Tuesday Thinger...Let's Check Out Groups and a Bandit.

Yes, I know. Again it is Wednesday and I am just posting my Tuesday Thinger. I plead work (with lack of blogging ability there) and tiredness. So, without further ado, let's check for this weeks question from Wendi at Wendi's Book Corner.

This week, I'd like to take a quick peek into the Groups section. For anyone who hasn't visited the groups section, it is a place that is very much like a normal forum, or a place you can post comments and reply to what others have posted. Some groups are topic oriented, and others are more relaxed...The great thing about these groups?? If you want to talk about a book or author, there is probably a group or thread available for you to read, join, or comment in. There are even some great Book Challenges (75 Books Challenge for 2009)!! You can read about a group and then read the "threads" (topics/conversations), join the group, watch the group, or recommend it to a friend.

Questions: Have you recently browsed any of the groups? Are you actively participating in any groups? Do you have any favorites?

I do belong to a number of groups there and check them out and post from time to time. Let me see....ARC Junkies, Bloggers, Catholic Tradition, Easton Press Collectors, Outside, Philadelphians, Tea!, The Green Dragon, TuesdayThingers ...those are the ones I belong to at the moment according to my profile. It changes from time to time as some groups seem to go idle and others seem to pick up and get a lot of good postings.

The first two ARC Junkies and Bloggers I was much more interested in back when I first started blogging and became aware of the whole issue of Advanced Review Copies being available to be requested from various sources. I found it a great place to ask questions and get information from people that always seem happy to help. Great source for a new blogger.

Tea...well, I love tea and some new tea info is always good. Catholic Tradition...well, I am Catholic and at times there are interesting discussions there and some good info about books related to Catholic subjects. But as seems to happen with many of the smaller groups, there is a certain ebb and flow and this one has been pretty quiet for awhile. Easton Press...they are beautiful books that I had admire for years from the catalog I somehow got on the mailing list for, but they are rather expensive. It was from this LT group that I found out they are often available on eBay. As I have said before, Library Thing is a purchase that just keeps paying off and paying off.

Outside is an interesting group. The name, I believe, comes from a 'discussion' in the Green Dragon group. A thread on there had gotten rather argumentative and maybe a bit hostile, so they were asked to take the discussion "outside". So now this Outside group is for subjects where the talk might get a bit more worked up and is allowed to be a little more combative than most groups do. I read it, but rarely if ever post there. They scare me a bit. Pro and Con is a similar group that I read, but never joined...because I am a bit scared to post there either...lol

The group that I check out the most often and actually post at on occasion is The Green Dragon. Their own description on themselves included this..."Ale & lively funny lusty chat. Join LibraryThing's best pub! This group is known as one of the busiest on LibraryThing - come enjoy our banter!" They are usually in the top two or three most posted to groups, having almost 1500 in the last 7 days. There are also a huge variety of threads there, some silly, some more serious, rather like 'real' discussions in a 'real' pub, always with an attempt to keep it friendly and not get out of hand. Which is always, in my experience, a problem in many online groups.

I like the groups on Library Thing, even though I don't have the time to read and post there as much as I did once. Several of the 'standing groups' are good places to find out about new features on LT or to report a problem or bug and to ask a question. Also, as Wendi says, it is a great source of information about a book or author that you might be interested in or have a question about. There are hundreds of groups there and you can most likely find one, no matter what you are interested in.

Well, let's see what wee Bandit is up to this week, shall we?


Oh, poor sleepy Bandit! Tired, no doubt from his one day at work. You just take a little nap there, my little sweet Bandit Boy.

Take One..Lights, Camera....ACTION! On Musing Monday ..

Another work week begins..the good new is, it's time for another Musing Monday...from Just One More Page,

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about movies …

How do you react to movies made of your favourite books (or even not-so-favourite books)? Do you look forward to seeing them, or avoid them? Do you like to have read the book before seeing the movie?

