October is my FAVORITE reading month.

I admit I'm a bit freaky. I need a reason to justify my reading paranormal books to an excessive degree. Yes, I read the darn things all the time but during the month of October, I go all out!

I've revisited Kelley Armstrong, discovered Carrie Vaughn and caught up with Patricia Briggs. Werewolves and Witches! Oh My!!

I still have two more weeks of delicious Paranormal reading to go! Yum!!

To Spoil or not to Spoil

Do you like to be spoiled as to the ending of a book?

I'm reading Scott Westerfeld's YA series 'Uglies' and I'm loving it! The problem is that I wish I could get to the end quicker. Since I'm reading it in Audiobook format I can't turn to the end of the book for a glimpse at how it will all turn out and I'm DYING here!

Yeah, I am spoiler fan. I have no problem reading the end of the book before I get to the middle. Mind you I don't do it often and I don't read the WHOLE ending but I can read the last few pages without it affecting my enjoyment of the book. I'm sure this is because I tend to select books with happy ever after endings.

Funny thing is that I will not do this for mysteries (like my Baldacci reads) which you would think are the books you would really want to spoil. For some reason I acknowledge that these books can have not-so-happy endings and I stay away. Not all character's survive in these books and I find that if I know someone will die I cannot read the book without changing the way I see that character.

But in general, I have no problems turning to the end of the book to get a glimpse of The End.

I feel the same way about movies. I have found myself renting a movie I completed disregarded because someone has spoiled it for me.

So in the end, I love to be spoiled. Sue me!

Where were you?

I wanted to leave a link from my post over at Textile House about my thoughts on today's 9/11 Anniversary.

Where were you?

God Bless.

Still alive...

Yeah, I'm still kicking but I've been keeping myself busy (check out what I've been up to HERE).

Work is rearing up for the busy season so I'll be even busier but I have been reading like a crazy woman too. Just not much time to blog my reviews.

I'm looking forward to many fall new releases (picking up Dan Brown's and Gabaldon's as soon as they hit the floor) but it's not just the books that have me anticipating fall reving up.

Gotta make time to watch Bones, Castle, Fringe, The Mentalist, Medium, NCIS and the most anticipated new series this season, GLEE.

I love this series! It premiered this week. We say it's like watching a musical every week! My daughter says that with the line up of Glee after So You Think You Can Dance, it's a night of song, dance and feel good music!

It's sad that it is doomed to get canceled. I jinx most of the series I fall in love with (i.e. Journey man, Eli Stone, Jericho, Tru Calling, Moonlighting, Pushing Daisies, etc) so I'm always careful about getting attached to any new series, but I was hooked on Glee since the sneak preview in May. The first episode did not disappoint. If you missed it check it out on Hulu.com

Since I'm already hooked all we can do is have a little faith. So I leave you with a glimpse of Eli.

Traveling without a book

Don't you hate traveling without a good book? I'm not talking about air travel (yes, that too would suck) but getting in your car for a long ass road trip without a book. Even when you have great company in the vehicle it comes a time that conversation lags and you wish you could just turn on your book and emerse yourself in the book.

Last weekend I took my daughter to Houston for a job interview and since my parents have been hanging around the house the last 4 weeks (they are visiting from Puerto Rico) I decided to invite them. I'm not sure if the trip was enjoyable for them and although I want them to feel like they are welcome to join me, I sometimes hestitate to invite them because I feel they will not enjoy themselves. This was the case in this instance.

The interview was over in about 10 minutes (she was called in for a second longer interview later this week - way to go Dre!!) but the trip was about 4.5 hours. We then spent the rest of the day scoping out apartments in case she actually gets the job. The purpose of the trip was just that. If we had some time we would have tried to do some touristy things but unfortunately we didn't. So the parents spent the two days in a car and going from one apartment to another (we saw about 7-8) not so entertaining.

Those 4 1/2 hours of traveling were a bit on the boring side since they would not have appreciated listening to my audiobooks and I would have felt so rude turning on the iPod to continue listening to Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord.

So I survived the trip but it made me realize how much I HATE traveling without a good book.

How about you? Do you have some essential you cannot fathom traveling without?

Going on a Jet Plane....

Hi all! Yes I have been missing in action for a while but I have kept up with my reading, I just have not had much time to post my reviews. I'm hoping things will calm down soon but you never know.. I'm not complaining! I am happy that I'm being kept busy at work because there are too many people out there without jobs. I'm blessed to have what I have!

Today I'm leaving for Rochester, NY where my baby girl is graduating from college!
I'm bursting with pride and had to post to share.

My daughter graduates with honors from RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) with a Marketing major and a minor in Japanese. As parents we always want for our children what we lacked and to see her graduate on such a strong foot fills me with happiness. She deserves everything she is awarded because she worked hard for it.

Big congrats to Dre!!

The Next Great Read....

I have been thinking about this for the last couple of days and finally thought I'd put it out there. I have been having a another great month in February with only half the month gone by and 11 books under my belt. The amazing thing is that many of the books have been actually wonderful reads. I think I have 5 books with A's and just a few in the C's. So it's not like I'm not enjoying what I read and yet I feel I'm missing something.

I feel I'm looking for that next great read.

Have you ever felt that way? You are enjoying what you are reading but you know that it will not be a story to haunt you for years to come. It is not an automatic classic in your eyes.

