I Shall Wear Midnight

This may come as a shock to a few of you, but I actually read—rather than listened to—this book.  And I must admit that I got as much pleasure reading it as I did listening to the previous three. It was actually pretty thrilling to see the dialogue of the Wee Free Men and to see the clever puns and comments made by the author. It's another thrilling story where Tiffany grows up a little bit more while yet another something else tries to kill her.

But Tiffany is Tiffany for a reason and nothing seems to really throw her off balance, even if it's her best friend getting married to another girl.

I'm so glad that my friend Ann introduced me to Terry Pratchett and Tiffany Aching. I give this book a thumbs up. Read the whole series. Laugh, and enjoy the Wee Free Men.

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

I love Anne of Green Gables.

I started reading this book last year because I watched the movie with some friends. The movie inspired me, and I read to chapter 33 and stopped.

And just last week, I finally finished. There are so many good quotes in this book! Here are a few of my favorites:

"There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting."

"It's so easy to be wicked without knowing it, isn't it?"

"And people laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?"

"Mrs. Lynde says that sound doctrine in the man and good housekeeping in the woman make an ideal combination for a minister's family."

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. If you haven't read this book, you need to. And if you haven't seen the movie, you need to do that as well. It will change your life. :)

Little Blue Men, Dragons, and Wizards, Oh My!

My, oh my, indeed!
Three more books down. Oh, okay, I listened to two of them, but I finally, finally, finished Brisingr! That alone makes me feel so, so . . . free.  Here are my thoughts on the books:

Wintersmith is the third in the Tiffany Aching series, and was funny and thought-provoking as the other two. Little Tiffany keeps on growing up, and as she hones her magical abilities, her responsibilities keep increasing. I loved listening to this book. The Wee Free Men kept me laughing with their bumbling but earnest ways. And Tiffany learns a few lessons about love and lost, legend and legacy. Good read!

I'm practically tap-dancing to have finished this book! I keep trudging through the series because at parts the story holds my attention and I want to know more. 
But then . . . it becomes boring and dragged out and forever long. Seven hundred–plus pages to basically found out what the title of this book means—that's what I discovered. I'm still not convinced that I really this series. The new book comes out in a month. I don't think I'll stand in line to get it, but I'll borrow it from my roommate . . . a few months down the road.

Oh, Harry Potter. I loved reading you when you first came out. And I really, really loved listening to you. I listened to this book while exercising (a common thing for me to do is to listen to audiobooks while exercising. I get lost in the story and thirty minutes fly by!). By the end, I wished—once again—that there was one more book to this series. I guess the movies fulfilled my wish in a way. Anywho, great book and great series. I can't be disappointed here.





In other unrelated news, I've decided to buy a new camera. I've loved my little Casio Exilim, but I think I want to go up one (or maybe half) level, which means I gotta put down some cash for it. GULP. Yeah, I like to save money, but in this one thing, I want to get something nice that will last for years to come. Suggestions? I've been looking at the Nikon s8200 Coolpix and the Casio Exilim ZR100. I have a couple of months to make the decision.

A Hat Full of Sky audiobook

I finished listening to A Hat Full of Sky, which either means I'm walking/jogging more, or I cheated and listened to the book when I should have been doing something else.

In any case, I loved this book! The characters are so well thought out and the narrator is so good at creating voices, that I wanted to keep listening. The sense of humor is exactly what I like, and the author is rather good at putting in clever little jokes here and there mixed in with an exciting story. I got sucked in every time I turned it on...and believe me, it made my walk go a whole lot faster. I highly recommend reading/listening to this book!

And, as a side note, my diligence in exercising has increased. Which means that I'm exercising more and feeling great about myself. This morning I pushed myself to go farther with my jogging, and it felt awesome!

I have four minutes till lunch is over...

... wanted to update you on my running. I pulled my quad a few weeks and also injured my foot. So  I'm taking it slow and easy until I heal somewhat. The quad feels better. The foot is doing better as well. All I can say is turn on your lights when you're walking down the stairs. You never know what's lying on a step!

Hallelujah!

I FINISHED! About time!

Audiobooks...

It's time to once again update you all on my book reading. And . . . I'm still reading Eldest. But, in the midst of my reading, I have listened to a couple of audiobooks . . . they count, right?

The first was Howl's Moving Castle. Being a big fan of the movie, I had high expectations for the book and was not disappointed. The movie isn't an exactly faithful adaptation; therefore, there were plenty of surprises in the book to discover. I still love Howl and his maddeningly boyish ways, but absolutely adored Sophie. She has a whole lot more character than what the movie showed. And now I know about the importance of turning 10,000 days old (which passed by me without much of an eyebrow raise. I celebrated my sister turning 10,000 days old, though).

  The second is Wee Free Men, and I almost died laughing at some of the parts. Since I was listening, the voices of the characters really came through, due to the efforts of the narrator. Who would have thought that tiny red-headed blue men could be so much fun? Thanks to my friend Ann for introducing to the books of Terry Pratchett. I now have a new obsession, and will be listening to the sequel shortly.

I highly recommend both books. And interestingly enough, both are written by British authors. Gotta love them. :)


And in other news, I'm close to finishing that Eldest book. Really.

This weekend, for sure!