The Kari AnnAlysis

Archive for October, 2009

My friends and family know me too well. For my birthday and for my wedding I got Borders gift cards. I mean, what a better gift for a book nerd like myself?

But my dilemma when it comes to gift cards is spending them. I don’t mind wasting my own money when buying books, but I want to make sure if I am spending someone else’s money, I am spending it wisely.

Because of this, I’ve been thinking hard since I got my first gift card over a month ago on how to spend. As you can tell by my To Read Widget on the right side of the page, I’m not really in need of books. But that doesn’t mean I can let these sit in my pocket.

So what I’ve decided to do is read what I’ve got until the month of December rolls around. I am huge on theme reading. I’ve been reading vampire books in honor of Halloween and plan on reading some holiday themed books once December rolls around. Now I already  have a couple that I got last Christmas and couldn’t bring myself to read yet. Who wants to read about Glen Beck’s Christmas Sweater in the summer? It’s all about timing. 

I will be using my gift cards, or some of the money on them, to buy some holiday themed books to get me through Christmas. And of course this takes some heavy planning, so I thought I’d show you some I’m looking at. If  you’ve read any of these or have heard anything about them, let me know. I want to spend these wisely

Here goes:

 Now yes, I know there are a lot of books here. I also know that Mary Higgins Clark and Debbie Macomber have TONS of holiday books and there’s no way I can get to them all. But an excess is never a bad thing right? What I don’t read this year can wait until next Christmas – or maybe I’ll do a Christmas in July. Or maybe, this will inspire you to get into the holiday spirit. Speaking of which, I definitely got carried away with this post. I had a few already in my phone that I’d stumbled upon, but then I started searching and site jumping and ay yi yi, I’ve got Christmas tunes starting in my head already and Halloween isn’t over yet. I’ll make sure I mute them until after Thanksgiving. Christmas talk before then in our home has been banned because I’m a fanatic

PS: If you click on the book, it will take you to the link at Borders.com.

Today’s Teaser Tuesday is a Halloween edition from Interview with the Vampire. I’ve been saving this book for Halloween. Yes, I know I’m a dork!

Pg 15 “I lay in bed thinking about all the things the vampire had told me, and then it was that I said good-bye to the sunrise and went out to become a vampire. It was… the last sunrise.” 

Today’s Musing Monday topic is about taking notes.

Do you take notes while reading – either for your reviews or for yourself? How/where do you make these notes?

Yes, I am an avid note taker. I have been since I was little. I like to get every single word when I’m taking notes so I don’t forget a thing. There was a time when I was reading that I would remember saying “Oh, I need to get this in my review” and would forget. So after that point, I started jotting things down as a I read.

I put them as notes in my memo pad on my phone, then I can do it everywhere and can pull them up wherever I am doing my review. I write down different parts of the book that I like and don’t like. I write down page numbers with some of my favorite lines so that I can use them for Teaser Tuesdays.

When my blog was on WordPress, I had the WordPress app on my phone and could actually start my blog on my phone, send it to my account and have it waiting for me next time I logged on. I deleted the app when I moved my blog, but it was very useful and cool.

Living Dead in Dallas is the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, which is now TrueBlood on HBO. As I mentioned in my review of the first book, I had heard a lot of great things about this series, and although I liked the first book, I didn’t love it. I did like the second one better.

In this book, Sookie gets a job on the side using her “gift.” She made a deal with a top vampire to help when there were problems and the latest problem is in Dallas. A vampire goes missing and it’s up to Sookie to help find him. She doesn’t quite realize what she’s gotten herself into though until she’s locked in a dungeon of a cult that hates vampires.

I think one of the main reasons I liked this book was because while vampires were involved, it wasn’t focused on vampires. Yes, I love me some vampires, but I’m learning that getting a little taste every now in then has me yearning for more. I love Sookie’s “gift” and how she can turn it on and off and how after years of locking it in, she’s now using it to help.

This book has a lot of action. I got to a point and couldn’t imagine what could happen next and there were still almost 100 pages left. Little did I realize, the BIG action was still to come.

I am seeing a trend in this series, that I love. I love not knowing who the bad guy is until the last few pages. In the last book, I had suspects the whole time. In this book, there were a couple of different plots, so I kind of forgot about a murder until we got to the end.

Speaking of plots, how can you not love one about a religious group doing all they can to get away from the vamps? All I can think about is Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple of Jamestown.

While I liked this book, I still didn’t love it. Yes, I liked it more than the first one, but I still don’t feel like it’s a 4 star book. I give Living Dead in Dallas3 bookmarks. One thing I’m still not kosher with is all the sex. I know that adults have sex, but it’s just not something that was an open topic when I was growing up. Yes, I went to college and saw it all, but the older I get, the more I feel like I am a prude. I know it’s natural, but it still makes me uncomfortable to sit and read it. And this book was packed with it – not just the main characters. When I wrote earlier about ACTION PACKED – you’ll know what I’m talking about when you get back into Louisiana!

I am taking a break from Sookie for the week. I have been saving the last book in my A-Z Challenge for Halloween. I know that the Sookie Stackhouse series is full of Halloweenesque characters, and while I’m sticking with the vamps, I going retro and reading Interview with the Vampire.I am only on page 4 and I’m already intrigued.  Are you reading anything spooky for Halloween?

Sookie Stackhouse Series
1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas

Need I say more?