Content has been demanded so I will try to oblige.

This summer has been very busy. I imagine most of you have seen Jaeger’s run down of what we’ve been doing. This month is the first since April where I’ve had several weekends in a row just to myself (though Jaeger’s currently away in OK visiting family so it feels a little strange).

Our car Lyta, is working on 230,000+ miles and I expect that she will permanently go to sleep some day soonish. I’m hoping she can last another year or two so we can save money for another car without stealing from some other budget area. This time around Jaeger wants AWD so we can navigate the unimproved mountain roads. Even though we aren’t planning to buy the car right away, I got sucked into used car research. Give me something to research and I disappear into a fog of research for days, even if it isn’t an urgent problem. My current favorite vehicle is a Subaru Forester. I was originally looking for a wagon but they don’t seem to make many with AWD. Subaru of course has it’s Outback but the Forester seems to get similar gas mileage and has more room in back. The Forester seems to have pretty good crash results but I’m a little disturbed by the mileage (though with AWD, I really can’t expect it to be terribly good). I also looked at the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe. Pre-2007 the models are available with 4wd and it had better gas mileage than the Subaru. However, from the reports I read it sounded a little slugish. I don’t know, when I’m actually ready to buy I’ll probably try to hunt down a 4wd version to check it out. I also briefly looked at the Toyota Rav4. However, I really don’t like the look. Also, Consumer Reports mentioned that it’s difficult to install car seats (no, we’re not planning on having children soon but I’m hoping our next vehicle will be around for a while).

Okay, enough on cars. in addition to obsessively researching cars, I’m also still working on figuring out what we want to do in London. My conclusion is that the trip is going to cost way too much . However, it doesn’t make sense to spend the money to get there and then avoid all the attractions there. Also, it’s one of those trips that is much easier before one has children. Anyway, I’m looking forward to it. However, I have a sneaking suspician that I might be enjoying the planning as much as the actual trip. I really hope that by the time we leave (mid-September) British Airways allows carry on items again. I know international flights usually have entertainment systems but I doubt they’re good enough to keep me occupied for the entire flight time. Not to mention I’ve been saving up books to read during this flight!

Speaking of reading . . . Last June I decided that I didn’t read enough non-fiction. So, my goal was to read at least 1 non-fiction book a month. My first book was The Harvard medical School guide to healthy eating during pregnancy. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not pregnant I’m just an overplanner. I figure it’s probably a good idea to try changing my eating habits before I’m pregnant. I imagine pregnancy comes with enough issues of its own without adding diet change to the mix. It was a pretty interesting book but the author was a little down on the vegetarian diet while pregnant. Later I’ll probably want to hunt down a pregnancy nutrition book specifically for vegetarians.

July wasn’t a good month for non-fiction. I scanned through several recipe books but I suspect that doesn’t really count. I’m still a little unclear whether or not audio books should count. I listen to audio books almost every day on the way to work but somehow that feels like cheating. It doesn’t help that most non-fiction audio books are abridged. I just finished listening to The money book for the young, fabulous and broke. In general, I’m not a huge Suze Orman fan. One of her books I stopped listening to during the first CD because she kept going on and on about stupid financial decisions she had made early in life. I suppose she was trying to empathize with her audience. It wasn’t working for me. So, when this book came out I ignored it for a while. However, I was running low on audio books and so decided to give it a try. It was okay. Suze Orman reads the book herself and her intense voice can be a little trying sometimes. In general her advice seemed to make sense. I don’t think I learned anything new but it was interesting to get her persective on various situations. I was fascinated by her view on credit cards. Most personal finance authors I hear say, “credit cards are evil.” I don’t agree with this. Credit Cards are easier to abuse than other forms of money. However, if you pay your balance each month there are some distinct advantages to using credit cards. Plus, if I have cash I can spend it all without knowing where it all went but I never lose track of my credit card spending. Anyway, Suze Orman is very pro credit card. Some of her statements about them made me a tad uncomfortable. For example, she suggested that when you’re young it’s okay to use credit cards to fill in the gap in your income until you make enough money to live on. She does stress that you should use the credit card only for essential items, not wants. However, the whole thing seems like a slipperly slope.

The most recent fiction book I read was The Bride Finder by Susan Carroll. Previously I head two of her newer books The Dark Queen and The Courtesan (both were very good). It’s obvious that The Bride Finder is an earlier book. The depth of her later books is lacking. However, it was a very satisfying read. My last book that I enjoyed that much was The Marriage Spell by Mary Jo Putney. All of these books are romance with a touch of fantasy.

Oh, in a previous post I mentioned that I had started reading Crystal Soldier again but had trouble getting through it. I think the book just required a little bit more concentration than I usually have after work. During the 4th of July weekend I finish Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon and found both of them to be excellent books. They have a different flavor to them that is sometimes hard to digest but very interesting. This series is a prequel to several other books set in the Liaden Universe. However, these books feel different to me than the earlier books. Anyway, if you enjoy space opera and romance (in varying proportions in the different books) I highly reccomend this series.

