Bloggiesta, Dias Dos

I think I am officially exhausting all my knowledge of Spanish during Bloggiesta.

Today is the second day of Bloggiesta, the blogging fiesta hosted by the wonderful Natasha of Maw Books. On day one I spent about four and a half hours (five and a half, if you count the count the hour after I said I was going to bed but stayed up going through the Bloggiesta RSS feed, instead) blogging. I didn't complete any of the minichallenges, although I got a start on the label challenge. Aaaaaaannd, I got a favicon! Wheeeee! I'm so proud of it. Isn't it bootiful?

My plans for today are once again pretty limited. I really do need to start going through my reader. And I would also like to finish up the label challenge and do the challenge where you highlight your best posts (that will fit in nicely with the label challenge).

I will also be DJ-ing Spanish music on twitter during the day. This is likely what will take up the majority of my time, as it is much more entertaining than going through labels.

Happy Bloggiesta, everyone!!!

Bloggiesta, Ole!

Okay, I am officially ready to start Bloggiesta now. Yay me!

For those of you who haven't read of Bloggiesta, it's a blogging party hosted by Natasha from Maw Books. My goals for this Bloggiesta are pretty modest, since I have to work this weekend and my brother is having his birthday today. Basically I want to give my blog a new look for 2010, and complete a few minichallenges. I also need to catch up on my reader--but then when don't I need to catch up on my reader?

If you want to participate, sign up on Maw Books, and follow #bloggiesta on Twitter. Go Bloggiesta!!!

Books--I Do Not Haz Them

From Booking Through Thursday:

What books did you get for Christmas (or whichever holiday you may have celebrated last month)?

Do you usually ask for books on gift-giving occasions or do you prefer to buy them yourself?

I didn't get any books for Christmas, believe it or not--well, unless you count the lovely Sharon Shinn book I got in the Book Blogger Holiday Swap, of course, which I certainly do! But from my friends and family? No. I got a gift card to Barnes & Noble (too bad B&N's website sucks with the gift cards, eh?), but no books.

Actually, though, I rarely ask for books. First of all, I usually buy the books I really want right away. I don't want to wait for a book, omg no. And as I have a whole slew of them, it's really impossible for anyone in the family--including my mom, who swaps books with me all the time--to know what I have and don't have, or what I've read. So the smart bet is generally on just giving me a gift card.

Not that I don't appreciated book gifts, of course!

Two Classic Film Reviews

In an effort to obtain new visual stimulation the other night, I hied off to the library and rented two super-old movies:

The Italian Job

Almost everyone has seen the remake of this with Mark Wahlberg, but the original, starring a very young Michael Caine (he looks exactly like he does now, by the way, which is weird), is less well-known and at the same time more critically praised. I have to say, though, I thought it kind of sucked. Basically this is a giant commercial for Mini Coopers, which face off against Italian Fiats. Spoiler alert: the Mini Coopers win. I might care if I was British, but since I'm not....

This movie is seriously silly, and the ending is abrupt to say the least. I'd say skip it unless you have an obsession with either Michael Caine or British engineering (side note: I couldn't help but notice the Mini Coopers didn't face off against German cars. I guess Mini Coops crushing BMW would be too unbelievable even for this film).

The Maltese Falcon

I know, this is a classic. But I have never seen the whole thing until last week. This movie was pretty good, although it had absolutely zip to do with the Maltese Falcon. Sam Spade (aka Humphrey Bogart, who is the awesome) is a PI in San Francisco along with his partner, Miles Archer. One day a woman who is supposedly really hot (personally I didn't see the appeal AT ALL) comes into the office asking them to follow some sketchy guy who's dating her sister. Archer calls it, then gets shot on the job. Sam isn't too broken up about this. Apparently Sam is a playa playa, since he was sleeping with Miles' wife and I'm guessing sleeps with the mystery woman client as well. Not that that has anything to do with the plot.

