The Nook Tutorial

One of my local Barnes and Noble stores did a Nook Tutorial.  I have to say, it was a pretty use thing to go to.  Of course there were things I already knew after all the research I did online.  But there were a few things I did not know that I learned.

I would recommend anybody who is interested in the Nook, or any e-reader, go to learn about the Nook and e-readers in generally.  And beware, it may convince you to buy one soon.

A Quick Trip

For a quick trip this summer, it was decided that Colorado Springs would be the destination.  Sometimes it is just nice to get away, even if it is just an hour away.  Here are a few pictures from Garden of the Gods.  It is a beautiful and peaceful place.

The Summer We Read Gatsby

I decided to read this book after seeing it on quite a few summer reading lists, including Oprah's.  I can somewhat understand why Oprah put it on her list.  She seems to be a fan of thoughtful writers, and Danielle Ganek falls into that category.  But other than that, I cannot say I enjoyed the book.  I had such little interest in it that I quit reading a little before the half way point.

It is a story about  half sisters that have to come together when their aunt dies.  Their aunt, Lydia, writes in her will that Peck and Cassie must live in her Southampton's house for a month out of the summer before they can sell it or inherent any of the other items in the house. 

I think this is one of those books where people either love it or don't really care for it, ( I can't say hate it, because that was not the case, I just did not really care about it.)  Maybe my problem with it was the characters.  Peck seemed to be portrayed as a very condescending and pompous, and was always putting Cassie down for not being as classy and sophisticated as herself.  And Cassie seemed to be a push over and just excuse it and let it happen.    I had not attachment towards either character and I think that is ultimately why I did not care about finishing the book. 

I am sure there are people out there who will love the book and all the Gatsby references ( I loved Gatsby, which was why I wanted to read the book, and even this did not get me) and love the descriptions about the parties and Hampton's lifestyle.  But this was just one of those books that was not for me. 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - The Movie

As you can tell, I am enamored with the Millennium Trilogy.   I just watched the Swedish version of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, as it is called in Sweden, Män som hatar kvinnor – "Men Who Hate Women".  (The book is called the same thing.  Very telling and interesting.)  As with any book to movie, it is hard to get all the same feelings and emotions of the book into the movie.  Niels Arden Oplev, however, did do a very good job.




The overall story line was there.  Blomkvist was convicted of libel for the story he wrote at Millennium magazine about Hans-Erik Wennerström, the business man.  So Blomkvist decides to take some time off from the magazine and gets asked by Henrik Vanger to solve the mystery of his missing niece, Harriet.  Eventually, Lisbeth, helps Blomkvist solve the mystery.

Now, here are the things that I did not like or did not think were captured in the movie.  First off Berger.  In the book Berger is Blomkvist's ongoing lover.  This was not represented in anyway in the movie.  And for some reason I always pictured her as a brunet not as a blond.  I am sure there was a description of her in the book, but I just do not rememeber.

 Second, Lisbeth.  I loved her in the book but not so much in the movie. They represented her as very stand offish in the movie, much like the book.   But I don't think they did a great job of showing how smart she was.  In the books she came across as very intelligent, with photographic memory, problem solving and computer hacking.  Some of this was shown in the movie but not to the same extent. I also found her a little to harsh in the movie, but I understand why.  If you have not read the books, you need to understand that she does not like to have relationships with people and the harshness represents that, (at least in mind).

And the third thing I did not like, which is true in all book to movie renditions I view, story lines taken out of sequence.  It drive me crazy, because it makes me feel like the story line has changed.  

But overall, a very good rendition.  There is the main Vanger mystery along with the growing relationship between Blomkvist and Lisbeth.  I cannot wait to see the Girl Who Played With Fire.  And I am also curious to see what the American version of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is like.  I hope they can capture they same intense feeling that the Swedish version did.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Stieg Larsson did not let me down with this book.  The third book in the series picked up right where the second book left you with a cliff hanger.  (I was a little worried it would start off sometime in the future and we would lose some time.)

