UBC Day 3 - Book Review

My mom got me a NOOK Color for my birthday last year.  I love it.  I have to admit though that most of the time, I was using it for Netflix.  I did not have my Wii set up and my DVD player was packed away (which, by the way, does not work anymore...will not open and I cannot find the dang remote)...PLUS my dresser was in my closet and my TV was being used in the living room (until the 60 inch was purchased).

On to today's post!  I have never been into reading comic books.  I like movies based on comic books...Spiderman...Superman...Batman...well some time ago, I do not remember how I came across her but I found Blake Northcott on Twitter.  Seriously the coolest chick ever and was temporarily BANNED from Twitter!  How cool is that?!?  Here is the link to her Facebook page...and her website!

Anyway, Blake is a writer.  I remember seeing her posting about the reviews about her book and where it was on the Amazon charts.  I was dinking around on my Nook looking for books to sample and I decided to check out her book "Vs. Reality"...I bought it...and I LOVED IT!

Vs. Reality by Blake Northcott...READ IT NOW!

The main character Donovan Cole wants to be more than some loser who cannot win a single fight.  His best friend takes him out for a supposed night on the town.  He sees a girl sitting at the bar and has absolutely no idea that this girl is about to change his life!  When she asks him to leave with her out the back, he willingly goes.  Once outside, the two are confronted and when it seems this girl's life is in danger, Donovan suddenly transforms.  He becomes how he dreams himself...tall, muscles, strong...even tattooed.  She takes him to her place and explains what has happened to him.  He is becoming real life super hero!

Now this book is not just about how glamorous it is to be a super hero...they do not just go around beating up bad guys...there is no Bat Signal...they are just normal people like us right?!  I could go on and on but I would give it all away and I would not want to spoil it for you!  I swear that you will NOT regret purchasing this book/ebook.  Here is the link to purchase it on Amazon...I cannot find it on the Barnes & Noble website...but I bought it from the "Shop" icon on my NOOK.

Please, if you read it let me know what you think by leaving me a comment here AND if you like it or even love it...tell Blake herself!  I did...on Twitter...and she responded!  I love her and I cannot wait to purchase "Relapse" as soon as I am done writing this post!

Until next time!

Can You Read?

It is a simple enough question, right?  Can you read?  I can read.

But there is an underlying question, you see.  Can you understand what you are reading?  Not always.

When reading for fun or pleasure (and ladies I use that term loosely...hahaha), you might stumble across a word you might be unfamiliar with.  You might not know how to pronounce it or know what it means.  However there are a few ways to figure out what it means.

• Read the full sentence...you might get the general idea.
• Dictionary.com...not only will you find out the meaning BUT (and this is what I love about it), for most words anyway, it will actually SPEAK the word so you know how to pronounce it!  BTW...I have it downloaded to my Droid 2 from the Google Play Store (I was going to attach a link but as I am currently logged in I do not know if the link would work).  Oh and it is FREE!!!
• Even though I always have my phone with me, sometimes I could care less on having the word spoken to me, in which case I love reading from my Nook Color.  All I have to do is press the screen at the word I want to look up and simply press the "Look Up" button and it will give me the definition.
• Just a side note...it really drives me INSANE when the word is used as part of the definition.  Really people?  I do not know what the word means and you are going to use it as part of the definition?  That would be like the definition of SLEEP being TO SLEEP...okay but what does it mean...(I seriously just spent like a stupid 10+ minutes trying to come up with something cleaver and that is really what I came up with...it has been a long day!)

When reading for the sake of learning, you will come across terms that you do not know but can look them up, like I mentioned above or in the glossary if your book has one.  In my case I am just screwed.

I have officially completed my first week of English Literature: Beowulf to 18th Century as of 5:59am tomorrow morning (6am is when week two will start).  As I am a VERY slow reader, I wanted to start reading next week's material this week while it is just the introduction week and no real work is being done.  I have three reading assignments:

1. "Beowulf"
2. "Caedmon's Hymn"
3. "The Dream of the Rood"

Prior to this class, I thought that Beowulf was an era of writing in English Literature.  I did not know that it was a poem (if it did not have punctuation I would relate it to Homer's "The Odyssey"...except I understand that one) originally written in Old English and translated.  Same with "Caedmon's Hymn" (which I have not started yet).  These were translated into English yet I have absolutely no idea what I have read!  Seriously!!!

