Jumat, 27 April 2007

Opening this weekend


The movie The Invisible, which opens in theaters this weekend, is actually based on a young adult novel! The book The Invisible by Matt Wahl, set in Sweden and now translated to English, is about high school student Hilmer Erikkson who goes to class one day only to realize that he is invisible. But that's not all. His class is visited by a detective who wants to talk about his disappearance. If you're a fan of mysteries or found yourself enjoying The Lovely Bones</span> by Alice Sebold, you might want to check out this book and movie!

Kamis, 19 April 2007

Book Review - Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks


I am just about done with Zack Hample's Watching Baseball Smarter. This nonfiction book is the PERFECT guide for anyone who has a few ball games under their belt, but always has a few questions, like "What's a balk?" or "Why are all the ballparks different?" Zack Hample's book is fun, readable, and at times funny. I rarely read nonfiction, yet breezed through this one over the past week. This book is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys watching baseball and is looking for a fun primer - especially fantasy baseball players!

* * * * *
(five stars)

Also, NPR has an interesting interview with the author.

Kamis, 12 April 2007

No longer breaking news like it was last night when I read the New York Times


Kurt Vonnegut has died. When I was in high school, there a couple things I always checked the library shelves for: new "Alice" books, and short story collections by Kurt Vonnegut. My absolute favorite: Welcome to the Monkey House.

Kamis, 05 April 2007

Have a great Easter weekend!


Regardless of whether you celebrate Easter, you'll surely enjoy this site: Daily Bunny. A new adorable bunny every day? Awesome.

Bibliomania!

It's true, I finally did it. I joined LibraryThing.com! You can check out some of the books in my library over on the right side of the blog. Instead of adding to my virtual library the books that make up my real library, I've decided to add the books I read as I read them. Right now it has 30 books, because so far in 2007 I've read thirty books. I've been writing them down on a list in my planner and was starting to feel a sense of accomplishment until I typed them in here. Typing in thirty books didn't take that long. And then, looking around at other people's libraries, mine seemed kinda, well, small. Of course, they are usually writing down all the books they own in their real library, but still. I think I suffer from bibliomania. Okay, on second thought not really, because I just read the Wikipedia entry and this doesn't sound like me:

"Bibliomania is an obsessive-compulsive disorder involving the collecting or hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged."

Well, I think my social relations and health are doing alright. But... OH NO!

"...bibliomania is characterized by the collecting of books which have no use to the collector nor any great intrinsic value to a genuine book collector."

Sometimes I come across books that have no use to me, and no value to a book collector, like, um....

VOYAGE TO RADOS


Yeah, it's a Barbie book where she goes to space. I have to admit, I still haven't even read it, but the images are something to behold. "Outer Space" is very pink and very sparkly. Okay, maybe it does have some use to me (entertainment).

Man, there are some scary book-related conditions that could be afflicting me:

bibliophagy (book-eating)
bibliokleptomaia (book-stealing)
bibliotaphy (book-burying)

Book burying?! Not to offend those out there suffering from bibliotaphy, but that is weird! I might not mind suffering from bibliophagy, as long as the book looks like this: