This was a very interesting portrait of life in SE Alaska. After going on an Alaskan cruise this past summer and being enchanted by the beauty of the place, this was a very good reality check. The book is a collection of short vignettes of the author’s life in Haines, AK. She started as the gossip column journalist but ended up taking over obituaries, giving her a unique perspective on the community of Haines.

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The similarities between this book’s mythos and Twilight’s are too many to count. If you’ve read Twilight, you’ll slip into this one pretty easily.Much like Bella in Twilight, the lead character in this book is pretty flat. The author made her “disabled” with telepathy (kind of the opposite of Bella), which allows her to be interesting. Also, much like Bella, she falls for someone right away…who turns out to be a vamp, who initially seems to blow her off, but who eventually turns out to lurrrrve her with all his vampiric heart. I’m through the second book now and I still for the life of me don’t understand Sookie’s interest in her vampire lover, Bill. The reasons given in the first book fall apart by the end of the first book. And, the author seems to toy with the notion of pulling them apart in both the first and second book of the series only to wimp out of actually doing it. (And it totally feels like a wimp out. The “fight” gets resolved far too neatly.) The effect, IMO, is that I, as the reader, don’t feel very fond of her lover and am rooting for him to get run over by a car more than the author intends. It feels like he’s abusing his relationship with Sookie in that he has trysts (and expects no reproach) that he doesn’t permit her to have, at least not without a temper tantrum from him. By the end of the first book and certainly by the end of the second, you’ve met two other supernatural beings equally interested in Sookie and equally better suited for her than the original love interest, in that they both seem to deal with her better than her lover.Then, there’s the mystery aspect. I’m not a mystery fan, and I was surprised by how invested I became in solving the mysteries along with Sookie. That kept me hooked.So, point being, turn off your feminist prickles and just settle down with this one. If you think about it too much, the relationships and character development might bother you (much as with twilight). However, if you’re a Twilight fan (not a Twihard, just a fan), you’ll probably enjoy this one.

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Then, there’s the Authors’ Guild controversy over the Text-to-Speech. The controversy is stupid, and I can’t sum up why anywhere near as well as these folks, so here’s some links:
Engadget’s Interview with Paul Aiken, Executive Director of the Author’s Guild – Paul Aiken’s circular and terrible logic really speaks for itself.
Wil Wheaton vs. Text 2 speech – I adore Wil, and stuff like this is why.
Neil Gaiman’s Excellent Summary

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I started this book one night intending to read just the first chapter before bed. I had to force myself to put it down at chapter six lest I miss out on a good night’s sleep!

I’ve never been a bird person, but O’Brien’s heartwarming account of her life with Wesley the Owl may make me a convert…for owls at least. O’Brien mixes scientific fact with personal anecdote in a way that is clear and compelling. By the end, you feel like you’ve learned something about owls, but most of all, you’ll have experienced one owl’s life in a unique way.

A tear or two escaped at the end. The Way of the Owl is not always happy, but it is rewarding.

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I looked up the Kindle warranty service number and made the call. After a quick hold message that gave me a Spanish option, I was put through to an agent. He was exceptionally friendly, didn’t give me any guff, and basically after going through some troubleshooting steps (some of which I hadn’t thought of), he agreed that the Kindle was kaput. So, he said they’d be sending me an e-mail with a printable UPS return label as well as a new Kindle. My new Kindle would arrive on Tuesday. This was on Saturday. Yes, that’s right…2 day turnaround for a warranty-fresh Kindle. There was no hold placed on my credit card. And, as mentioned, the agent was exceptionally friendly. He even commiserated with me about how tough it must be to live without my Kindle, even for a few days (it was!).

Well, the new Kindle arrived yesterday (even faster than promised), but the return label still hadn’t shown up in my e-mail. I call them up, and once again, I get a super-friendly and congenial agent who almost seems delighted to talk to me. He asked friendly questions about my e-mail address and about the weather in Gurnee (while pulling up my account, but he did it so smoothly that it didn’t feel like he was killing time). He then stayed on the phone with me so that as soon as he sent the label, we could make sure it arrived. Furthermore, he apologized for the inconvenience and thanked me for giving them a call to check on it.

I deal with a lot of crappy customer service lines. (AT&T’s DSL support is topping the list right now, but that’s another story. Reference also this saga with EA.) Amazon’s support for this was not just good, it was stellar. The whole process was so pleasant that I was barely bothered that I was calling back.

As longtime readers know, I’ve been a solid Amazon loyalist for quite awhile. This just gave me yet another reason to love them and preach their awesomeness.

• Empire Builder (with Mexico)
• India Rails
• Nippon Rails
• Euro Rails
• British Rails
• Iron Dragon
• Middle Earth Rails (partial game, to learn/see only)

Other games played this weekend (so far):

• Metro
• Ticket to Ride: 1910
• 1830
• Express

Books completed during this weekend:

• The Host by Stephenie Meyer – In many ways, it was a better story than the Twilight series. However, having read Twilight and its sequels, you definitely see a common thread or two such that it becomes clear that Meyer both idealizes motherhood and fantasizes about being the object of two men’s affections.
• Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey – You know, I really enjoyed the first two books, and this one left me a bit wanting. I slogged through a ton of exposition (meant to make the book readable by new inductees to the series), and it felt like the payoff was minimal. I may have to accept that I liked this series for the sex scenes more than for the plot. (Oh, and I should mention that I found the central romance, between Joscelin(sp?) and Phedre, tiresome from the start. I like Phedre/Hyacinth much more…so that biases me a bit.)