With Lisbeth in the hospital recovering from her attack, Blomkvist is still working on solving the murder of his friends and exposing the criminals who did it.  While working on this he discovers that there is a secret group who has been covering up many crimes and also changed Lisbeth's life.  Which has made her the person he knows. Ultimately, the criminals are brought to justice and Lisbeth finally gets her day in court. 

The character development continues in this book.  And I found I became more attached to some of the characters.  But I was a little disappointed with Lisbeth and Blomkvist.  I know a lot of people had trouble liking Lisbeth in the beginning, but I loved her from the start.  After the trial, Lisbeth seemed to become even more withdrawn and harsh.  It was almost too much for me.  I was also disappointed with Blomkvist's love interest in this book.  She was a police officer he was working with.  I think we can all conclude that he is not a typical serious relationship type of guy,  (although he does have a long on going relationship with Berger), but he seems to be on the verge of starting some sort of serious relationship with this police officer.  I found it strange.  He does not seem to like the needed and clingy type of girl, which is the way I viewed her.



Ultimately, this was a great conclusion to the second book and to the series. It was not as suspenseful as the second book, and there was some more character development, that I believe would have been expanded on in the next books he planned.  Everything was tied up well.  This was a great book and a great series.  I would recommend it to anybody how loves mysteries and thrillers.  I have yet to hear of anybody who as not loved this series. 

Ebooks From the Library

One of the things I liked about the Nook was the ability to download ebooks from the library.  Here are the directions on how to do that.

1. Connect your Nook to your computer
2. Download Adobe Digital Editions
3. Install the program on your computer
4. Open the program and register and create an Adobe ID or log in if you already have on.  If you do not have and ID it is free and easy to set up.   
5. Activate Adobe Digital Editions
6. After you have logged in and activated Adobe, it should see the Nook, and install the program on the Nook
7. Once you have pick out your book from the library then download it.  You may need to follow the instructions from the library.  Mine was exceptionally easy.  Once it was checked out it said, download.
8. Make sure you have Adobe Digital Edition open.  On the main page you will see your books, and the Nook at the bottom of the list.  Drag your book to the Nook picture.  
9. Now the book should be on the Nook and you can unplug it and start reading.  

I think it should be pretty easy to download library books going forward.  Just download and open Adobe Digital and drag to the Nook.

Happy reading!!

The Girl Who Played With Fire

I thought it would be hard to top The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. This book may have done it.

Salander decides to spend some of the money she earned and take a trip around the world. She has had no contact with anybody including Bloomkivst, who has been trying to contact her throughout the year. Salander returns home and feels uneasy and decides to purchase a new apartment and rents out her old apartment to her friend Mirium for a dollar.

Meanwhile, Bloomkvist is still a reporter at Millennium and a reporter comes to his magazine with an explosive topic, the sex trade throughout Sweden. This leads to murder and Salander is accused through the weak connections.

Like he previous book in the series, you are on the edge of you seat throughout most of the book. The story is so well written and thought out. There were twists and turns that I did no see coming, just like the previous novel.

Guess What I Got .... A NOOK!!!

I got a nice belated birthday present this weekend.  A Nook!!  I know there is an ongoing debate of the Nook vs. the Kindle, her is how I decided on the Nook.

The last week I saw that e-reader prices had dropped.  First the Nook and then the Kindle.  I had not looked at e-readers previously.

1. I was not sure I was ready to convert.  I have to say it is nice coming home with a book and cracking it open. 
2. I was not ready to shell out of $200 to be able to read, and on top of that have to buy items to read.  I am an avid library person.
3. I think subconsciously, I knew if I started playing with one in the store I would want one.

Once I saw this price drop, I started looking online at the different features of the Nook and the Kindle.  And then I went into the Barnes & Noble store to get some coffee and look around.  And I looked at the Nook.  Bad idea, from that moment I wanted one. 

