues. I’m not talking about the end of the movie, I’m talking about most of the way through. And yet it’s one of those movies that’s laugh out loud funny. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is good at whatever he does — or he only picks good films. Both, I think.
And finally, yay for a good football day! When the Redskins win and the Cowboys and Eagles lose, I’m a happy camper. Actually it makes me happy just to see Skins’ receivers actually catch a few balls. It’s been a rough few years.
It’s ridiculously cold and endlessly drizzly, but I’m going to fight off my usual Sunday going-back-to-work-tomorrow doldrums and Just. Enjoy. My Day. Hope you do too.
The Book Stop 