Yesterday afternoon, in the midst of my Kindle-inspired activities, I got a text message from a guy I’ve previously crushed on asking about coming over.

Have you ever gotten a text (or call or doorbell) in the middle of reading and (ahem) USING porn? I don’t know if my reaction is common, but I apparently was in porn reasoning mode. That is, the sender MUST simply want to fuck me…otherwise, why would he text me? And even if he doesn’t, I’ll just answer the door scantily clad and wanton, and fucking will commence, right?

Fortunately, logic kicked in, and I re-read things from a sane point of view before replying…but the phenomenon amused me, so I had to share.

I cancelled my order with the clerk and then had a quick internal debate. I could head on into the office now, having not eaten lunch, and risking Murphy’s Law crashing upon me in the form of an officer pulling me over while I don’t have my license on me. That didn’t seem appealing. I went back home, calling a colleague on the way to see if I could make what he needed from me happen without me being physically at work. As it happens, that all worked out, so I ended up back at home. I obtained my wallet and went to Quizno’s for lunch. I decided to sit on the deck out back to eat, as the weather here today is amazingly perfect, the kind of weather that makes you want to run around outside and eat watermelon until you’re covered in stickiness. I read Traffic on my Kindle while I ate. However, I was feeling a bit tarty and I hadn’t downloaded the next Kushiel book, so I clicked my way into the Kindle store to shop. While purchasing the next Kushiel, I noticed that it was categorized erotica, and that the category was a link. Feeling a bit naughty (and did I mention tarty? up above?), I clicked my way over to it.

Oh my goodness…to steal a deity from the book that led me there…Naamah bless Kindle and Amazon and all their greatness, for today I have downloaded a myriad of samples of excellent erotic stories, enough to keep me satiated for quite awhile.

It probably would have been easier to go back to sleep were it not for the Kindle on my bedside table, with Breaking Dawn sitting there all ready to go, ready to save me from potential internet spoilers.

You see, just before I left, I got wind of this whole Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I know, I know, I’m the last to this one (again…I think I came into HP at book 3). Between Entertainment Weekly’s discussion of the movie and a bajillion blog posts in anticipation of the new book, I decided I needed to give this a try. While we were in Vegas, I downloaded the free preview of Twilight (Book 1 of the Twilight Series). I was hooked. Fortunately, I was still in the middle of Fire Study (another amazing series, but one that I’m now completely caught up on). I was also cognizant of this trip and figured a book series would be perfect to keep me amused on the plane rides and in idle moments.

Little did I know that I would soon thirst for the next page as much as Meyer’s vamps thirst for blood. Putting it down is torture. I’ve zipped through the first three books already, and as of right now, I’m halfway through the fourth (that was just released this past week). I’m coming up with excuses to read. I slip it in my bag as I head to the bathroom at work just to get a few pages in while I take care of nature’s call. I just about died from pure want yesterday evening on the train back from the suburbs…it was a long train ride, but it felt horribly antisocial to dive into a book with a colleague on the train with me…even though we’d already exhausted our potential for small talk and work talk. And last night, I bailed on dinner (hence being starving) in part so that I could come back to the room and dive in again.

I suck at actual book reviews, and there’s a ton of them out there already. I guess it’s sufficient to say that I’m not sure if I’m telling you to read these books or telling you to stay the hell away from them. I loved the Anne Rice books for awhile, but they were lacking humanity. Lestat was a delicious villain, but AR made the vamps too perfect, too polished. Meyer’s take on the myth is much more palatable, and it makes the love story central to the book that much more heartbreaking…and that much more delicious.

(ETA: By the way, if you’re ever curious what’s on my Kindle or what I’m reading/watching/hearing, there’s a pretty good chance that looking at my most recent items in my Amazon Library will give you that info. Let me know if the link doesn’t work!)

When we got home, I started reading in earnest. A few hours later, just as Scott was about to give up on it and head to the casino instead, the copy from Amazon.com arrived. So, Scott stayed home to read. We both sat outside, reading in our lounge chairs. Pancake mewed pitifully; he wanted to come outside, too! I put him on his leash and harness and put him outside, looped around a table leg so that he couldn’t leave the deck. Then, I went back inside looking for something to make him a longer leash, and for a cushy pillow or something for him to sleep on. As I was coming back out, Scott shouted that Pancake had gotten loose. He’d slipped his harness. Fortunately, his previous escape must have terrified the crap out of him. He’s slow and cautious now. So, he only got as far as the garden. He was sniffing around when I scooped him up. Making mean cat noises the whole way, he was brought back on the deck and eventually into the house again. Not more than a minute later, he was back at the window mewing at us. Scott couldn’t stand it, so he went inside to keep Pancake company. I was enjoying the sunshine and the breeze, so I stayed out for a bit.

Eventually, I came in, and we played a round of bridge, because I needed a break from reading. Then, I made dinner out on the grill (while reading), ate dinner (while reading), and cleaned up (while reading). I finished the book about 15 minutes ago, and I’ll say no more than that, lest I spoil folks who read this blog. But, I’m done, so if you’re desperately wanting to talk about it, my AIM/YIM is “MyTsuKata”.