Read-a-thon post #2

Entrenched in hour #5, just finishing up chapter 7, have not used my time all that wisely reading-wise.  Took a mini-break to do the dishes, another to make a pot of tea, yet another do a little farming (am addicted to facebook games), still another to give some attention to Lily, refreshed from her nap and eager to play, but best of all, discovered the fix to my program problems for assignment 3.  I may be the queen of procrastination, but I don't merely waste my time. ;p

  Happy to announce assignment 3 is now finished and working correctly.  Now I have to buckle down and keep reading as I have assignment 4 waiting in the wings, and a mid-term at the end of the month and the assigned text reading must be read (because clearly, the text is teaching me a thing or two!) :)

  Ciao for now,
L

Read-a-thon post #1

Well it's coming up to the end of hour 2 and I still have 15 pages of chapter 7 to get through.  I wish I could do a true fiction read-a-thon, but I'm a responsible girl.  So instead of jumping into some fun fiction, I'm reading my text, taking notes and hopefully learning code.  Sigh.  And I'm posting this cause I desperately needed a break.  Wish this post was more fun, but about all I can do at the moment is bore you with if else statments :)

  On a happy note I started the day off with a trip to the dog park and ran Lily ragged.  She is currenly snoring at my side :)  Teehee.  I'm sure by hour 4 it will have had it's requisite soporific affect and I'll be joining her on the couch.  It's what I love about lazy Saturdays....

  Back to reading
L :)

Dewey’s 24-hour Read-a-thon

Information on Dewey’s 24-hour Read-a-thon, happening this Saturday, October 9, 2010, can be found here.  Will you be participating?

 

I’m going to attempt to read most of the day, though don’t know if I’ll be up the entire 24-hours.  I have my programming text all lined up (still a couple of chapters behind and a mid-term coming up end of the month so a perfect excuse to get reading!!) and I’m still plugging away at Brisingr when not studying so that’s on tap too.  I hope to post some updates on my reading throughout the day.

 

Happy reading!

L

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Kicks Ass!!

The movie, that is.  Haven’t read the book yet, but want to now more than ever!

Steig Larsson has been making the book blog rounds for awhile now and I was so intrigued, I added him to my TBR list.  I’ve heard good things about his books, I’ve also heard they’re a tad odd, but I like odd, so he was a natural to add to my books I wanna read list.  This weekend I finally watched the Swedish movie adaptation of his first book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and have to say I loved it.  I loved, loved, LOVED it.  I was riveted to the screen, the story was so good.  And now I want to read the book all the more!!!

If you haven’t seen the movie, do.  Don’t wait for the flashy Hollywood version (albeit with Stellan Skarsgard and Christopher Plummer), as the Swedish version rocks!  Yes, it’s subtitled, but I was so drawn into the story that soon I didn’t realize I was reading subtitles. 

Apparently all three books were made into movies at once in Sweden, with the same cast, etc., like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so I’m now dying to watch the next movie installment – The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Book reviews will be up one of these years when I finally get around to reading the books, but in the meantime, the movies are there to enjoy so go out and watch’em!

Till next time,

L J

Hello My Name Is

As I am firmly bogged down with course work (text book finally came in + frantically trying to catch up with readings = no time for leisure reading L ) and don’t want to use up all my reserved reviews too quickly I thought I’d share this little item of interest with you instead.

This morning as I pulled up to my local Timmies drive-thru, running late as usual, over the speaker came “Hello my name is Vicki, thank you for choosing Tim Hortons, can I take your order” and I couldn’t help but think:

1. do I really care the person serving my coffee’s name is Vicki?
2. ’m aware I’m at Timmies, it’s the reason I pulled into the lot.
3. do they get a lot of people in the drive-thru who think maybe they’re at McDonalds that they have to restaurant identify?
4. how much later is this banal chatter going to make me?
5. ust give me my g.d. coffee already (I’m not a morning person.  Seriously, don’t get between me and my fix of caffeinated sugar before 10am or I will hurt you).
6.  really should care about Vicki, after all, she’s a person too.

And while I was grumbling in my head about the length of inane chatter over the drive-thru speaker airways (Timmies is not the only culprit), and that Vicki is lucky she didn’t pick this morning to ask if I wanted a “breakfast sandwich with that” I drove up to the window to discover the car ahead of me paid for my order.

How sweet, thoughtful, kind and wonderful.

And now I have been handed the Pay It Forward baton.  Hmm, what random act of kindness shall I bestow?

Oh, and Vicki, it’s nice knowing your name, even if I forget it by tomorrow (I’m really terrible with names, sorry.  Please don’t hold it against me, though I’m sure you’ll be there to remind me J )

Ciao for now,

L

Dear Jane Austen by Patrice Hannon

Imagine if you will the beloved authoress, Jane Austen, receiving her post in 1816 while sitting at her little writing table and having just penned the closing lines to Persuasion.  The post is brought in by little Fanny, a favourite niece of the author and after a brief exchange Austen turns to her letters.  The first she opens is written by a 21^st century young woman, a “heroine-in-training” if you will, asking for Jane’s advice on her love-life.  Using examples and direct quotes from her novels, Austen begins dispensing advice with the same wit she used in personal letters to family members.

An English professor and full Ph.D, Hannon has taught Austen’s novels for many years.  In this, a “Dear Abby”-type advice book, Hannon writes as she imagines Jane Austen would on topics like love, sex, marriage and men in general, instructing would be heroines everywhere to first and foremost be true to themselves.

A great companion to Austen’s life works, Hannon does a fine job deconstructing the novels we’ve come to love and know so well.  A recommended read for every Austen lover.

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

Where the eff has September gone?

I don’t know about you, but for me, this month is flying by.  I’ve only managed to read 2 complete novels this month, and I normally read 2 a week!!  That’s how crazy this month has been.

First I was sick (yeah yeah boo-hoo, I’ve used this as an excuse long enough….), then school started.  I work in an academic library and for me, September is the busiest time of the year, getting student staff hired, trained, scheduled and back to work, not to mention welcoming all those first year students and returning students.  On top of that I decided to return to my own studies this semester.  I’m about half-way through an honours B.A. in English Literature, and had taken about a year off for personal reasons, so it feels strange to be a student again. 

I am three weeks and two assignments into a programming course that is interesting but time consuming.  The textbook only just arrived by post (had to order it through Amazon.com because it wasn’t in at the University Bookstore and Amazon.ca listed it as out of stock) this week, and I have about 6 chapters (some 200 pages) to read and make notes on before the quiz next Thursday (I’m so hoping this quiz is all code … that, I understand from class).  I will therefore be spending this upcoming weekend reading a programming text rather than my fiction book.  Boo.

And I just started reading Brisingr too, the third book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle.  Expect a review for that in oh, about a month or so…..Thankfully I have two reviews (from the two books I actually managed to read this month) in holding so I’ll be posting something, sometime, but if I’m not around much, you know why …. Class and reading and studying and yeah yeah I know excuses excuses…..

Now to hang my head in shame.  I have not read a CanLit book this month.  And won’t as there’s only a week left and I have, as forementioned, coursework to do and Brisingr to read.  But before you proclaim my punishment remember: I read two CanLit books in both August and July this summer, so I think I’m good to miss a month…..

Till next time, L will be ducking the wet noodles J

Cheers,

L