Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Teaser Tuesday - Anne Bishop's The House of Gaian

 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!
The House of Gaian (Tir Alainn Trilogy)" She wouldn’t think of him. Or she would pretend he had gone away. Back to Tir Alainn. Back to his home Clan. Had just gone away without saying good- bye. Which, in fact, was exactly what he might have done."
Taken from Pg 358 of The House of Gaian, Book 3 of the Tir Alainn Series.

I am actually re-reading this for The Flashback Challenge. This is from the page I am on, a little towards the end of the book.
If you haven't read Anne Bishop before, and enjoy pure fantasy and want something new - non-vampire/werewolf, do do do pick up something by Anne Bishop. Her writing is crisp, exciting and she always, inevitably, tells a great tale.
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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunday Meme: The Sunday Blues

I've signed up for a new meme hosted by http://www.bookworminginthe21stcentury.com/
Basically, if you have a post that didn't get too many comments, you can add the link here. You also have to visit 5 other linked posts and comment well!
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New blog header - what do you think?

I just edited my first image, using the best online site pixlr.com.
It kept me up till nearly 2 AM, so I hope it looks good!

What do you think?
Does it capture the essence of the blog? Is the Kindle visible?
If not, I'm open to suggestions!
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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Winner Announced for The Catchy Name contest!

Congrats Gnoe Gnoe!
The Winner is finally here!
I know I should have been faster, but I found it really hard to chose a winning name out of all the great entries for The Catchy Name Contest!
Thanks again for all the great names, I wish I could have given the top suggestions more than 1 prize.
Gnoe gets the $10 certificate from The Book Depo or the Slient Blade (ebook) 



 




A special mention goes out to 'Dog Eared' and 'Reading between the Lines' by Ky @Can't Find a Bookmark
The other top entries were 'Flipping Pages' by Deepthi and Sanjeev, 'A Kindle in the Wind' by Chandra.
See, now you can see how tough this choice was!!
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Book Blogger Hop #1! - A fabulous new meme for me

Notice what I did there in the title? :)

Book Blogger Hop

Yay! My first Hop! I'm the 302th entrant for this week :D
The book blogger hop is hosted by http://www.crazy-for-books.com, and the idea is for the event to last over the weekend to give everyone a chance to visit the other bloggers.

*waves* Hiiii to all the folks stopping over from the Hop.

The question this week (one answers a new Q each week) is:

Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

I use a simple grading system (A, B+, B- and so on). I find it is more flexible than stars or smilies, though I wish I had a cute graphic icon I could sort of 'paste' onto the reviews. There have been one or two reviews where I haven't felt qualified to grade, they are just so stunningly outside the grade curve!

I think of this blog as more than a review blog - about 25% of my posts are about ebook readers, and I have lots of cute, book-related, graphics that I re-post(with credits) from the brilliant folks that create.

If you are a Kindle/Ebook-Reader user, or would like the pure convenience of converting any book format to any OTHER book format,  I would highly recommend you read this very useful post on using Calibre with the Kindle/Sony/Nook!
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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Blog Awards!

Today is a happy day.
I just got awarded the "The One Lovely Blog" award by the new blogger Tina from Book Couture


Here’s how it works:
  1. Accept the award, post in on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
  2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
  3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know that they have been chosen for this award.
I'm passing this award to some really pretty blogs out there:

I also got the "Summer Blogger Award" from one of my fav bloggers : Missy @ Missy Reads & Reviews
I wish I could send it back to you, Missy! You did such a great job this summer.
 
The rules are simple: thank the person who gave it to you with a link back in your post, and send this on to fellow bloggers who rock this summer. List 4 rocking bloggers to share this with, and post a note to them through their comments.
I'm passing this award to some ladies who have written awesome posts this summer:





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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Walker Papers #4 - Walking Dead by C.E. Murphy

Grade: B+
Extract: It’d been nearly a year since I’d been laid out in a parking lot with a sword in my lung and a smirking coyote offering me the choice between death or life as a shaman. In all my waking hours I’d never thought of wanting any kind of mystical gifts or healing powers, but I’d wanted to die even less."
To bring you up to speed with the series so far:
Joannie is a reluctant, press-ganged Shaman. Inclined to dismiss all the Shamanic power she holds as useless, woo-woo stuff, it takes her a couple of books and about 6 months of story time to begin to accept and explore her strong abilities. Saving the world helps, and she has begun exploring her abilities with the help of her spiritual teacher. 
Joannie's day job is being a mechanic for the police force, and she has recently been promoted to detective. Her boss, the Captain is the strong, silent type with major appeal. Since her recent promotion (Book 3) to detective, any possibility of a relationship between them has been nixed.

