Category: Uncategorized
Discussion: Do You Listen to Audiobooks?
I’ve never really listened to Audiobooks personally but I’ve loved listening to podcasts for about 5 years or so now. So when I got a chance to download a free audiobook thanks to Marc Secchia (who gifted me a copy of his book Aranya that I reviewed previously) I took it. I’ve listened to about two hours out of fourteen so far and am actually quite impressed with the narrator. She has a very pleasant deep voice and enough of an accent to emphasize the exotic nature of the story but not so much of an accent that I actually have to use all of my powers of concentration to make out what she’s saying. In short, I think this was the perfect one to start with and you can check it out on Audible as well.
Will I make a habit of listening to audiobooks? Certainly not. I enjoy listening to Aranya because it’s a book I’ve read at least three times and thoroughly enjoyed but I don’t think I could concentrate enough for that long of a period of time to get all the nuances of a book I’ve never read. It’s just not something that interests me.
But I want to hear your thoughts on this! Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, why? If not, why? What is one of the best audiobooks you’ve ever listened to? Why? Do you like it when narrators go full out with character accents or do you prefer a more calm reading of the text?
Have you Been to BookCon?
One of my awesome readers mentioned that they couldn’t go to Book Expo America but were absolutely going to BookCon, which starts the day after BEA. I sort of knew this beforehand but never really gave any thought to it. But now I am.
However, I want to ask a few questions first in addition to doing some serious Googling:
1. Have you ever been to BookCon?
2. If so, did you consider it a worthwhile experience?
3. If not, are you going to BookCon this year? Why?
If any of you are going to BookCon and it sounds worthwhile I might just consider heading there on Sunday to check things out. Please, if you have experience at BookCon or are a first-timer there like I might be, drop me a line via email, my contact page or these comments! I’m very interested in learning more.
More Book Expo America Preparation
So this week I got two main things regarding BEA accomplished:
1. This isn’t a very good picture but I think it conveys the idea well enough: I now have business cards! Thanks to VistaPrint as well as Diantha Jones’ awesome logo she designed for me, I now look like I know what I’m doing when I encounter other bloggers, publishers, authors and editors at the book expo. I ordered these on a Sunday night and they came Wednesday afternoon in the post, which is amazing for Canada Post. (Canada Post kinda sucks at getting parcels places on time and intact.) I got 500 business cards for $24.31, which includes shipping. The actual price for the cards was $9.99 so even though the shipping was more expensive, I still can’t really complain.
2. I ordered American money at the local Credit Union and was shocked to see that the government has actually decided to add some colour to the bills. They aren’t all just that same shade of green! You Americans may laugh at other countries’ “monopoly money” but at least we can tell what bills we have in our wallets without checking each one. And now you can too! This actually kind of shocked me and another thing I found odd when I was counting the bills was that newly printed American money smells like sweaty socks. I don’t know why but it just does. And I also learned that I prefer sweaty socks to the sickeningly sweet maple syrup smell Canadian bills give off that makes me want to barf. Yes, the new plastic Canadian money smells really, really bad to me.
So what do you guys think of the business card?
Lazy Sundays: The House of Black and White (Game of Thrones Episode 5.02)
Warning: spoilers ahead!
When I said last week that there were changes from the books I really had no idea that this second episode would change certain things so drastically. So my thoughts on the episode in no particular order:
1. Once again, go Jon Snow! Watch out for those knives in the back you’re going to attract as Lord Commander.
2. Poor Brienne, poor Podrick. What are they going to do now that Sansa has rejected their help? Sure, they’re going to follow Sansa and Littlefinger but how long until they get caught or some other misfortune befalls the almost comically unlucky pair?
3. Ooh, Bronn and Jaime are taking a guy-bonding road trip to Dorne! I wonder what the Sand Snakes and Ellaria are going to think of that when they of course discover the conspicuous duo.
4. What marriage proposal is Littlefinger talking about when Sansa questions him about his raven scroll?
5. I think Daenerys did the right thing with ordering the former slave’s death for killing that master before his trial but she’s going to take a lot of flack for that. Everyone’s going to turn against her now, just like in the books.
6. Yay, Jaqen H’gar is back! And Arya’s finally been accepted into the House of Black and White to become a Faceless/Nameless woman. I hope those scenes aren’t as boring as I found them in the books.
7. Are we going to meet the Sand Snakes yet? So far we’re two episodes in and we’ve got exactly one mention of them when Ellaria was threatening Prince Doran.
8. Kevan Lannister is not like his brother Tywin but he apparently does have that Lannister steel (and misogyny). Grand Maester Pycelle also sure doesn’t seem happy about Qyburn being named Master of Whisperers. Mace Tyrell, being of course Mace Tyrell, seems perfectly content with Cersei’s empty flattery. He doesn’t care where the order comes from as long as he gets some recognition.
9. Poor Shireen. She really does have a horrible mother and I thought it was so cute to see her teaching Gilly how to read just like she taught Ser Davos.
10. Ah, poor Tyrion. Still drinking, still indulging in self-pity.
So what did you guys think of episode 5.02? I thought it was a pretty solid episode and I’m kind of happy with the Jaime and Bronn trip to Dorne. It’s a huge change from the book but I think it will certainly make things more interesting.
Discussion: Books You Love to Re-Read
Some books are so terrible they probably never should be read. Some books are good but only really deserve a once-over. Great books deserve multiple re-reads. And since peoples’ tastes in books are so different, everyone has a different book that they love to read again and again and again. I know I have several!
One of the books that I like to read at least once a year is The Return Man by V. M. Zito. It’s such an unique, highly emotional zombie apocalypse story that every single time I read it I discover something new that I hadn’t noticed before. The same goes for the entire Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant; you can’t help but love Shaun and Georgia. One of my new favourite re-reads is Aranya by Marc Secchia because the fantasy world he created is so vivid that like the previous books, you discover something new every single time that you hadn’t noticed before. I’ve re-read the entire Harry Potter series about once every two or three years since I was 9 years old (although when I was 9 not all of the books were out). And I think I’ve re-read Diantha Jones’ Oracle of Delphi series at least three or four times since finishing the third and latest book in anticipation of the fourth book coming out soon. I’m also currently re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire.
So what I want to know now is this: What are some of your favourite books to read over and over again? Why?