As you are probably coming to understand, I read all the time. All. The. Time. I am always reading something, be it in the form of a physical book, or more and more frequently lately, on my computer through the New York Public Library‘s ebooks division. I know that a lot of people prefer the heft and smell of physical books, or just can’t stare at a screen for long, but that doesn’t bother me. I’ve flirted with the idea of getting a kindle, but it just seems to be too expensive. Amazon recently dropped the price from $360 to $299, so that’s nice, but each book still runs an average of $10 each. If NYPL or BCCLS, the other library system that I belong to, would work out an arrangement with Kindle that would allow users to borrow and return books, then the initial outlay would be immediately justifiable for me and I’d snap up a Kindle without delay. This seems unlikely though, so I will stick with my free physical and digital library books.
Another thing that gives me pause is the “What ifs” associated with moving to an all-digital book format. This technology isn’t very old, and I think people and companies are still grappling with its possibilities and limitations. Kindle owners rave about how they can download their books wirelessly, but recently they learned the hard way that their beloved wireless transfer system works both ways. So a Kindle content provider maybe-sorta sold editions of 1984 and Animal Farm that it didn’t actually hold the rights for. And when Amazon was alerted to this by the companies that actually do own the rights to those books, they maybe-sorta just yanked them back off of people’s Kindles and issued refunds, without any sort of heads-up. Was that wrong? Should they not have done that? While bypassing the apology all together, Amazon did say that, in the future. books it is found to have sold in error will not be removed remotely from people’s Kindles. The person I felt worst for when reading this article was this kid:
Justin Gawronski, a 17-year-old from the Detroit area, was reading “1984” on his Kindle for a summer assignment and lost all his notes and annotations when the file vanished. “They didn’t just take a book back, they stole my work,” he said.
I guess I’m also waiting for an e-reader that will do color well and not be so clunky. I love actual books, so I can wait.
So I’m still going to read through Newsweek’s list of the top 100 books, but I finally went through it and realized I’d read a fifth of the books contained on it (still pretty terrible for a librarian, eh?). I do not want to reread those books; in many cases, once was enough. So I’m going to continue with my plan to work my way through this list, without repetitions. I’m also not going in order, because the end of the list is weighted down by many dour-looking nonfiction works, the mere thought of which makes me sleepy.
I already keep a spreadsheet of books I’ve read, but I think I’ll need to start a new one just for this project. I’ll post it when I’m finished making it!
Update:Here is the spreadsheet in .xls format. When I get to a computer with OpenOffice.org on it, I’ll also put it in an open format.
I have no idea why, but I’m so happy today. It’s not the usual, “It’s a Friday and I don’t have to work” kind of deal. I’m just really really happy. I actually caught myself singing “La la la” and skipping down the hall from my room to the living room. I know that’s abnormal, but there you go. I did just finish a really interesting book (nonfiction even!), and that always excites me. The book is entitled The Unlikely Disciple and written by Kevin Roose, a young journalist from Brown University who spends a semester at Liberty University. I appreciated the nuanced view; it wasn’t LOLXtians at all. I finished that much quicker than I expected to (nonfiction tends to languish in piles until I can’t take the guilt anymore and just return them, unread, to the library), so maybe I’ll start on my Newsweek Top 100 books challenge earlier than I though. I believe that I shall ease myself into it by rereading Pride and Prejudice tomorrow while I’m at work.
This afternoon, though, I’m going to hang out with my parents, and just generally enjoy this lovely day!
I find Top 100 (or 10, 50, etc) of anything lists fascinating to read but generally meaningless. Tastes are so subjective, and even when I’m familiar with the subject being evaulated, I don’t always agree with the items that are chosen for inclusion. Still, I’ve found out about good books, movies, music, and web sites this way, so I’d be crazy to discount Top whatever lists. Today, while reading Newsweek’s Top 100 Books, I thought it might be interesting to work my way through the list and read everything on it, even books that I’d already read before. I used to hate classic literature, but now I realize that I just hated the way that a lot of it was taught in schools, with all the joy removed and too much focus on minute, boring analyses. Then I read books like Anna Karenina and Pride and Prejudice on my own, and realized that a book doesn’t have to be terrible just because it’s considered classic literature.
At first I was going to give myself a time frame in which to do this, but there are few things in life that I enjoy as much as completely ignoring deadlines, so I’m not even going to bother to assign an end date for this. I’m in the middle of a fun, lighthearted Jennifer Cruisie novel right now, and I have a few other things lined up for the rest of the week, but I’ll get started on this at least by the end of the month. I’ll keep track of my progress.
Although I’m trying to do better about managing my money, and am making an effort to say “no” in situtations where I previously would have offered a wholehearted “yes,” I still like to have to option to get things, should I really need or want to. I have belonged to Gilt Group and Ideeli for about a year now, and now I joined Rue La La and HauteLook. You may ask yourself why somebody who is trying to practice more self-control is doing this to herself, and I don’t necessarily have a great answer. I know that I like my options, and that I try to get the most for my money when I do buy things.
So, anyway, all of these clubs are private, but in scouring the interwebz, I was able to secure invitations for all of them in a matter of minutes. Since I always live to save people the bother of searching the Internet, if you’re interested in joining any of these clubs, you may use my refererral links below, or visit any of them and use my email address, nicole[at]nonsenseuponstilts[dot]com (replacing the brackets and words with the usual email symbols and punctuation) as your referral. And, yes, I do get a credit if you join under my name and then make a purchase (from $10 to $25, depending on the web site). Happy shopping!