I just came to the realization though that the link to "Beowulf" in my classroom (check it out here and tell me if you can understand it...)and the eBook that I downloaded from the library are translated by someone name Gummere...HOWEVER when I was having issues trying to figure out how to download my eBook from the library to my computer and onto my Nook, I placed a hold on the hard copy the library had and I just pulled it from my backpack and discovered that it is translated by someone else...Seamus Heaney...and when I opened it up I could read it AND understand it!!!  It may not be the version that my professor wants me to read but it is the one that I can understand and, damn it, it is the one I am going to read!

This post just too a turn with this new discovery!  Okay...well now that I know I will understand it, I am gonna go read!  Plus I plan to watch the 1999 version of "Beowulf" on Netflix after I finish reading.  Wow...Until Next Time!

How Techie Are You?

I really am not that technologically stupid.  I swear I am not!  Shortly after getting my Nook Color for my birthday (which I absolutely love and mostly have been using to watch Netflix instead of reading), I went to the local library and got a library card.  I had one when I lived in Oregon so I could check books out from the local community college for my papers I had to write for school.  Before that I had not had a library card since I graduated high school.  I am pretty sure I still have my very first library card ever issued to me (I believe the sticker said 1991 or 1990) from the King County Library System or something like that.

Anyway, I filled out the paperwork and got my card issued to me and asked if the eBooks that they had available could be downloaded to my Nook and she briefly showed me how to do it and said that it would definitely work.

I signed up for English Literature - Beowulf to 18th Century.  My school's website listed the book that would be used and I looked to see if it was available from my library (and it is not) but I did find it available to rent from Barnes & Noble and could get it for the entire duration of my class for about $40 or $50.  I thought that was pretty neat.

My class started Monday.  Since I take classes online, it does not matter that Monday was a holiday.  All classes start on the first Monday of each month regardless of holidays.  I think I have had mid-terms, finals and tests due on holidays before.  This class actually ends two days before Christmas!  Yeah!  Anyway, I enter my virtual classroom and let me tell you something this stuff has CHANGED a lot in the last two years that I have been MIA from online learning.  The classroom set up is different, discussion boards are now called forums.  Email is now called messages.  Lectures and the reading material is now under lessons.  I think I have it kind of figured out and I am sure that I will have it down by the end of this class (which is 16 weeks long).

I am a very slow reader.  I have a few pages that I printed off from a website that is part of my required reading for this week and decided to print out next week's reading so that way I can try and get a little ahead so I do not get behind.  I printed out the first two links which comes to about ten pages of reading (I think) and went to print the third link and discovered that it was going to be like 93 pages so I said PASS and jumped onto my local library website to see if it is available as and eBook...

...and it is!  The website said that there was only one eBook copy so I checked it out before it was too late.  I downloaded it to my computer but could not open it.  I remembered that I had to download the Adobe program in order to access it.  I found the link and tried to download it but it kept popping up with some message that said I had to "retry" and I kept clicking away and it kept saying retry until I finally just threw my arms up (literally) and said (out loud...to no one...alone in my room) I GIVE UP!

I tried calling the library to see if there was someone who could help me figure it out and after pushing who knows how many buttons and then just hitting "0" to finally talk to a person.  This woman heard my problem and then transferred me at which time I was disconnected.  Today I reserved the one and only hard copy that they had available and drove down to pick it up.  I saw a gentleman at the Information desk and told him my problem and he took the time to kind of walk me through what I had already done.  I did everything correct last night but for some reason my desktop just was not having it!

I decided to give it one more shot when I got home and busted out my little tiny Netbook.  Miraculously I was able to download the Adobe program and figured out how to download the eBook to my flash drive and then load it onto my Nook.  Let me tell you what...they do not make it easy to check out a damn eBook from the local library!  It is a good thing that I have it for 13 more days but only need it until next Sunday!

Now that I have shared my horrendous journey to download a eBook check out from the library, I am going to get ready for dinner...I kind of have a date!  Until next time!