I can't say that I anxiously await the film version of a favorite book. No, I don't. Quite often, if I liked the book, I will not bother to see the movie. Let's be honest. The movie can rarely be as good as the book. At best, it can only capture a small part of the plot of the book, just because of the time factor. And very often, the cast does not fit my mental picture of the characters.

And then there is the whole issue of changes. They take a book, and buy the movie rights because, supposedly they like it. But once they start writing a screenplay and doing the casting and and filming it, often...not always but often...they make drastic changes. Sometimes so drastic that you wonder why they bought the movie rights to the book to start with rather than just start from scratch. To attract people that loved the book? I am not sure that is true because there just are not that many book lovers out there in most cases. So, really, I am not sure what there thinking is there.

On the other hand, if you see a movie based on a book and have not read the book yet but read it after seeing the movie, that, I think, can be a good experience. If you like the movie, in the vast number of cases, the book will be a deeper, more comprehensive, richer experience. But also an experience that can be enhanced by some of the visual images from the movie. Maybe I don't have a great imagination, but I often find it helpful.

As an aside, I HATE when they reissue the book when the movie comes out and do one of those tie-in book covers, with pictures of the stars all over it. I just think it is so cheesy. But I guess if it works and sells books, and if it takes that to get people to read, well, that is a very good thing. And if it didn't work, they wouldn't keep doing it.

What Pet Are You?

You Are Like a Dog

You are a natural best friend. You are very loyal and faithful. In your eyes, your friends can do no wrong. You will stick with them no matter what. You have a protective streak, and you can be downright nasty if you're being threatened. More than anything else, you are playful and laid back. You truly live in the moment.

What Pet Are You Like?

I have always considered myself a 'dog' person. And if I was a dog, I would want a hat like that one, for sure!

Thanks for this one to Kathy at Kittling: Books.

The Kindle = The Apocalypse ...Really!

Oh, what is a week without a little anti-Kindle rant? But rants, even mine, can be a little tiresome, so how about another amusing little anti-Kindle video, this one starring author Daniel Handler(Lemony Snicket) in the latest episode of The Kindle vs. The Book from the folks at Green Apple Books with special guest star, The Apocalypse!



"Read BOOKS! Read BOOKS, OR YOU COULD BE NEXT!!"

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY To My Big Brother!


He is the one on the right...wee caite on the left, a number of years ago, in a far off place (Northern NJ), when we were a bit younger. Now he is very, very old....lol

...my, what snappy dressers. we wore those suits every day. which explains a lot. :-)

a review of "The Girl Who Played With Fire"

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Alfred A.Knopf, ISBN 978-0-307-26998-0)

Last week, I reviewed the first book in The Millennium series trio, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and this week we will have a look at the second by the late Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

The book opens with the fascinating Lisbeth Salander, who came by a vast amount of money in an interesting way at the end of the first book, on a bit of a world tour. It seems that as interesting as this rather odd, anti-social, computer wizard young woman was in the first book, we had yet to learn about a number of her talents. We also have a great deal more to learn about her life, past and present, and this and how it all ultimately ties into the murder mystery is really the focus of the book.

Lisbeth returns, in a very stealth way, to Sweden and gets caught up in the latest investigative reporting work of her old friend Blomkvist by hacking into his computer and reading his files. His magazine is going to publish an article about the illegal sex trade in Sweden, an article that will find a number of the most powerful and influential men in Sweden, in business, the government and even in the police, with, if you will forgive the pun, their pants down. When three people, tied in various ways to the sex trade story, are found dead and there is forensic evidence to connect Salander to the crimes, we will be following both Blomkvist and Salander, connected only by some computer messages, as they try to prove her innocence. Meanwhile Salander is also trying to solve some mysteries from her own childhood that have haunted her and now may come back to threaten her in the present.