Beyond the Rack – Please use the following code: NNWF60BB2B3
I wrote a couple of days ago about getting ready to move to the city. Since then, I’ve viewed apartments, and actually saw something that was billed as a “two room studio” that was bigger than some of my friends’ one bedroom apartments. It was where I wanted to be and the price was really reasonable (for Manhattan). So I feel good about that.
But I was looking over my expenses and realized that while I could afford an apartment now, it would be smarter to unload my consumer debt while I have fewer fixed monthly costs. To that end, I’ve already paid off a couple of accounts I could have zeroed out earlier, and have set myself to do better about paying off my remaining bills. It’s kind of scary when I look at how much money I make per year, and realize how little I have to show for it, aside from clothes, shoes, and yarn.
My mother, of course, is thrilled, because that means that I’ll be in the immediate area longer, and that gives her more time to try to convince me that living in New Jersey is the way to go. My father, who I thought was on my side or just didn’t care, seems to have sided with her, as had my aunt. Traitors.
Yes, you’re right; I should be stoned for that horrible pun. Still, I can’t hide how happy I am that Project Runway will be coming back to the airwaves on August 20th. Today Lifetime put up their Project Runway web site and introduced this season’s contestants. I try not to put too much stock in the pre-airing bios and such, but a couple of people already seem like they’re going to be difficult. And not just difficult, but reality-tv difficult, which involves visible efforts and obvious attempts to coin a catchphrase. Below are my picks for the three people most likely to make me want to hurl footwear at the tv, based mostly on photos.
1) Malvin Vien – Look at that hair and those dead eyes and tell me that he’s not going to be a problem. Go ahead, I dare you.
2) Logan Neitzel – He just looks like he’s going to be a pain in the ass.
3) Qristyl Frazier – I refuse to believe that this is how her name was spelled at birth, and I am angry with her for doing this to my eyes.
And I just realized that my Project Runway category was mysteriously eaten in the move over from WordPress.com, so I guess I’ll spend my evening re-categorizing old posts.
I will leave discussion of the zoo of Michael Jackson’s memorial to pretty much everybody else on the planet, but I wanted to mention how cringeworthy Mariah Carey’s performance was. She just didn’t sound good at all. To add insult to injury, Trey Lorenz, the backup singer who appeared with her on her original cover of “I’ll Be There,” still sounded pretty impressive and actually propped her up a few times.
As usual, the commenters on Youtube have shown no mercy for poor Mimi, and are being quite mean about the whole thing. Showing more self-awareness than is her wont, She of the Butterflies wrote on her Twitter accountabout her performance. She explained that she was choked up with grief, and that her performance suffered for it. Yeah, right.
For comparison’s sake I offer three videos. The first is the performance on Tuesday at Michael Jackson’s memorial. The second is her performing this song with Trey Lorenez at last year’s Save the Music concert. The third is the original from the 90s when she was still really good. Still, I think it could still be said that, even at 50% of her original awesomeness, Mimi can outsing a good 70% of the pop music industry.
The gym and my yoga studio were closed over the weekend for the fourth of July holiday, but I got plenty of exercise walking all over northern Manhattan looking at rooms for rent. I met several cool people, and some strange ones, but ultimately decided that I can’t really contemplate living with another person right now. I’ve made appointments with a bunch of Realtors (must! capitalize! the! R!!!) to see if they can show me anything that I might want to live in.
My mother, who actually leaves me alone most of the time, has decided that she wants to help me find an apartment – in New Jersey. Suddenly she’s giving phone numbers and having me call people. I’ll do it, but if the price is the same for an apartment in New Jersey as one in Manhattan, why would I stay in NJ? What does the Garden State have to offer me anymore? Most of my local friends live in NY, and I do want to live in the city at least one time before my eventual untimely demise.
I have had friends who searched for months before finding what they want, so I know that I may need to exercise patience and caution. I have been looking all over (craigslist, real estate agencies, yahoo real estate), and think I stumbled across my first scam! Whoopee! There’s no way that a one-bedroom apartment in The Magellan costs only $1,000. Here’s the real web site for that property. One-bedroom apartments in that builiding are more likely to cost $2,000+. I wrote back the contact person saying as much, and also forwarded his initial response to me to The Magellan. Wouldn’t it be great if their gratitude extended to renting me a 1b for $1,000? Great, but not likely. I won’t hold my breath!
I’m at the point where my real estate search is still fun and interesting, as opposed to tedious and annoying. Plus, all this walking has got to be good for my legs!
My buddy, Sarah Palin, has decided to step down from her post as governor of Alaska. Initially, people thought that this might be to give her time to get her act together, so that she could run for president in 2012. And, seriously: how sweet would that be? With Palin as the Republican nominee, Obama could introduce Hookers and Blow Tuesdays in the Oval Office and still beat her handily.
The timing of this announcement can only be called curious; much like Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey’s announcement of their divorce immediately prior to Thanksgiving, Ms. Palin’s July 3 press conference seems like nothing so much as an attempt to dodge as much of the media as possible during this holiday break. The Mudflats, a web site from Alaska that I visited a few times during the presidential election, linked to a transcript of Ms. Palin’s speech and provided some speculation as to why she would step down as governor (rhymes with “skimbezzlement”).
I wonder, too, if this has anything to do with the tell-all book about Ms. Palin that is being written by Steve Schmidt, her former campaign strategist (and the guy who picked her to run with John McCain; do we really trust his judgment anymore??); Gawker had a juicy tidbit from it the other day, and if the rest of it is as forehead-slappingly stupid as this bit, no wonder the woman wants out before publication. Gawker also speculates as to why the Alaska governor decided to resign her post.
Doing a quick look around the tubes and twitter, it seems that trouble with the IRS is the most prevalent theory. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Books, Technology | Nicole | 
July 18, 2009 5:16 pm | 
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