The last book I read that will stick with me for a VERY long time was "The Host by Stephenie Meyer". Yeah, she has become almost a cliche for her Twilight series (You either love her series or you hate it - and I loved that series) but her venture into adult fiction was what solidified her for me. She just did it for me. Her Wanderer, searching for her own place among the friends and family of her host, her loyalty to Mel and her selflessness will be with me for a long time.

I recently read Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr and although the book gardnered an A it did not impact me the way I wanted it to. Yes, it's a must read. Yes, the characters left me wide open for more. Yes, I already have Ink Exchange (the sequel) on my iPod for reading but I feel myself still searching for that next great book.

I honestly think I'm addicted to the rush I get when I'm in the middle of a book and discover that this one is it! This is the great read. This is the one I can talk about until I'm blue in the face and still be excited over it. The one I have to curb the urge to buy three or four copies and send them out into the world so that everyone can read it.

So.. With that said... Have you found your next great book? If you have, can you share it with me? I think if I don't get a fix soon I'm going to go into withdrawal.

Go. Vote!!

So I was reading my subscriptions in my Google Reader and Karen Knows Best had posted about voting. It really hit home and I went out and voted. No it’s not Nov 4th but in 31 states there is early voting and Texas is one of them. You can vote early and miss the long lines on Tuesday but you have until Oct 31st to get ahead of the crowds if not you NEED to get out and Vote on Tuesday (Yes, it's almost here - This coming Tuesday!!).

This is one of the most important elections in my lifetime. The Economy, The War, HealthCare, Gay Rights, Gun Control… Too much is on the line for you to leave that decision in others hand.

Did you know that 537 people decided the 2000 elections? Did you stay home that year and let others decide your countries fate? Do you realize that there are more than 537 people at the supermarket at any given time on a Sunday. That's how close it was.

Check out the Video and… Go. Vote!!!!

Tagged!

So Marg tagged me to post Seven Random Things About Myself and since I learn from others I will not procrastinate in posting because, based on what Marg says these things have the potential to grow!

Random thing about myself…

1) I've lost 40 pounds this year!! Yeah Me! Last year I had said I wanted to be a size 12 by Xmas and my sister thought that joining a Gym would accomplish this. Instead of being a smaller size at the end of the year I had gained! I was almost a size 18 (I was squeezing into my size 16s, and buying stretch jeans so I wouldn't have to go another size up. I told my sister that she could do whatever she wanted but this year I was joining Weight Watchers. She reluctantly agreed to join me that first week and the rest is history. She has lost 60 pounds and I am wearing a size 10 (with 9 weeks left until Xmas).

2) I feel a bit inept in my new job. I started a new role at work in September and after 8 weeks I still feel like I have no clue what I’m doing. I get the work done, I sound competent when I'm talking but the insecurity is just under the surface. The position was a promotion and I guess I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, like "What were they thinking in giving me this responsibility"

3) I'm going paperless. Yeah, I've put most of my paperbacks up for trade in Paperback swap and I'm working to replace them in eBooks. This definitely reduces the space issue I have had trying to store over 300 paperbacks in a closet with my clothing. I will say that I'm loving it. I put more books than I can read in a month on my Sony 505 eReader and I don't have to worry about ever running out of books to read when I'm about to finish a title. If you haven't thought about getting an eReader, think about.

4) I back date my blog posts. If you haven’t noticed the dates on my posts, pay attention next time. I have a problem having the same date on several posts (yeah, I’m anal) so I spread out the posts across several dates. Sometimes it takes forever to post my reviews but then I’ll go crazy (like this weekend) and do some major catch up so I back post them to better coincide with the date I read the books.

5) I like watching Korean soap operas. I started watching Anime with my daughter when she was in high school. I realized there was more to Anime than Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon. There was Anime targeted for adult audiences (not in the porn variety but in the mature variety – although if your into it you can find X rated anime). I got my hands on a Japanese soap opera (usually an 11 episode series) and realized that I liked it. They were like watching a season of some TV show but instead of the season lasting 22 episodes and returning after summer – these lasted 11 and there was not return. After watching a few Japanese shows I discovered that Koreans had a larger variety of shows and better quality of actors. So I watch them often and love them.

6) I do all my computer work in bed. I don’t have a desk in my room and that is where I have the most privacy, so I have a small lap desk where my laptop lives. As soon as I get home from work I jump into bed and start catching up. In the morning, I open my eyes and my computer is right there next to me. I have a desktop on a small table in my room (yeah I have 2 computers in my room) but I don’t use it much because it’s old and I don’t have a proper chair to sit in front of the machine. I use it just for printing. So, I do everything from my bed (and this is why I had gained so much weight).

7) I have another blog that I use for my crafty adventures. These are mostly related to my quilting (which I haven’t done in a VERY long time) but I thought I’d feel more motivated if I could talk about my hobby, so I set up a new blog (http://textilehouse.blogspot.com/). I’m currently working on two quilts, one is a hush hush project and the other is a quilt for my cousin. Feel free to drop by.

So there! I shared 7 things bout myself, some of you might already have known this but others might have just discovered a new side of me.

Who will I tag? I’m tagging three ladies that share my passion for reading at different levels:

Samantha.1020 (Sam’s Book Blog) ; Brenda (Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe) ; Dre (DEFENESTRATE... (and other musings) )