As a thriller, as a mystery story, I am sorry to say this book is not without some serious weaknesses. For example, there are just two many coincidences, always a cheap shortcut in a suspense novel in my opinion. There are just too many little plot lines that never go anywhere and are just left hanging. And there are a few too many one dimensional characters, including one villain, a huge hulking figure with almost superhuman strength, who feels no pain and almost borders on a cartoon character.
Larsson also has a habit, that becomes rather annoying, of listing minute details about the characters lives. I found I really did not need to hear, yet again, about the brand of frozen pizza Salander was buying at the 7-11 or her exact shopping list, with all the model names, from Ikea when she furnished her apartment...even as much as I like Ikea.

But, even with those weakness, The Girl Who Played With Fire is a pretty good read and those that loved the first book will have to pick this one up too. While I though the plot in the first book was tighter, and even in it's most over the top moments, more believable, in one way this book has an advantage. That advantage quite simply is the very good character of Lisbeth Salander, a character strong enought to carry this book through it's weaker moments. Oh yes, many of the other good characters from the first book are back. Blomkvist, his on again, off again, married girlfriend/business partner Erika Berger, Salander's first boss, security company owner Dragan Armansky, her first official Guardian Palmgren, are all back in this second installment...along with a number of other good characters, with their still difficult to remember Swedish names. But the interplay between Blomkvist and Salander, that was such a large part of the first book, is almost nonexistent this time around. No, this time, without question, the center of interest, the driving force, is the character of Salander, and happily, she is without question able to carry the readers interest in this book.

Bottom line, if you read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo...and you must read that one first...and loved it, this is a must read. I can't say that I enjoyed it as much, but I did enjoy it and am anxiously awaiting, next year I believe, the third and final volume in this story.

Thanks to the folks at Read Street and their Freebie Friday for the chance to win this one!

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Scene of The Blog!! Mine!

Oh, I am very excited.

I am sure that many of you follow the great weekly feature called Scene of the Blog over at one of my favorite sites, Kittling: Books. Well, just guess who is featured this week. Me! Yes, it is time for you all to see my my humble blogging space...and in retrospect, I wish I had done some redecorating first. Or taken better pictures. Or said something clever.

But I didn't, so it is as it is!

So, I hope you will all wander over there to Cathy's and check it out. Any questions, any rude comments or any adoring posts, I will acknowledge them all.

Adoring posts will be acknowledged first.

How Much Does Integrity Cost Anyhoo?

An interesting article today on CNN.com about the ongoing question of ethics in blogging. In particular, they are discussing the issue as it relates to the so-called "mommy bloggers".

"Readers have complained they can no longer trust their favorite blogger's advice. Veteran women bloggers grumble that newcomers sully the genre's reputation by demanding free products and trips. Newsweek.com published an article last month headlined, "Trusted Mom or Sellout?"

No doubt, if you read the blog of other book bloggers you have seen this question discussed recently, including the question of this Blog With Integrity site.

Folks, books are one thing....but TRIPS! Ok, I might sell out for a trip, a really nice trip...lol

Speaking of selling out, those who read here regularly may remember my post last Tuesday about the Amazon Vine program. I was not very positive about the Vine Program and not very positive about the Evil Amazon as a whole. I am still not. But here is the truly ironic part. Yesterday, I signed on to my home page at The Evil One, and there is an invitation for Caite to become a member of the Vine program.

What to do, what to do? So in the interest of full disclosure, let me report that, after careful consideration and in the interest of HUGE curiosity, I signed up. It's like being allowed into the Secret Clubhouse. You have to at least take a look in the door when they hold it open, don't you think? I figure I can always quit....or get tossed out which is something that it appears has happened to some people. Not sure yet what you have to do for that to happen...
But now I know the secret password, was shown the secret handshake and accessed the special member only Vine Forum.

One of those actually exists.

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Now Fast Can You Read This?

Ok, I admit it.
I am not the faster reader in the world. Not that I was ever really aware of it, until I started blogging and realized that getting through my TBR pile was becoming an issue.
But there are people out there that have ideas about how you can read faster, including this guy in the video. I warn you that the video is preceded with a very short Pampers commercial. But the baby is very cute....

More DIY videos at 5min.com

It was not until recently that I realized that vocalization was an issue..or that I appear to do it. But I do, and no doubt it slows me down.

