Me on Mondays - Dec. 13th

This past weekend I've been working on getting all ready for Christmas, and I'm getting close, although I'm not there yet.  My husband gave me an early Christmas present--a new laptop, which I'm really excited about.  It's nice to be able to relax on the couch and read all my blogs and stuff.

I went with a friend yesterday and saw The Tourist.  I hadn't seen any previews, and I had no idea what it was about going in, and I'm not sure if that made things better or worse.  I like both Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, and they did fine here, but I didn't love the movie.  It was interesting, but it wasn't spectacular.  It's definitely a renter and not a full price at the theater movie.

Also last night I watched the finale of The Amazing Race.  I think it was the first time in reality TV history that the team I was rooting for actually won.  It wasn't very tense, and about halfway through you could tell who was going to win, but I didn't care.  It's nice to be happy about a finale for once.

My husband and I have been making our way through Stargate Atlantis.  We don't have cable, so I never watched it on TV.  I've watched most of the DVD's previously, so I've seen the first four seasons and a few shows of season 5.  It's just as good on the second watch.  This show and Friends are my all-time favorite shows, and I'd be hard pressed to say which one I liked more.  Probably because they're completely different types of shows.  They're not really comparable.  Stargate Atlantis is a must see for all sci-fi lovers, though.

This week I'm hoping to get a little bit more reading done than usual.  If I can keep my computer time to a minimum, I should be able to get a few books read.  This week I'm hoping to finish:


That might be a little ambitious for me, but I'm partway through Marysvale already, the Christmas books should be fairly quick reads, and the Alcatraz book is a fast YA read.  We'll see.  That's it for me today.

True Geek Confessions

Over at Alert Nerd there is a fun mega-blog crossover event going on called "true geek confessions".  Sometimes you stand alone in loving a super niche-y run of a popular comic book series. Sometimes you’re the only person on the entire planet to ’ship a certain ’ship. Sometimes you simply Do Not Get a movie the rest of your geeky brethren is falling all over themselves about. And because a lot of fandom is about sharing loves and hates and communing with your fellow geeks, this can feel awfully lonely.  I probably have a whole lot to confess, but we'll just pick one for now.

I like love all those "bad" superhero movies.  Things like Transformers, Daredevil, Elektra, The Fantastic Four, and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.  It's not even one of those things where I thought, "this is really bad, but for some reason I love it."  No, I didn't even know that everybody hated these movies until I started reading around on blogs and stuff, and saw how universally hated these movies are.

Let's take Transformers, for example.  I frickin' loved that movie.  It's on my top ten favorite movies list.  It had action, funny stuff, awesome transforming things, the soundtrack was great . . . what's not to love there?  Everybody says it's such a bad movie, but I don't see it!  I'll give you Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.  Even though I enjoyed that one for the most part, I can see where it was annoying/stupid/bad, and why people wouldn't like that one.  

Maybe it's just that I'm really easily entertained.  Although I can't say I love every movie I see, so I don't know if that can be the excuse.  I'm actually kind of picky and easily annoyed, and sometimes the littlest things can make me hate a movie.  But I really can't think of a superhero movie I don't like.   I can think of two reasons to explain.  One: I'm just a kid at heart, and would love to have some awesome superpower, so I love to see superheroes on the big screen, or Two: superhero movies usually have hot guys in them.

Whatever the reason, I don't have to explain myself to you!  I'm sure you have a true geek confession of your own.  And just to add one more itty bitty confession, that will probably get my geek card revoked, I have never seen an episode of Star Trek.  Are there any hot guys in Star Trek?  I don't know.

To see more true geek confessions, see the master list at Alert Nerd.

Me on Mondays - Jan. 25th

I had a great weekend.  I went out with some girlfriends, and realized just how horrible I am at pool.  I also watched a couple of movies on DVD.  First was Gamer, which I thought had a really interesting storyline, but could have been so much better, and also really blew it at the end.  We also watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, which was a wonderful family movie!  My husband and I laughed a lot, and the kids really loved it.  Definitely a winner! 

My favorite book blog this week is Temple Library Reviews.  If you're a comic book/graphic novel lover like myself, it's comic book appreciation month there.  Check out the archives. 

Books I would like to finish this week:
The Farwalker's Quest by Joni Sensel
Play it Again, SAHM by Meredith Efken
Gone by Grant Michael
Dull Boy by Sarah Cross
Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Me on Mondays

I have been thinking I don't want my blog to become boring with just being book reviews.  I wanted to try to add a little personality, so I thought I'd start a new feature where I talk about myself on Mondays (unless I forget from now on, which means it'll only be this Monday, or the occasional Monday).  It won't just be about me, though, because I'm really not that interesting.  It's pretty much just whatever I feel like talking about.

So, to start off, here's me with my husband (who I've been married to for 10 years):

I also have three kids, ages 12, 6, and 3. 

I started this blog because I have the worst memory in the world, and I wanted to remember my thoughts on what I had read.  I've been keeping track of what I've read since the end of 2000, but beyond a grade, I haven't written any thoughts.  So, the blogging began, and although I'm not even a little bit articulate, I hope I'm getting better with my reviews as time goes on.

Besides books, I really love movies.  I like them as much as books, which might be enough to make some book people want to smack me upside the head, but really I just love a good story in any form.  I'm a science fiction/fantasy/action/adventure/superhero lovin' kind of girl, which reflects in both my book and movie tastes.

So, there's a very brief introduction.  In the future I'll be talking about a lot more stuff, like recent blog discoveries, books (or other things) I'm really looking forward to, and other things that nobody really cares about.  Don't miss it!

Book Meme from BBAW

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Sometimes if I'm hungry I snack while I read. I don't have a favorite snack in particular. The weirdest food thing for me, though, is when I read fantasies they always talk about eating some type of roasted meat, and I get the strongest craving for some meat. It's not really a snack you can grab while reading.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of

writing in books horrify you?

Whoever thought up this question just wanted to make me cry. I don't write in books. I don't even like to write in books that were meant to be written in, like workbooks.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

Definitely a bookmark! When I was a lot younger I dog-eared books, but the thought makes me shudder now. The only time I lay the book flat open is when I have to set it down for a second to get my kids to leave me alone so I can read.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Definitely fiction. The only non-fiction books I read are Christian ones, but it's not too often.

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hard copy. I try to listen to audiobooks, but there's nothing like the feel of a book in my hands. I download books to my mp3 player, and then never listen to them.

What is the last book you bought?

I can't remember the last book I bought. I'm the type of person that really utilizes the library, and I used to use paperbackswap a lot to get books, but not so much anymore.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

I love reading any time, but probably after the kids go to bed is my favorite time, since there are fewer interruptions. My favorite place is in the bathtub. So nice!

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

I like both. I do love it when I finish a really good book, and I know there are more books about the same characters waiting for me. But sometimes authors take it too far, and I think enough already. Or authors take forever to come out with their next book so that you forget what happened in the previous books. I'm talking to you George R.R. Martin.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

It really depends on what the person I'm recommending to likes to read. I have favorite authors of all genres.