Summary: When Joannie is pressed into a 'Xena, warrior princess' costume for Halloween, she anticipates a night of fun. However, the party is interrupted by a miasmic force, and she and her partner on the force Billy have to save their friends. This is linked to a murder and robbery that happens at a Museum later, as the stolen Cauldron has the power to bring back the dead. Joannie has to find the cauldron, the culprit, and restore peace to these souls. She gets helped by her old nemesis, the Wild Hunt and its leader.

Plus: Joannie is a normal human being who has been forced into the abilities she has, and copes like anyone of us would - she fumbles, bumbles and generally lurches from one catastrophe to the next. She describes what she does in a very vivid, colorful, normal style, just as if you or I were creating magic with no training. Realistic and charming!

Minus: One too many twists in the tale for me here, I could hardly remember what was going on. This is one book to start and finish quickly. While #4 Walking Dead shows our reluctant heroine finally getting comfortable with her abilities, a little less whining might have gone a long way. I have also given up on the relationship with her and Morrison, it seems to be going nowhere. "He's just not that into you", anyone?

Overall: This makes for a pretty interesting read, and does justify my anticipation for the Walker Paper series novels. While it might not be a great urban fantasy, it is a good series to pick up if you don't know for sure what to read next.

The previous books in the series are:
    Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1)Coyote Dreams (The Walker Papers, Book 3)Thunderbird Falls (The Walker Papers, Book 2)
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Teaser Tuesday #9 - A Song of Fire and Ice - A clash of Kings


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can play along!
A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)"All that about the thunder of the drums, sunlight flashing on armor, magnificent destriers snorting and prancing? Well, the drums gave me headaches, the sunlight flashing on my armor cooked me up
like a harvest day goose, and those magnificent destriers shit everywhere."
Pg. 49

My TT is from A Song of Fire and Ice - A Clash of Kings, the second book in the famous series by George R. R. Martin. I do like the irreverant tone of this teaser!
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Monday, August 23, 2010

The walk-inside Bookshelf "The ArK"

The fantastic Scandivanian designers at Rintala Eggertsson Architects have designed this work of very functional art:


The pictures say it all, but this is a two-storey tower that connects the first and second floors of an art gallery. Titled "The Ark", the bookshelf is entirely lined with books, and you can see the titles and book-spines as soon as you enter.
Lambda Literary has a lot more info, more pics and an interview with the creators on their inspiration.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Dear Printed Reading Material



Leah Dieterich's mother always told her to write thank you notes. So she does. To everything. thxthxthx is her daily exercise in gratitude.
Leah's comment on Reading paper books is so apt and this is why I should read a paper book/kindle before falling asleep, and not anything on a laptop.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Automatic links from the Giveaway Scout site

To all the bloggers out there,

This is a site that will search out the giveaways from your site and publicize them on twitter, facebook, their newsletter and more!

When you have a contest and giveaway out, the website over at http://www.giveawayscout.com will regularly scan your RSS feed for information and the giveaway gets spotted. The giveaways may be books, but also include jewelery, gadgets and other stuff.

I'm too lazy to not pick up another easy avenue of getting the word out about any contests I have, so I'm registering :)
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Teaser Tuesday #8 - Sweep Series 12- Eclipse


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading.
Complete set 15 Sweep series ~ Book of Shadows, The Coven, Blood Witch, Dark Magick, Awakening, Spellbound, The Calling, Changeling, Strife, Seeker, Origins, Eclipse, Reckoning, Full Circle, Night's Child #1-15 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15)

I have been reading the YA Sweep series almost continuously since I found it, all in one fell swoop. While the stories are great, a book in this series feels like a chapter in the story line. 
The teaser is from the 12th Book (the pace of the writing means this is only in real-time terms about 6 months or so from the 1st Book). The heroine Morgan, a 16-year old hereditary witch is helping the younger Alisa, newly come to her powers.
"You will be able to do this. You have all the support you need. You're a strong, beautiful witch, and with this one act, one spell, you will set your life on an exhilarating path."
This wasn't how Morgan usually talked, but I had the feeling it was who she really was.

I chose this teaser particularly because I am making some tough decisions today - I hope reading this helps me and everyone else who needs a boost of confidence!
On a lighter note, leave a comment here and on my previous post to help me choose the name for this blog from the top ten best names submitted.
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Friday, August 13, 2010

Top 10-ish Names for the Catchy Name Contest

While the contest is still running for another 2 days (till Aug 15th), I wanted to put up my shortlist of the best names so far - please vote in the comments. Your opinion counts with me!