But here is the real question. Is it better to read faster? Yes, in that I would be able to read more books, but beyond that is there a plus to these sort of techniques? And on the negative side, do you loose something if you read this way? As some in the people in the comments say, does it take some of the joy out of reading? To quote the comment of someone named Wetzel, "The rhythm of the language is a large part of the aesthetic quality of good writing, for great literature especially."
I am not sure about this whole thing really and would love to hear your input on the question, especially if you are a very fast reader. Most especially if you have every taken a speed reading course.
Forgive me, but it may take me awhile to read your comments...lol

one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four...

edited to add.. I was curious just how fast I can read, so I searched out a couple of on-line tests. Here are a couple of links if you want to check them out too. How Many Words Per Minute, Speed Reading Test
(thanks to Boing Boing for the link)

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HELP!! It Tuesday Thinger!!

Oh, we all need a bit of help from time to time, and Library Thingers are no different as Wendi, at Wendi's Book Corner, discusses in this week's Tuesday Thinger.

Many of you will probably already know this, but there is now a Help button on all the Library Thing pages! The LibraryThing Blog created a post on the new feature called HelpThing: Member-driven Help. This week's post is more of a challenge - I challenge you to go to a page and click the help button to see what comes up!

Questions: Did you use the Help button? Did you get some good information on the page you were on? Did you use the edit feature to add/edit any of the information on the page?

Yes, I was already aware of the Help Button, having read about it some time this week on the LT blog and checked it out.
Of course, because I love Library Thing and all things LT, I think it is wonderful!

Ok, really, I do think it is a very good thing. I will admit, when I first joined Library Thing, I found the site a wee bit confusing. It took awhile to find my way around, to figure out all the features available. But the good thing, as I have mentioned before, is that the people that run LT take suggestions for improvements seriously and, as with all things LT, they are discussed thoroughly in groups there, before, during and after the feature is introduced. Groups like Recommend Site Improvements and Common Knowledge, WikiThing, HelpThing allow every Library Thinger to be a part of the process. And perhaps he most interesting thing is that lots of them want to be. Take the HelpThing...as our leader, majority owner, man in charge Tim said on The LibraryThing Blog...

"HelpThing started as a "stealth project" by LibraryThing programmer Chris (ConceptDawg). It took a while before I was convinced of the idea.

While I was ignoring the idea, however, members were busy realizing it, official sanction or no. Most of the content was written by LibraryThing member fyrefly98, with contributions from mvrdrk. A somewhat separate—but integrateable—guide to collections was produced by PortiaLong and Lquilter. These members, and the others who helped them, are simply awesome...."

It is it's members involvement and interest, and TPTB encouragement of that interest that makes Library Thing a great site.

Now, I have not make any additions to the Wiki Page yet, assuming like Wendi mentions, that there are people out there more qualified and more knowledgeable than I to do that. But if I ever think of anything....

...and speaking of great, you just know it is time for our weekly Bandit picture. Bandit and his mom, my niece, have been home for the summer from the Sunshine State where they (OK, just she) attends college. The niece has been working this summer as an intern, in fact for the same utility company I work for, but in a different office. Seemingly a more fun office, because it is one where wee Bandit was able to pay a wee visit in his little puppy dog carrier. I like to call this picture...

Bandit(Jack) In The Box!!



...and be sure to check out wee Bandit's Very Own Blog, the world from down here!

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A Hot and Humid Monday Musing

A hot and humid Monday here at the Jersey Shore, so sit back, get a cool beverage and lets check out the Musing Mondays question from Just One More Page

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about publishing houses …

Do you have a favourite publishing house -- one that puts out books that you constantly find yourself wanting to read? If so, who? And, what books have they published that you've loved? (question courtesy of MizB)

To be quite honest, I have never paid the slightest bit of attention to publishers. Except for e-mailing them, asking for an avaiable ARc or stuff like that. I get the newsletters of few and I follow a few on Twitter to see if anything interesing is being mentioned out there in BookLand. Of course, with my relationship with Twitter, to say that I actually follow might be an exaggeration....

