Two Book Tuesday

A book that I am reading... "The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide To A Long and Happy Life" by Noble Smith.

I've just finished chapter one, "How Snug Is Your Hobbit-hole?" and the main idea that came out of this chapter is the sense of home that a person can have, not necessarily in a place, but in an idea or memory of that perfect, safe environment that they consider home.

A book that I want to read in the future... "The Captain's Table: Fire Ship" by Diane Carey.

This is one of my all-time favorite science-fiction novels. Interestingly, it is published fanfiction (more on this at a later date) about the television show Star Trek: Voyager.  It is my favorite out of all the different Star Trek series and movies.

Originally, I read this book as a young teenager of perhaps twelve or thirteen years of age and it remains to this day the only title that I have ever had to skip to the end just so that I could be reassured of a happy ending. Fire Ship follows Captain Kathryn Janeway as she recovers from severe injuries and learns to cope with the knowledge that her ship, and friends, have been destroyed.  That she failed to bring the home, as she'd so-often promised to do.  Alone in the Delta Quadrant, aboard an alien ship, and with no other options available to her, Janeway does what she does best... She survives, takes life by the horns and comes out the other side of things the victor.

I remember crying, smiling, and feeling absolutely heartsick while reading this book and I cannot wait to start it again.  It's not often that a book has such an impact on me that I remember it even years later.

So, two books that I'm thinking about this Tuesday.  What are you reading?

Specter vs. Spectre

I was cleaning out my inbox and found an email from Dictionary.com from way back in 2014!  Yeah, I know I should clean my inbox out more often, lol.  Anyways the word of the day for November 30 was specter, of which the British spelling is spectre...

Now, some of you may be aware of this but I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect recently and the first thing I thought of when I saw the word of the day was the video game that I'd (by November 2014) devoted more than 100 hours of my life to.

In the Mass Effect trilogy you play a Commander in the human Alliance Navy.  Commander Shepard is a Spectre, one of the elite agents that answer only to the Citadel Council and basically have free-rein to get their assignments done in whatever way they feel is the best way.  This means that you can either play as a Paragon Shepard and unite the galaxy by building alliances or you can choose to be Renegade Shepard and, basically, rule through fear and bullying.  Either method will bring you to the climactic end of the Mass Effect trilogy and no matter which you choose, you may have lost some friends along the way.  I'm on my third play-through of this trilogy and I've played mostly as Paragon because many of the Renegade choices are actually quite distasteful to me.

Have you played the Mass Effect trilogy?  What did you think about it?

The other Spectre that came to mind is the recently announced addition to the Bond movie franchise.  Starring Daniel Craig as Bond, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny (yay!), Ben Whishaw as the Quartermaster, and Ralph Fiennes as M (you will be missed, Judi Dench).  Based on the highly popular book series by Ian Fleming, this latest movie has me excited before I've even seen the first trailer or stills!  I've enjoyed the Craig-Bond movies and I can't wait to see what happens in the next one... I may have to go back and watch all the movies that came before, just to be prepared.  Also because I haven't seen the Sean Connery movies in quite a while and... well, Sean Connery!

Are you excited about the new Bond movie?

For more information on the movie Spectre, click HERE and, if you're interested in the Mass Effect trilogy, click HERE to see the wiki page.

Unshelved or Brianna?

A number of years ago my sister, Brianna, had an encounter with a patron at the Circulation Desk.  She had informed the patron that he owed a small fine and asked if he wanted to pay it that day.  The patron responded with a question, "So, how can we make this go away?"

To this day, I laugh at my sister's response. She told the patron, as only she could, that if he paid the fine then it would go away.

And do you know what?  He was shocked enough by her response that he paid the fine that very day.

For family and friends, what are your favorite "Brianna-related" memories?

This Unshelved comic strip reminded me of that and I thought I'd share.  Click the comic to see more of the fun library-times that is the Unshelved comic series.

Best Of Overload

At the end of the year, we are bombarded by the "best of that year" and "books you must read next year" lists from every source imaginable.  Amazon, Goodreads, The New York Times, and many other websites, blogs, and newspapers release their own (sometimes very different) lists which can make it hard for a reader to decide just which titles really were the best.

One of my favorite things to come out of last years avalanche of lists is the one from Wired.com.  They did a unique thing by utilizing the data already posted and available to the public; taking a slightly different route in creating their "best books of 2014" list and pooling all of the lists together and rating titles by giving points for a title appearing on Top 100 and Top 10 lists AND how often those titles showed up on lists.

Although many of the titles are not surprising, the results are somewhat interesting and cover a number of genres of both fiction and non-fiction titles.  I was surprised to see Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty was so far down the list, as it has been highly popular in my library and on the "best of" lists I'd already happened upon.

If you think you can handle just one more list of book suggestions, click HERE to read Wired.com's article.  Who knows, perhaps you'll find your next favorite read?