WWW Wednesdays - March 7, 2012 Edition

Here's the answers to this week meme's from Should Be Reading's blog. Feel free to leave your comments with the answers to these questions and be sure to check out their blog as well for other's answers.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions in the comment section or in your own blog then link it from the comments.

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

This is a two-for.  On my Nook Simple Touch I have been reading A Game of Thrones to get ready for the April 1 launch of Season 2 of the series.  I really loved season one which spurred me to actually read all of the books that I could purchase in paperback and read them voraciously.  I have the books in paperback as well, but have been enjoying them on epub too when I just don't want a big book to carry around  I read this when I have my Nook with me at appointments, at lunch and other times.  Oh...and my cover is the cover with Ned on the throne, not the picture I've got here.

As I just went to the library I picked up Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, the first in the Rachel Morgan/Hollows series.  Seeing as I started in the middle of the series and was able to pick up the first three books at the library this weekend, I figured I'd start reading that as well.

What did you recently finish reading?
Pale Demon by Kim Harrison.  Currently the last available book in the Rachel Morgan series, but you can tell there will be more to come.















What do you think you'll read next?
Chances are I'll read A Clash of Kings again next as well as the second book in Kim Harrison's series, The Good, The Bad and The Undead.  Then I have a book to read to review, titled Redemption by Laura Kuehike, as well as a few other books I checked out from the library.

What books are you reading or do you think you'll read next?

Purchases of Books

For Christmas, I received a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  Last week, I was at Barnes and Noble biding time and posting on here about the Nook I had purchased.  While there, I went ahead and purchased some books.  Yes, I know, I could have gotten them in e-book format, but I might as well pay that price for paperback books.

So while there, I picked up the following books:

• Grave Dance by Kalayna Price
• Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison
• Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

With being sick the last week, I was glad to have the paperback books to curl up and read.  I will be including these books in my future reviews.

Proud Owner of a Nook

So for a while I had been debating what system I wanted to get for my e-reader.  I broke it down to wanting something that was definitely e-ink and no backlighting which made the decision much easier.  On Thursday, Jan. 5, I became the proud owner of a Nook Simple Touch.  The picture, to the left, was taken because Oliver said, in true gamer fashion "Pics or it didn't happen."  So pics happened.

It took me a while to figure out how it all worked (no, I didn't read the instruction manual.  It's still in the box sheesh).  But by the time we left for Lexington, Neb., for a weekend of basketball tournaments, I had the thing all figured out and books loaded on it, including Rabbit in the Road, which I did finish reading this weekend.

That being said, once you get past the setup, if your tech savvy, the Nook is easy to figure out and upload epub books to as well as PDF files.  It has some nice social features, including linking your book to Twitter and Facebook so you can share where you are in the book or share quotes/segments from the book with others. The other cool thing is that it came with a 32 gig SD card that contained 300 classic books.  Pretty sweet deal that just made the purchase better.

I do have to say that I was, originally, skeptical about how good books would appear on the e-reader.  That was quickly alleviated when I started playing around with font size, fonts, and everything else.  The reader is easily adjustable no matter what font size your tired, or not so tired, eyes need.

There is no glare from the screen either, which makes it great for reading in the car, on a plane or outside.

I haven't tried the purchasing options yet.  I'm not too keen about tying credit cards into a device like this.  I plan to just order ebooks through the main B&N site through my computer and sync from there.  Makes it a lot easier.

As I get more ebooks to read, I look forward to reading them on my Nook.  At least I no longer have to turn away books to review because they only give e-copies.

The Rabbit Has Fled

Earlier this month I talked about Rabbit in the Road and how it was on sale.  Sadly, Amazon decided that they didn't care that the book was on sale for a short period of time only.  No.  They decide (and apparently the fine print says this too) that they can charge whatever they think the customer will pay for your e-book if you publish it through them in their system.

You read that right.

Check out the article about them pulling their book from Amazon here:  http://betweenhimandher.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/and-then-the-rabbit-fled/

I'll be honest, hearing this, reading the fine print is what pushed me from the Kindle Fire I was considering to the Nook.  I'm not gonna financially support a company that doesn't support it's customers and vendors.

18 days....ooops

I believe I mentioned previously, in my first blog post, that I am horrible about updating, especially when things get busy.  Boy did they get busy the last three weeks.  Between work and being sick, my creativity and time to write went out the window.  Factor in Christmas, Christmas shopping and everything else, well you get the drift. 

Time flies by when you're busy.

But I have also been reading a lot, which should give me some fodder to get things going as far as book reviews go.  Yay.

While I didn't get a Nook for Christmas (booo) I do plan to pick one up with money and gift cards I received for Christmas, so that makes it almost as good as getting it for Christmas, at least in my books.  I just have to go brave the stores to get one.  I have been anti-e-book reader for a long time, but now looking at them closer, the Nook Simple Touch seems to be right up my alley:  not back lit so easier on my eyes.

We'll have to see how it goes.

Check back for more posts this weekend and next week.

What's On Your Christmas Wish List, Book Wise?

Looking for a Christmas gift for
an avid reader? This would make a
great gift, the first 8 novels in
the series

I am horrible about creating my Christmas Wish list each year.  In fact, this has to be the first year I actually wrote them down before a week before Christmas.  Part of this was brought on by the Musing Monday question asked by Should be Reading Nov. 28, found here.

It sparked me to write out some of the books I want for Christmas, as well as other reading related items I wanted.

Topping the list is either the Nook or the Kindle.  I don't really care which one, as long as they have the E-Ink capability and I can read without any more strain on my poor eyes which are subjected to staring at a computer 10 hours a day.

The following books are on my current want-in-paperback-form list:

• A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin
• Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series #5) by Charlaine Harris
• Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #6) by Charlaine Harris
• All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #7) by Charlaine Harris
• From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #8) by Charlaine Harris
• Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #9) by Charlaine Harris
• Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #10) by Charlaine Harris
• Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #11) by Charlaine Harris
• Home Free by Fern Michaels
• Hide and Seek (The Sisterhood: Rules of the Game, Book 1) by Fern Michaels
  
• Deja Vu by Fern Michaels
  
• Cross Roads by Fern Michaels
  

The above is just a sampling of the books I want and what I have been devouring lately.  Almost anything by Gena Showalter and Sherrilyn Kenyon is on my list.  Too many books to list!

And of course, I mentioned my son's list as well in the earlier blog, but I'll go ahead and list them below complete with links.

• Halo the Flood by William C. Dietz
• The Janitors Son
• The Basket Counts
• Slam Dunk
• Shoot for the Hoop
• Tough to Tackle
• Origami Yoda (not quite sure if this is the book he wants, or if it's the book that teaches you how to create an Origami Yoda.  His title brings up a lot of matches, but nothing exactly "Origami  Yoda")
• The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordin
• The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordin
• Lemonade War
• This Means War

What books are on your Christmas Wish List?

Please note:  All books are linked to my Amazon affiliate account and give me a tiny bit of revenue. If you're wanting to purchase one of the books, please help a poor writer out and purchase through my links.  I have not been asked to promote any of these books, I am just doing so because these are the books I like and want to read and want to provide easy access to finding them for others.

Another Book Available for Free Download

Own a Nook?  Own a Kindle?  Or own the apps on your smart phone?  If so, you're in luck.  The Frugal Girl's Blog posted that A Hearth in Candlewood ebook is available for free download.

You can download it for your kindle here.

You can download it for your Nook here.

Happy reading.