So let me see if there is any relationship between the books I like and who published them. And do do that, I will again call on my beloved Library Thing. I went to my "Your Books" page, sort by ratings so the books I have rated highest are there first and then scrolled down to see if there was a pattern. Well, two of the most recent ones I rated 5 stars on LT, The Help and The School of Essential Ingredients, are both published by Putnam Adult (oh, my, that makes them sound rather naughty ;-O ). But then it is a real mix....until I noticed a bit further down, in my earlier entered 5 star and 4 1/2 star books, a great many books have been published by Bantam.
It is because they seem to be the publisher of some of my favorite authors, authors who books I regularly read and like...Dean Koontz, Cody McFadyen, Lisa Gardner, Laurie R. King, all published by Bantam. But then, Bantam is owned by Random House, so if you add in other Random imprints, the number would go up even higher no doubt. Three Rivers, Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf Doubleday, Dial Press...wait, is there really only one huge publishing house?

So, my answer would have to be no. It is not about the publisher, it is about the author. If my favorite author changes publisher, of course I will be right there with them.

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National Lighthouse Day!

Today, August 7th, is a very special day! It is National Lighthouse Day!

In 1789, the United States Congress approved the Federal Lighthouse Act for the “establishment and support of Lighthouse, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers” and in honor of the 200th anniversary of the act, in 1989, Congress designated August 7th to be forever celebrated as National Lighthouse Day.

From the website of one of my favorite local lights, the lovely Cape May Lighthouse, regarding this holiday...

"The purpose was to provide recognition for the important role which lighthouses played in the history of our country, and the values of safety, heroism, and American ingenuity which they represent...
The history they provide gives us the opportunity to step back in time and learn more about our country. The contributions they made to our society, from protecting our coasts to guiding our sailors, should continue to be appreciated and remembered."

click on picture for a bigger view

A Review of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 978-0-307-26975-1)

Our story opens with one of the two main characters of the book, the Swedish investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, enmeshed in perhaps the low point of his professional career. After writing what was to be an expose of the financier Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, Blomkvist instead finds himself in court, convicted of libel. The conviction may mean the collapse of the magazine Millennium of which he is a co-owner, the fines will take every kronor of his savings and may force him to sell the apartment that he loves and will also send him to jail for several months. But into his nightmare steps an unlikely savior.

He receives a request to meet with the elderly, rather reclusive and very wealthy industrialist Henrik Vanger. Vanger offers him a job. The official story will be that Blomkvist is spending the coming year on the small island where Vanger lives, writing the history of Vanger's family and the once very large and very powerful family owned business that they run. In reality, Vanger want him to investigate a 40 year old mystery, the disappearance of his then 16 year old grand niece Harriet. It is a sort of locked room mystery, since the girl disappeared from the island when the only way in or out, a bridge, was blocked by an accident and most of the suspects, those on the island that day, were members of the Vanger family. That most of the suspects are his relatives does not surprise Vanger, because he has a very low opinion of most of them, both past and present. As we will see in the course of the book, he is totally justified in that feeling. He tell Blomkvist "...I want you to take me at my word when I say I detest most of the members of my family. They are for the most part thieves, misers, bullies and incompetents." As we will find out, that opinion is very valid and he doesn't even know the half of it.

Blomkvist is not really interested in what he thinks is a hopeless investigation of the girls disappearance but two things sway him. First is the very large sum of money Vanger is offering for the job, whether he succeeds or not in finding out what happened to Harriet. But most of all, it is because Vanger promises at the end of the year, to give him information that will enable him to prove Wennerstrom is really a thief as his expose said and that will allow Blomkvist to get back his credibility as a journalist.

