Amazon Kindle

So for Christmas my dear husband got me a Kindle. I had initially poo pooed such a thing but then I saw the Barnes & Noble Nook and I got all hyped up on the fact that they said you could share books with your friends. I admit, I was coveting.

I then noticed that the Nook wasn't shipping for weeks after Christmas and then one day at ES's fencing class there was a mom with a Kindle. She spent a lot of time talking to me about it and how FANTASTIC Amazon has been. She also said that she and her husband could share books. Hmmm... wasn't that Nook's claim to fame? So I decided I should actually research digital readers! I know, novel concept (pun not intended)!

After researching the Kindle, the Sony and the Nook I decided the Kindle was the way to go. Apparently most of the book publishers were not actually going to allow B&N to share books on the Nook and if they did you could only share it once and for TWO weeks. Oh as if Blunoz or any of my other friends had time to read a book in less than two weeks! As long as the Kindles are linked to the same Amazon account, you can pass books back and forth, so yea I can't share with my friends but I can share with my husband (if and when he gets one of his own). The other thing I liked about the Kindle was that is actually has international capabilities. Now I don't plan to travel internationally but Blunoz is going to deploy in the next few years (no this is not imminent) and maybe I will get lucky and be able to go join him at an exotic port call, or maybe someday I will be nice and get him his own Kindle. :-) The funniest thing I read was that B&N released the information about the Nook so far in advance that Amazon was able to upgrade all the Kindle software to compete before the Nook was even released! The mom at fencing said all her software was upgraded automatically and without problems.

My MIL knew I was getting a Kindle for Christmas so she cut out an article she read in the newspaper comparing the Kindle to the Nook. Once again Kindle was on top. The one new thing this article told me was that it takes 3 seconds for the Nook to turn a page and 1 second for the Kindle. I think that would drive me CRAZY, but what do I know? :-) The other thing that article says is that yes, B&N lists more free books but the books they are listing Amazon also has as free but the quality is so low on them, Amazon doesn't count them as books (but they are available to download for free).

Once I got my Kindle I stumbled upon the Amazon Best Sellers in Kindle list and there is an RSS feed to it, so I added it to my Google Reader. I have downloaded some fantastic FREE books from this list! Such as Conspiracy in Kiev and Midnight in Madrid, neither of which are free now, but they were when I got them! :-)

So there you have it, my Christmas Present from Blunoz in a nut shell. :-) Thank you my dear husband. I LOVE it!

My Vacation - A Reading List

One of my favorite things to do on a vacation up at "The Lake" is to read. The boys are happily occupied with other people and there are no requirements for me to clean, make dinner, etc. I just read and sit in the sun and take a dip in the pool or lake once in awhile. So here is a summary of what I read this week.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

• I actually have been "reading" this one all summer. It has been stashed away in my pool bag so I was getting through it bit by bit at our short stints at the community pool. In a nutshell, Greg Mortenson saw a need for schools in the rural of most rural parts of Pakistan. He struggled and struggled but found a way to meet that need. He strongly believes that the best way to fight terrorism is through education. One of the Taliban's greatest recruiting tools is the large schools they set up in countries such as Pakistan. To give another option for education to the Pakistani people is to fight terrorism. This is a well written and intriguing book. I was ready to donate all my cash to the CAI, if only had some extra!

Finger Licken Fifteen by Janet Evonovich

• I have read this entire series of Stephanie Plum series. She is a bounty hunter in New Jersey who can't seem to do anything right. She always looses a car to some kind of fire, there are relationship issues and a whole host of wacky characters. If you are looking for a funny mystery series, I recommend this one.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

• Another light hearted mystery series. Hannah is a cookie bakery owner but in every book she happens upon a dead body and helps solve the murder. The books all include recipes of food mentioned during the story. I have yet to try one but I have been intrigued to do so. :-)
  

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

• I really enjoyed his first book, the Kite Runner and I equally enjoyed this book as well. It was different from the first but equally well written. There were many moments when I cried. It gives you a real heart for the people of Afghanistan and the turbulence they have been experiencing over the past 30+ years.
  

The Shack by William Paul Young

• This is not a book I would have picked up on my own. Blunoz's mom sent it to him and I still was not interested in it. But I have a new position on our church's council and I received an email saying I needed to read it by the next meeting. So I went out and picked up another copy. The premise of this book is intriguing. A man experiences a parent's worst nightmare but in the end meets God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a very personal way. I am not sure what to write about this book. I do agree with the overall ending theme of the book that God is not responsible for the bad things in our lives but he always uses them for some sort of good, though we might not ever know what the good is. At some points I thought of the old poem of Footprints in the Sand as we often have a hard time seeing that God is with us, but He is alwaysALWAYS with us.

Me, Myself and Bob: A True Story about Dreams, God and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer

• Do you know who Phil Vischer is? He is the creator of Veggie Tales! I love Veggie Tales and I remember when we were living in San Diego that Veggie Tales went bankrupt but then the videos kept coming. Well, now I know why. But I digress... I highly, highly recommend this book. Phil is FUNNY! Phil is Honest! Phil had a dream to be the "Christian Walt Disney" and God apparently had other ideas. If you are looking for God in your life, I recommend this one over The Shack (ok, so I prefer happy uplifting stories). Phil you need to write more adult books (though keep writing the kid stuff too)!
  

So there you have it, my vacation in a nutshell.