AAaandd.....*DRUMROLL*    THE FINALISTS:
  1. Kindle your love for reading                - by Laura @ traveltheages.blogspot.com
  2. Flipping Pages                                    - by Deepthi & Sanjeev
  3. A Kindle in the Wind                          - by Chandra
  4. Reading under the stars                       - by http://avacypher-bookinfinity.blogspot.com/
  5. Digital Goddess                                  - by Shy (Tag: "A woman. A Kindle. And tons of Book Reviews")
  6. Confessions of a Kindle Junkie            - by Missy @ missyreadsreviews.blogspot.com
  7. Geeky Kindle Reviews                        - by Darlyn
  8. e-Volving Books                                 - by Gnoe from http://gnoegnoe.wordpress.com/
  9. Reading between the lines                    - by Ky @Can't Find a Bookmark
  10. Dog Eared or Electric Reader              - by Ky @Can't Find a Bookmark
  11. Me-reader                                           - by Gnoe from http://gnoegnoe.wordpress.com/
Of the people who participated,  a lot of votes went to Beyond Words (my suggestion) - though I will still be giving out the winning prize to a real entry.
Just to make this as open as possible - here is the actual form that you and the contestants filled out:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArGJULC_j5pBdGl6TWxBdkJIMi1Hd3FQTVdKZFl2a3c&hl=en&authkey=CMfK-K0J


Go check it out! Its open to view by anyone with the link. Do leave a comment with your choice for the Winner!
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Image - From a Book Lover

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Teaser Tuesday #7 - Maker's Song 1- Rush of Wings

I seem to in that hazy valley in between books - I just finished Spider's Bite - Elemental Assassins by J. Estep  last night, and haven't really latched on to the next. So this teaser is from a book I am just beginning
Maker's Song #1 Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix

A Rush of Wings: Book One of The Maker's Song"The majority were Goth - dyed black hair, pale makeup, black lipstick and liner, male and female. Some of the young men seemed to think that they were Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise in that old vampire movie: long hair, lace ruffled shirts, velvet jackets, and silver-headed canes"




What are you reading? Drop a comment to let me know!

And if you haven't taken part in my first contest - there is still 5 days to go before the winning entry is picked! International Prizes to be won, names thought up -  http://readseverything.blogspot.com/2010/06/catchy-name-contest.html

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: 
Grab your current read, Open to a random page, Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page, avoid Spoilers.
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Monday, August 9, 2010

Versatile Blogger Award!


So I just got my first Blogger Award - How exciting!
My thanks to the other desi blogger around, Misha Mary @ My Love Affair with Books
I am in awe at how you manage to rake in so many followers in such a short timespan!
Here is how the award works:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)
Finally, Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.
7 things about me
1. I am great at research, and can endlessly keep hunting down facts to back up my analyses. But not so great with the decision making, and overthink everything
2.I read more ebooks than real paper books now
3. I spent a total of 6 years in school and college hostels, best time ever!

(actual 4-to-a-room hostels, not the 4 years I had my own apartment + roomie)
4. I can't sleep without reading, even if it is a few pages
5. Not having a TV during hostel, college or post grad means that I can't bear watching ads on TV anymore!
6. I have an MBA from Purdue, still doesn't help so much with No. 1
7. Sadly, for being an Indian, I don't read many Indian authors - something to change!
Bloggers that deserve this award:


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Saturday, August 7, 2010

New ebook reader Wink to enter India

Big news this weekend - India is getting a second ebook reader, called "Wink".
The first one, Pi, didn't strike me as a major contender in the market at that point in time - photos and more information are here and the review is here.

Pi sales seem to be in the ten thousand range, though I wasn't able to find any independent numbers with any specificity (yes, I watched Inception. This word stuck).

The new reader, Wink, looks exactly like the Kindle. Priced at Rs. 8,000 for the basic model, it undercuts the 9,999 Pi comes at. It also releases Aug 15th, a celebratory weekend for India, and also before the new Kindle versions launch internationally. Smart.

Couple of smart things Indian ebook readers do that set them apart from international ones -

1) Language support for multiple regional languages. Wink supports 15 languages.

2) Local magazines have digitized versions available on the Wink.

3) Wink offers pan-india GPRS and Wifi connectivity for free

The Wink's fancy-pants version costs Rs. 22,000  - the equivalent of a high-end phone here.

The Kindle announced its new version recently - my post is here and its release at the end of the month at $139 (~Rs. 6,400) will be lower than home-grown competition. It still might rule the roost with metropolitan readers! Wink seems to have strategically planned its launch, and the pricing. Competition is heating up...

Which ebook reader will win?

 

Posted via email from readseverything's posterous

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