Hm, enough content for now? I’ll try to update again sometime before next year

For the past couple of days Jaeger and I have been at Megafest 5.0. To make sure I could keep occupied at all times, I brought along 27 books. Don’t worry, I don’t/didn’t intend to read all the books. I just wanted to make sure I had an adequate reading selection regardless of what mood I was in. So far, I’ve been relatively pleased with the books I brought along.

I started reading Owls Well that Ends Well by Donna Andrews. I’ve found the Meg Langslow series to be quite amusing. However, I didn’t get more than a chapter or two in because I could only get my hands on the large print version. Ironically, I have a hard time reading large print books, all the words seem to swim together. When I get back home, I’m going to have to put the normal print version on hold at the library.

The next book I tackled was The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne. It’s chick-lit but I found it fairly amusing. I liked Melissa’s practicality and lack of obsession with shoes. However, the romance completely failed for me. For more fun fluff, I read Second Sight by Amanda Quick (one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s pseudonyms). Amanda Quick’s books were one of the first romance novels I ever read. However, they don’t really inspire me. They are usually set in either the Regency or Victorian time period but Quick adds a paranormal aspect to her books that often seems a tad silly to me. While I enjoy romance novels, I’ve noticed that I prefer fantasy novels with romance in them more than romance novels with drops of fantasy. I’m also exasperated that the second chapter in each of her books always seems to includes a “proper” young lady having sex. Could we not wait until at least the middle of the book?

Feeling in need of a different genre, I switched to fantasy with Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. This novel begins with one of the best opening lines I’ve read, “Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity” (no, this is not another vampire novel). The novel is written in the third person point of view following three main characters: Prince Arelon, Sarene and Hrathen. I especially enjoyed reading the sections dedicated to Sarene’s point of view. Sarene is a princess who agrees to marry the prince of Arelon. She arrives in Arelon to find that her fiance is “dead” and because of the way the marriage contract was written, she is now the prince’s widow. The story was very intriguing.

No Man’s Mistress by Mary Balogh was next. I think I’ve enjoyed every Balogh novel I’ve picked up. Even if it’s a similar plot to another book I’ve read, Balogh makes it feel original again.

If I’m lucky, I may get through another book or two before the fest is over. However, I’m not sure how likely that is since it ends tomorrow.

After months of having the new Pride & Prejudice in my queue both via Netflix and at the library, I finally got it from Netflix. I’m really not sure it was worth the wait. However, I am quite glad I didn’t watch it in the theater. To borrow from Jaeger’s vocabulary, I though it was “. . . meh.”

Speaking of movies, several weeks ago Jaeger and I went and watched V for Vendetta. I about had a heart attack when I saw how much common Saturday night movie tickets cost these days and remember thinking “If this isn’t a really good movie, I’m going to be very upset.” Fortunately, it was a very good movie. It’s probably going to make my list to buy.

I also did finally watch Aeon Flux. This movie had all the elements I typically love in a movie yet somehow it didn’t quite work for me. While watching the movie, I did find it mildly enjoyable it but afterwards nothing stuck with me. Maybe Aeon was a little too unstable for my tastes, I don’t know.

I’ve started reading Crystal Soldier. I think the first time I read this book I must have been half a sleep because only the first couple of pages sounds familar.

A couple of days ago I finished Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson which is fantasy chick-lit. Normally, I’m not a big fan of chick-lit. My last attempt was The Givenchy Code by Julie Kenner which had a promising plot but suffered from too much shoe obession (a common problem with chick-lit). However, Enchanted, Inc. was a nice amusing read.

I have a lot to catch up on so I’m hoping to write several smaller entries over the next couple of days (it takes so long to write anything!) .

Recently I received five books I’d ordered through the library. They are:

In Fury Born by David Weber
Crystal Soldier by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Crystal Dragon also by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
It Happened one Autumn by Lisa Kleypas

Secrets of a Summer Night and It Happened One Autumn are both books in the Wallflower series. I also have Devil in Winter which I managed to pick up a used bookstore the same month it was published. Lisa Kleypas is the second modern romance author whose books I’ve bought (Julia Quinn was the first).

I’ve already read Crystal Soldier. It was amusing but I didn’t like it as much as some of their other books (such as Scout’s Progress). However, I think it might be a book that grows on me with further reading. Crystal Dragon is the second book in the series. I haven’t read it yet because I mean to reread Crystal Soldier first.

In Fury Born is an expanded version of Path of the Fury. It includes the story in Path of the Fury but also provides significantly more background about Alicia DeVries, the heroine. I enjoyed it but I think I prefer the shorter version. If you like the later Honor Harrington novels, I suspect you’ll prefer the longer In Fury Born.

One book I meant to buy but haven’t yet is Sunshine by Robin McKinley. It’s a vampire novel but I think I like it better than most. It’s just so different from the Laurell Hamilton type novels that seem to be everywhere (for the record, I enjoyed her first couple Anita Blake novels but eventually all the books started sounding the same to me).

I recently finished reading Tinker by Wen Spencer. The first Spencer book I read was A Brother’s Price. I think I enjoyed A Brother’s Price more, probably because of all the gender stereotype flipping, but Tinker was a very fun novel.