But let's take a step back.  Let me tell you how I chose the Nook over the Kindle.  (And I am sorry to say the Sony e-reader was never in the running, so I did no research on that.)   If you look on the Nooks website it does give you some comparisons of the Nook and Kindle.  They both have the same screen E INK technology made by the same company, text size adjusting, built in dictionaries, ability to read newspapers and magazines, and ability to listen to audio books or music.  Books can be purchased on both the e-reader devices by their distributor, (i.e. Barnes & Noble and/or Amazon depending on the device).  

Now to the differences between the two.  With the Kindle you have access to everything Amazon carries.  I don't do not how much, if any books are free over Amazon.  (I have read there is none, but did not take much time to look into this.  So, don't take my word on it.)  On the Nook, I am able to download e-books from my library and load them on the device.  My library does not currently support the Kindle, and I believe there are very few that do.  I am also able to download books from Google Books, or other sources that carry free books.  And Barnes & Noble also has a variety of free e-books on their site. 

Honestly, that was the biggest selling point the Nook had for me, free books.  I love the library because of this.  Books can get very expensive. 

The other benefits I saw to the Nook are hardware benefits. They both have 2 gigs of memory out of the box,
approximately 1500 books.  Now that is a lot of books.  But say I become a speed reader, (doubtful, but hey),  with the Nook I am able to add addition memory with a mini SD card.  I read online, that many people use this as a way to organize their books.  The Kindle does not have this capability.  The other thing with the Nook, is the replaceable battery.  The Kindle is like the IPhone, it will need to be send to Amazon to be replaced if the battery dies.  

So my final decision was the Nook, and lucky for me, I came home Saturday from an appointment, and had one waiting for me.  I was extremely excited and broke it out.  It is far to early to do a review, but so far I love reading on it.  I will do a review(s) in the following weeks and months about my experience with it.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I always love a great mystery and a book that makes you think and use deduction.  That is exactly what The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is.  Just like many other people, I heard it is hard to get into.  It can take 100 to 150 pages to get going.  I was in the same boat.  But at about page 80, it all of a sudden took a turn for me.  I could not put it down.

There are 2 subplots in this novel.  First is the story of Lisbeth Salander, a young woman, who is extremely secretive, almost a recluse at times.  She works as a contractor for a private eye type of company. There is also the story of Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has just been convicted of libel.  He is convinced that a Wennerström, (the company which he wrote about when convicted of libel) is a corrupt company.  And still feels that he needs to let the public know about it.


Mikael Blomkvist decides to take some time off after his convection and is offered a job from Henrik Vanger to do two things, write a history of his family and his successful company and solve the mystery of his great-niece that went missing without a trace.  Mikael starts writing the family history and begins to uncover some interests finds.  He finds that there is so much information to go through and will need a research assistant.  A confidant of Henrik recommends Lisbeth.  They begin working together and develop a relationship that neither expected.

I thought this was a great book.  It was a good engaging story, with mystery and intrigue.  It was long but I did not feel like there was extra stuff thrown it.  I felt everything included was necessary, and I even wish there was more.  But I am sure that will be addressed in the next books.

Julie and Julia Review

I have been reading Julie and Julia by Julie Powell for about 2 months.  I finally decided to give it up.  I decided to read it because I saw the movie and thought it was cute.  This is one of the view times where I thought the movie was better.

The story is documenting a blog project that Jule Powell started.  She wanted to document her process through Julia Child's cook book in one year.  She had to cook everything in the cook book and in the process she documented her ups and downs. 

I started reading the book and immediately found it to be dense and wordy.  It seemed to be overwritten.  It should be a fun quick read but I did not find that.  I often put it down to start reading other books.  (I read 3 other books while I was trying to read this.)  Ultimately, I only read half of it and just decided to give it up. 

This yet another reason why the library is great. I don't feel guilty for spending money on a book then not enjoying it.