As he starts the investigation into the history of the family and specifically the disappearance of Harriet, going through vast amounts of material, he realizes that he is going to need some assistance. Vanger's lawyer suggests they hire someone from the agency that he had check into Blomkvist himself before they hired him, and specifically a young woman who works for that security firm, she of the Dragon Tattoo. And so we meet the second main character of the book, the very interesting Lisbeth Salander. Her short, almost anorexic built that often has her mistaken for a teenager, her multiple piercings and tattoos and her almost total lack of any social skills makes the 24 year old woman seem an unlikely choice. She is prone to violence, has a history of abuse and was declared a ward of the state as a child and still has a state appointed guardian that handle all her financial affairs. But things are not quite as they seem, as we will find out in the course of the book, and Salander has a variety of skills that make her an extraordinary investigator and not someone who you want to get on the wrong side of. As her present guardian finds out when uses his position to take advantage of her and is treated to a punishment he will not ever forget. In some ways she brings to mind someone who could be the imaginary love child of Lara Croft and the Rainman.
I think without question the strongest part of the book is the Salander character as she is slowly revealed to us and as she assist Blomkvist in solving what turns out to be several truly horrible mysteries. Mysteries that have taken place over a period of decades and will only be resolved in the present.

This is a very good book that I very much enjoyed and would certainly recommend. But that being said, it is not a perfect book. For one thing it gets off to a very slow and rather confusing start that might have had me closing the book if I had not heard so many good things about it. I say this to urge you to persevere and I can assure you that after the first 40 pages or so, things will take off. Just about the time Salander shows up...

The book also takes a fairly significant number of pages at the end to wrap up a number of story lines. Necessary perhaps but a bit of a let down after the huge climax of the story has taken place. Also, there are a great many characters in the book, both in the present and in the past, and of course the fact that they all have Swedish names that are unfamiliar to my linguistically challenged American ears doesn't help. Nor do I want to admit how many time I had to go online to convert the often mentioned sums of kronors to a currency whose value I could have some sense of.

Not totally insignificant points as you are reading, but ones that ultimately will recede as you get caught up in this compelling and very interesting first book in the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium series.

Tuesday Thinger, With Barely a Mention of Library Thing

Our Tuesday Thinger, this week, from Wendi at Wendi's Book Corner...

"Another off-topic (to Library Thing) week for us this week. I've recently become aware of a new program through Amazon (played with it over the past month or so) called the Amazon Vine. It is "Amazon Vine™. The Exclusive Club of Influential Amazon Voices." Questions: Have you had an opportunity to check out the new Amazon Vine program? Have you signed up? Is this program something that interests you? How do you feel about the reviews posted on Amazon in general (not counting the ones that have made the news)?"

Well, if by check out, you mean have I seen the reviews with the bright green "Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program" logo plaster across the top or reviews, yes, I have seen those because it is impossible to miss them. Especially since Amazon appears to put those reviews first in the listings. I don't know if that is something new, posting them first, but it is only recently that I have noticed it. And I am not thrilled with it really.

Have I checked it out as in have I been invited to join? No, I have not. Does it interest me? Hmmm....I am not sure that it does. First of all...and I really don't think it is a case of Sour Grapes because I have not been invited to join {{sob}}... but I am not sure that I like the self-described exclusive nature of it. A bit too much of the popular kids in high school in my mind maybe. Amazon itself describe the program this way, with my added italics..." a program that enables a select group of Amazon customers to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make educated purchase decisions. Customers are invited to become Amazon Vine™ Voices based on the trust they have earned in the Amazon community for writing accurate and insightful reviews." Ok..select group, selected by TPTB (the powers that be) based on what?...well, based on the "trust they have earned" for accurate and insightful reviews....again determined by TPTB at the EVIL AMAZON Amazon.
That is real nice of them, but honestly, I would just as soon make the determination of which reviews I trust on my own.

But it also raises my general issues with the reviews at Amazon as a whole. To say the least, they are a very mixed bunch, ranging from the very good to the very bizarre. I find it useful when there are a large number of reviews to look to just get a general sense of the books ratings. But that has it's weakness. Take, as an example I like to beat like a dead horse (please, no PETA protest, it is just a saying ;-} ) The da Vinci Code. A very poorly, almost painfully badly written, very poorly researched book in my opinion, gets 3 1/2 stars and almost 4000 reviews. On the other hand, when there are just a few reviews, they are pretty useless. I have seen books with a handful of reviews, all raves, that sound like they were written by the author's friends, family and the people they owe large sums of money to. I have read a fair number of reviews that seem to be written by people that did not read the book, or read a totally different book which happen to have the same title.