My favorite part of the movie was Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo. There's another actor who is the awesome! Why is he not in every movie I watch? He should be. The characters as a whole were wonderful; the plot was ridiculous/borderline indecipherable; and the extended metaphor about the Maltese Falcon being like love (the stuff that dreams are made of, etc. etc.) wasn't really convincing because the idea that Sam Spade is in love with crazy client bitch was laughable. But overall it was a good movie.

Harry Potter and the Kid Who Cried Wolf

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling*

I remember the first time I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire very clearly.  It was one of the few times in my life that my heart actually pounded while I read a book--out of pure excitement and sympathy with the main character.  It was completely un-put-downable (I read all 700-ish pages in a single day), and the ending totally blew me away.  In other words, this is the book that turned me into a Harry Potter fan girl.

There's a theme running through Goblet of people who keep crying wolf and, as a result, no one ever believes them.  Mad Eye Moody is a perfect example, as is Harry himself.  Whether or not they've actually spotted danger seems incidental; just the fact that they are the ones that things happen to, and that point out the danger, is enough to make people brush them off and ignore them.  If there's one lesson in Goblet, it's that danger doesn't come from expected quarters or while you're watching for it.  Mad Eye Moody might preach constant vigilance (one of my favorite lines evar, btw), but people neither want to be, nor can they be, keen to every threat.

By the end of the novel, it's clear that illusion of safety is more important in most cases than actual security--but then no one can really provide safety, can they?  The people from the ministry go through a lot of trouble to make sure the participants of the Triwizard Tournament are "safe," but fail miserably every step of the way.  And some things meant to keep people safe, like the Dementors, are akin to making a deal with the devil.

When I mentioned I was reading Goblet on Twitter, Amanda from The Zen Leaf said she didn't enjoy it any more because of all the holes in the plot.  Me:  Holes in the plot?!?  I didn't notice any holes!  So, naturally, this made me look for the holes while I was reading.  And, I have to say Amanda was right; there are tons of plot holes littering Goblet.  The one that bothered me most had to do with Harry's placement in the Goblet of Fire itself--so, just to review, anyone can write down anyone else's name and put it into the Goblet, and the person would then be bound by a magical contract, even though they had nothing to do with signing up for the Triwizard Tournament?  That seems like a rather HUGE loophole in proceedings.  So, if that's the case, an older student could have just written a younger student's name down and dropped it in the cup?  Wouldn't you think that kind of issue would have come up before????

I didn't enjoy Goblet quite as much the second time around, but I did like listening to it on audio, which seems to be getting better and better as the books go along.  If there was a book I wish I could re-read as if it was the first time, this one would be it--it's just not as much fun when you know what the ending is going to be.  But it's still a good (if holey) story.

Suspicious Dumbledore moment:

"He said my blood would make him stronger than if he'd used someone else's," Harry told Dumbledore.  "He said the protection my--my mother left in me--he'd have it, too.  And he was right.  He could touch me without hurting himself; he touched my face."  For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw something like a gleam of triumph in Dumbledore's eyes; but the next second, Harry was sure he had imagined it....

WHAT THE HELL????  A gleam of triumph?  Dumbledoor is soooo in league with Voldemort.  I bet he had a secret affair with Voldy at some point, and that's why they hate each other so much.



I listened to the audio and read this book as part of Galleysmith's fab Harry Potter Reading Challenge. 

*I got the audiobook from the library, and the book from my brother.  So no one's getting nothing, FTC.  Take that and shove it up your %&@^.

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The Dickens With Love

The Dickens With Love by Josh Lanyon

This was the perfect book to start off my m/m reading month--it was a light, fun, enjoyable read.  But it wasn't so great that another book this month won't possibly be able to top it.

Within the first few pages of The Dickens With Love, we know several important pieces of information--it's Christmas time in LA; the narrator, James Winter, has been hired by the sketchy Mr. Stephanopoulos to acquire a unique edition of Dickens for him; and James Winter is a snarky, sharp bibliophile.  Oh, and he's gay (that's page four).

