Category: Uncategorized

Look What Just Arrived! (#19)

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Wow, it’s been a while since I showed off my new books but then again I haven’t really bought many new books since Book Expo America.  However, now that I’m in the city and have full access to used book shops and Indigo’s great sales, I couldn’t resist.  So here’s what I picked up recently:

  • Parasite by Mira Grant
  • Spirit’s Chosen by Esther Friesner
  • The Girl Who Loved Camellias by Julie Kavanagh
  • The Queen’s Lover by Francine Du Plessis
  • The Iron King by Maurice Druon
  • Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
  • Egyptian Mummies by G. Elliot Smith and Warren R. Dawson
  • The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch

Obviously, I’ve already read Parasite but when I saw that a hardcover copy was on sale for $8, I couldn’t resist.  I know that I will always prefer physical copies of books to ebooks, no matter how heavy physical copies are when I move house.  Spirit’s Chosen was an impulse buy because of the sale price but I’ve also heard good things about Esther Friesner and hope to learn more about the mythical Himiko, the woman who united Japan.  The Queen’s Lover was also an impulse buy.

The Girl Who Loved Camellias was a book that I had no idea existed but stumbled upon while I was browsing.  I love Verdi’s opera La Traviata so I’ve always been fascinated with the life of Marie Duplessis, the inspiration for Violetta.  When I saw the biography by Julie Kavanagh, I couldn’t resist.  The same is virtually true for The Iron King by Maurice Druon.  Sure, George R. R. Martin has endorsed it because it encompasses the Wars of the Roses (his historical inspiration for A Song of Ice and Fire) but what really cemented it for me was the blurb.  Tracing the Wars of the Roses all the way back to the reign of Philip the Fair is bold but from the excerpt I read, I think Maurice Druon can do it.  I’m very much looking forward to starting this book.

Egyptian Mummies and Plutarch’s book were very, very cheap in the used bookstore so I couldn’t resist.  As you guys know, I’m obsessive when it comes to ancient Egypt.  But I’m also starting to branch out into more Greek history so a primary source like Plutarch is just the thing I need right now.

Rubicon is one of those books I stumbled across in the used bookstore and snapped up immediately because I love almost anything to do with the late Roman Republic and the early Imperial period.  It’s also going to be a helpful resource for next week’s upcoming monster of an article.  Stay tuned for that if you love Roman history and/or overanalyzing television shows!

So, what do you think of my haul?  See anything you like?

Lazy Sundays: Get Off My Lawn!

I feel old.

I’ve always been told I’m mature for my age and throughout my school years that was a bad thing as I didn’t really relate to any of my classmates.  However, since I’ve moved to the city I’ve met a variety of people of various ages and things have been good.  Except at home.

My apartment complex has mostly people in the 18-24 demographic, like myself.  However, this creates the usual problems you’d encounter with a bunch of young people in one building, some of them living on their own for the very first time.  Mainly, a lot of people are drinking and going out partying frequently.  They come in at odd hours of the night and morning and are loud, as drunks tend to be.  This wouldn’t be so bad if they would confine their revelry to weekends, when I don’t have to get up early in the morning.  However, they seem to feel the need to go out several times a week, even on weeknights to go and get smashed.

So basically I’ve been left thinking: get off my lawn, youngin’s.  Don’t you have anything better to do than go out 5 times a week and get drunk?  Don’t you have jobs or educational responsibilites at the very least?  How the hell do you have the money to do this?  Alcohol is expensive!  Why do you feel the need to drink in order to have fun?

Yep, I still feel old.  And extremely grumpy but that may have more to do with being woken up at 3 in the morning because two drunk girls were arguing about money outside my apartment.  For 30 minutes, becoming increasingly incoherent with each passing minute.  It might have been funny if it wasn’t 3 in the morning.

So how has your weekend been?  Hopefully a lot more peaceful than mine.

Discussion: Getting Out of a Reading Slump

Currently I’m on a roll with reading books but there have been times when the last thing I wanted to do was read.  I call these ‘reading slumps’ and it seems like every book blogger and/or avid reader has them on occasion.  So how do we get over them and get back blogging?

For me, writing about something else seems to help.  If I write about something book-related but don’t actually do reviews, sometimes it rekindles that urge to read again.  And a little ranting once in a while is good for you anyway.  Sometimes I don’t have a miracle cure for reading slumps; I just snap out of them without warning.  Other times it’s re-reading an old favourite that helps me.  I don’t really have a surefire way to get out of a reading slump and I think methods for getting out of reading slumps are very individualized.  What works for one blogger doesn’t necessarily work for another.

So what I want to know now is this: How do you get out of your reading slumps?  Does your method always work or work some of the time?

Poll: Do you use an affiliate link program?

Recently I joined both the Amazon Affiliate Program and the Powell’s Affiliate Program.  Basically, I go to my dashboard on both sites, search out the book I want to link to and put their special code in the link.  So if someone uses my link to go buy that book or any other product on the site within a certain timeframe, I get a small percentage of that (usually around 4-7%).  Some people don’t use affiliate programs because they don’t like how long it takes to make the link but I figure that since I’m linking to these sites anyway, I might as well get paid a little bit.  It’s only a few extra minutes on top of the 30-45 minutes I spend on the review itself so it’s no skin off my nose.

But what I want to know is this: if you’re a blogger, do you use an affiliate link program?

And most importantly, why or why not?  Let us know in the comments!

Lazy Sundays: Head Cold

Ugh, so much for getting back on track this week.  Normally when I suffer from a head cold I just have to blow my nose obnoxiously for a few days or weeks but this one is really taking me down.  I’m exhausted all the time and a little lightheaded when I have to climb the stairs up to my apartment.  I’m keeping hydrated and sleeping lots but this one is going to be tough.  But so far there’s no fever or any other symptoms so there’s no point in going to the doctor yet.  I foresee a lot of chicken noodle soup over the next week.

So what are you guys up to this weekend?  I’ve been in bed for most of it, reading and watching the occasional Rome episode (which is amazing so far).