Amazon book reviews share the same problem that is common to all online reviews. Yes, as much as I love Library Thing, and as I may have mentioned before, I do love LT, it is even true of the reviews there, although I think to a lesser degree. Anyone can write a review, they can even be anonymous. We have no way of knowing if they are honest, or what their motivation is to give a positive or negative review. There is no way of even being reasonably sure that they have read the book. In a way, I assume the Vine program is an attempt by Amazon to bypass some of those problems by pre-selecting people they feel can be "trusted". With some of the examples of controversies that have recently surrounded some Amazon reviews and reviewers, they may be looking for some way build more confidence in their reviews. But I think I may have mentioned before my concern about the POWER that the Mighty, Huge Amazon has over the entire book industry and this just strike me as another attempt to exert that control. I would prefer, perhaps, if Amazon would just leave that judgment up to each of us. All online reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt and the reader has to use some prudence. I'm not sure I want my hand held during the process.

Except with my reviews, of course, every word of which can be totally trusted. ;-)

As can that ever darling Bandit...oh Bandit, where are you, where is my cute little Bandit...oh, there you are...



oh Bandie, you are such a pleasure hound...

A Very Weak Musing Monday Answer...Weak I Tell Ya.

Let's check out this week's question from Rebecca at Just One more Page

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is a library habits meme…courtesy of MizB: {{{Oh no, the library again... :-O }}}

1) If you don't frequent your local library, why not? Frequent is not the word I would use, since I infrequently frequent my local library. Why not? Well, because I don't really need any more books at the moment. Or for the next few years, I think. I seem to have acquired books faster than I read them and have a wee backlog.

2) If you do visit the library, how often do you go? I think we covered that...infrequently. To be totally honest, it has maybe been twice this last year.
Libraries are wonderful places...how could they not be, since they are full of books and they let you take them home and read them! So I am rather ashamed to say it. ;-)

3) Do you have a favorite section that you always head to first, or do you just randomly peruse the shelves? Well, on the times I do visit, I go to one of two places. Mysteries or new releases. Ideally, I want a book that is both, a new mystery! Woo Hoo!

4) How many books are you allowed to check out at one time? Do you take advantage of this? You know, I have no idea. So, I checked out the web site and they say "BOOKS - unlimited number (maximum of three on one topic)..."
5) How long are you allowed to have the books checked out?"...for three week loan."
6) How many times are you allowed to renew your check-outs, if at all? "may be renewed as long as they are not on request for another person. You may renew by phone. You may renew items, up to four times, on your own from a PAC terminal in the library or from your own computer using the Library Catalog." Who knew? this seems very generous!

7) What do you love best about your particular library? Well, it is pretty close and...it's close. And it is full of books...My branch, the one nearest, is quite small and not terrible exciting. So love seems a bit strong.
8) What is one thing you wish your library did differently? Again, because I am rarely there, I am not familiar enough with how they do things to be unhappy with how they do things. As far as I know, they are doing everything just right!

9) Do you request your books via an online catalogue, or through the librarian at your branch? I am an online shopper, so of course I have used the online catalog. I mean, if I ask the librarian, well, first I would have to get dressed and go TO the library and then she or he would most likely go on their computer and access the same program. And, as I mentioned, there is the whole getting dressed part!

10) Have you ever chosen a book on impulse (from the online catalogue OR the shelves) and had it turn out to be totally amazing? If so, what book was it, and why did you love it? Gosh, I wish I had a great answer to this one, but I don't really. I even considered making one up, but that seemed...well, dishonest.

Ok, as I said, I am rather ashamed to admit that I am not really a library user these days and my answer therefore is quite weak and uninteresting.
I could have made up a much better one..lol