James is really the best thing about this novel (which is a good thing, since it's told entirely from his point of view).  He's intelligent, witty, and seems to spend most of his time swilling brandy.  And, despite the fact that I sort of whined about every main character being a reader in a post a few weeks ago, I loved how James was completely addicted to books.  "Books are what I know.  Books are all I know," he says at one point; and that is definitely appropriate to the plot of the story, which involves a one-of-kind edition of a Dickens' Christmas story.  James is a down-on-his-luck book appraiser who used to be all that, but now works 20 hours a week at Barnes and Noble and hates it.  He needs the commission from Stephanopolous in order to pay his rent, but an affair with the owner of the book, Professor Sedgwick Crisparkle, gets in the way of all his plans.

Unfortunately, the weak point of The Dickens With Love was the romance.  Granted, I've never been a fan of the they-have-sex-and-then-they-fall-in-love plotline; but Sedgwick seemed totally boring and lacking in personality.  I can see what Sedg sees in James, but why James was going gaga over Professor Fizzlewizzle was something of a mystery to me.  Plus, there were a lot of holes in the plot--and since there isn't much in the way of plot in this story, the holes were hard to ignore.  The biggest one that still gets me is why Sedgwick is spending Christmas in Los Angeles if he's English and his entire family--whom he's supposedly very close to--is in England?  I've been overseas without my family during major holidays, and trust me, it's tough.  Sedg couldn't wait until the week after Christmas to sell his book?  Or the week before?  It simply makes no sense.

Despite all its flaws, though, The Dickens With Love is a truly fun, enjoyable read.  It actually reminded me a lot of the Vicky Bliss mysteries by Elizabeth Peters, which I was addicted to when I was a teenager; it has the same level of smartness and humor, and to be honest I kept expecting it to turn into a mystery (didn't happen).  Lanyon is definitely a skilled author, and I do plan on reading his backlist.



Going into this book, I had two questions:  one, would I enjoy reading it on an e-reader; and two, would there be any noticable difference between m/m romance and traditional m/f romance?

The answer to the latter question is not really, although I did find it refreshing to finally read about a main character that doesn't subliminate or deflect the attraction s/he feels for someone else.  When James first meets Crisparkle, he's friendly and chatty, displaying "uncharacteristic cordiality."  In other words he actually flirts with someone he finds attractive.  What a concept!  Most female characters in that situation would have either ignored their attraction for no reason, or ignored it because they thought the hero was a jerk.  I just find it interesting that apparently males are still allowed to be more sexually agressive than females, even when said male is the "submissive" in the relationship.

As for reading on an e-reader--maybe I was just really excited to be using my new toy, but I found it a lot easier to use the e-reader instead of an actual book.  It seemed like I read faster on it.  And it was much easier to read at the table because I didn't have to find a way to keep my book open (always important).

So far I'm feeling pretty positive about my new e-reader and the theme for this month.  I think if the rest of the books I've downloaded are up to the standard Lanyon's set, I'll be in very good shape.

Other opinions:
Smexy Books

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New Year's Readathon Wrap-Up

The New Year Readathon hosted by Kristen from Bookworming isn't over yet, and I still plan to read for it, but I decided to do the wrap-up now. 

My total reading hours will probably end up being around 10 hours.  I made an itty-bitty dent in Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James before I decided I might as well move on to The Dickens With Love by Josh Lanyon, which I actually managed to finish.  Hooray!  Of course, it was pretty short.  And I'm going to finish up Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire tonight.  So I don't think I did too shabby, all things considered.

I'm really looking forward to writing reviews for The Dickens With Love and Goblet, and I enjoyed starting 2010 by reading a fun novel.  Hopefully this will set the tone for the rest of the year! 

Happy New Year everyone!

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