I wandered into young adult fiction with Elske by Cynthia Voigt. It was a very enjoyable book. The protagonist is a very practical girl thrust into fairly unusual circumstances.

I just finished reading Black Ice by Anne Stuart. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. In general, I dislike contempory romances (both the general and suspense subsets). Also, I’ve recently been getting about half way through a book before deciding I really don’t care if I finish it. One example is Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu. The first half I was enthralled by the book. However, they had a semi-closure type moment in the middle of the book and after that I felt the story was done. I was no longer interested.

I wish I could quantify what kept me interested in Black Ice. It might make it easier to pick the next book.

Today has been a pretty good day. I managed to clean the house and take care of all money matters before noon. Earlier this morning Jaeger carted Willow off to get spayed. We’ve been planning to get her spayed for a while now. However, I kept forgetting to make the appointment (probably because I was dreading paying for the procedure). In any case, I was suppose to pick up Willow around 4:00 (16:00 according to Jaeger). This left several hours free. I eventually decided to go shopping.

I wandered to a local thrift store and browsed but didn’t find anything intriguing. Then I went next door to the Used Book Emporium. For a while, I’ve been thinking of ordering the Wallflower series by Lisa Kleypas (via my discount at the library). I was shocked to discover the used book store already had a copy of Devil in Winter available. It just came out in March. I snapped it up as soon as I saw it. I continued browsing and was also pleased to find Stardoc by S.L. Viehl. Last night I was browsing my shelves and discovered that I had every book in the Stardoc series except the first one. I’m not quite sure how this happened. I gleefully brought my two new book finds home and opened up Stardoc to remind myself what ocurred in this book. However, nothing I read sounded familar.

I first found Viehl by reading Blade Dancer at the Boulder Public Library. Eventually I found some Stardoc books at the library and enjoyed those so I bought the series. That is, I bought most of the series. Somehow I never bought nor read Stardoc, the first book in the series. I guess the cover became familar enough that when I’d see it in stores I’d think I had already bought and read it.

So, back to my dilemma. I now have 2 brand new books to read, I expect both to be excellent. It’s very rare to have one new book to read that I’m sure will be good. Having two at the same time is a bit overpowering

BTW, Willow survived her procedure fine. However, she is extremely happy to be home. The vet has told us we should keep her inactive. So far that part isn’t going so well. Ever since she’s gotten home she’s been bouncing up and done. How does one keep a kitten inactive?

A while back I heard of a website called LibraryThing. It’s kind of a personal library catalog with a bit of social networking thrown in for fun. I looked at it briefly and then ignored it. Tonight I decided to look at it again and for some reason this time it entranced me. So, now if you’re curious you can see my “library” here. Now I must go back to playing

Tonight I watched Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. It’s the silliest movie I’ve seen in a long time, possibly ever. To recover I had to watch a bit of English drama, The Forsyte Saga.

In other news, I’m absolutely obsessed with listening to digital audio books on Ce’Nedra (my iPod). I started listening to audio books driving to Greeley for work. However, the library is still transitioning from cassettes to CDs so I didn’t always have a terribly good selection to choose from. The downloadable audio books at Boulder and Denver have a much better variety. Also, if I want to continue listening to the book once I get home, I just carry my iPod into the house and keep listening instead of transferring the CD to another player and trying to find my place again. I can’t wait until Weld finalizes their subscription for digital audio books. I’m getting a little giddy with so many choices

Currently I’m listening to an excellent rendition of the book Deathstalker by Simon R. Green. The audio version was published by Defiance Audio and appears to have split the first book in the series into five “episodes.” Deathstalker is space opera set in the distant future. There’s very little tech but quite a bit of action and imperial intrigue. Occasionally the story gets a bit too gory and machiavellian for me but overall I’ve enjoyed listening to it immensely.

Two years after Jaeger acquired an iPod, I have finally broken down and also gotten one. However, mine is a new 2 GB Nano. I really don’t listen to music very much. However, my library will soon be providing downloadable audio books to patrons and I thought it would be interesting to try the downloadable audio book experience (I currently check out CD audio books for my drive to and from work but am starting to run out of interesting books to try).

I wasn’t convinced I should get an iPod. However, nothing else really caught my eye. All the other players I found looked like cheap knockoffs of the ipod. I’m not saying they are cheap knockoffs, they just looked that way. Before deciding for sure on an iPod, I did some research to make sure I’d be able to use it the way I wanted. Everything seemed to work out so Thursday Jaeger stopped by Best Buy and picked it up for me.

I didn’t actually have time to play around with it much until Friday night. As I started setting it up, one of the screens asked me for its name and I realized much to my shock that I hadn’t considered a name for it. I was pretty sure it was female (my last male electronic was replaced around 5 years ago). Jaeger offered to help by setting out our various DVDs hoping for inspiration. However, I felt we had too many TV/Movie characters floating around at the moment. So, I wandered over to our bookshelf of favorite books and started browsing. I got to The Belgariad and realized my iPod’s name was Ce’Nedra (Wikipedia’s article seems to ignore her more adorable aspects).

So, now I’m the proud owner of an ipod named Ce’Nedra. Now I just have to figure out how to pronounce that name . . .