It was spectacular. To be honest, when I first picked it up it was slow for the first few pages and I put it down. I picked it back up the other day and started over and once I got past those first few pages, the grab hit. The narrative digs in and doesn’t let go and builds to – I kid you not – an actual heart-pounding climax. THAT doesn’t happen with every book I read.

One of the ‘twists’ wasn’t much of a twist given the foreshadowing but it didn’t matter a whit to the story or how into it I was. The parallels which can be drawn between the crushing failure of the media in the book and the crushing failure of the media before the current war are, I’m sure, not accidental. It’s a great horror/urban fantasy read with just the right amount of “right now” in it to make you think about the media, politics and the atmosphere of fear you can feel going into the midterm elections.

Read it.

Yesterday I had a schedule gap before meeting up with the spouse and, for whatever reason, made the boneheaded mistake of leaving my Kindle at home. I’ll spare you the ad nauseum of how much I love the Kindle but I guess I just forgot to put it in my bag. I was looking at about an hour to kill so I decided to finally download the Kindle app for my Droid Eris.

Within about a minute, I was logged in and reading Feed (by Devon Monk). Dude. FUCKING AWESOME. 1. Do I love tinyscreen? No. Changeable fonts help but I don’t really love the backlight. 2. Nope. That pretty much covers it.

I spent the hour soaking up zombie-hunting goodness and then read some more on the Eris at work today during my lunch break. The best part is that when I got home tonight, I turned on my Kindle and syched it and then picked up EXACTLY where I’d left off on my phone.

In short, I love technology. The Kindle is still my favorite reading option but the Droid app is wicked handy in a pinch. Very nice option.

Related, Feed is ENGROSSING. It started a little slow but within a couple of pages I was hooked. I’m about halfway through it now and can’t wait to read the rest. Though there will be a break for a new ep of The Closer.

My plan was to go to a book club meeting tonight (The Magicians by Lev Grossman) but unless I’m feeling SERIOUSLY better that won’t happen. The book itself was interesting and borrowed pretty heavily from the Narnia mystique. Imagine if Narnia were a Real place – a place where four bumbling kids don’t manage to do everything more or less right and the inhabitants aren’t all thrilled by their presence. Imagine it had real rules with real consequences. Unfortunately the book relies pretty much on the story of the protag who’s not all that interesting (especially when compared to that original premise) and has a LOT of time devoted to him “growing up” before taking a sharp left back to the original premise (with predictably dire results). It also suffered a bit from dwelling in some minutae of this alternate fairytale-ish world such that I kind of skimmed sections. All told an enjoyable book despite an unlikeable protag.

We watched Capitalism: A Love Story yesterday. Generally speaking I’m not a fan of Michael Moore. His Sicko didn’t accurately represent the experience of MANY Canadians I knew who came over the border to Michigan to get health care they couldn’t in their country. If you want me to take you seriously, you’ve got to point out the good WITH the bad rather than glossing over the bad – which makes me feel like you’re blowing smoke up my ass. I’ve got politicians to do that so I don’t need documentarians.

In point of fact, I think he’d have been better served to make Capitalism BEFORE Sicko. Capitalism is pretty fantastic and does an excellent job of explaining how 1) we don’t actually HAVE capitalism and 2) why we don’t want it. THIS film points out all the things that are currently broken with our system and actually talks about what some people are doing to fight it. THIS is a great film. That doesn’t mean I agree with everything he says. When you’re talking about subprime mortgages, the “subprime” refers to the borrower. Some of the borrowers knew full well that they didn’t have the money to do what they were doing and did it anyhow. I don’t think that’s robbery. I also think that the consumer has to put some consideration into their actions – it’s not like these companies were out FLEECING everyone. You signed a contract – a contract which if you didn’t read, I’ve got limited sympathy.

We also watched The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo on Netflix streaming. My second viewing, Spouse’s first. You know it’s a good film when you’re still riveted after 1) reading the book and 2) having seen it once already. I fucking love Salandar. That is all.

I’m considering making this for lunch/dinner today as I picked up a lovely mango from the store yesterday. It will depend whether or not the local grocer has some fresh mint but I might just compromise.

Today is about more Netflix streaming and more Kindle books. Oh, and quality time with my Neti pot. Fuck. I hate being sick.

Best thoughts and wishes to the Flores family. Vonnie was a ray of sunshine and deserved better.

On the bright side, I got most of the heavy lifting done this week. All that’s left is purging the files and fixing the paperwork. Heh. ALL.

As for now, I’m enjoying a nice cold beer, awaiting some company and contemplating which book I’ll be reading next.

As a public service announcement: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is out on DVD. If you’ve been on the fence, rent it.

I’m out of town doing training and – as a result -a bit closer to Aspen than usual. While on break yesterday I was flipping through the local rag and noticed that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was playing at the Isis. Now this film has been on my ‘want to see’ list since before we went in Seattle. On the west coast I looked longingly at showtimes. Did the same thing in the midwest. Time crunches and family time take priority over films, alas, especially when I’m the only one who wants to see the film. That’s not to say Spouse wouldn’t have joined me but it’s not the same as making a movie outing for something we BOTH really want to see.

After I got off work this afternoon I headed up (down, actually. Or wait- both. Uphill, headed south.) to Aspen and got my tix. Despite TWO idiots having their phone go off during the film (and DUDE. I didn’t even know that shit STILL HAPPENED anymore.) it was as gripping as the book. It’s an excellent adaptation and I’m going on the record to say I fucking LOVE the chick who played Salander.

So. If you’re down for a great film, I give it two thumbs up. If you hate subtitles however, it’s not for you. If you aren’t sure you’ll like the books, check this out. If you like this film, you’ll love the books.

1. The iPad is designed to entertain your finger, an e-reader to entertain your eye.

2. The Kindle isn’t a superior reading experience, it’s a superior delivery experience.

These things are tied in my mind because the iPad was billed as a Kindle-killer. Admittedly I am a non-Apple geek (They make nice stuff but it’s wicked expensive. I’m looking for the alternative that fits my budget.) but I wasn’t all that interested in the iPad. I HAVE a Kindle (which I love and will get to in a minute) and a Droid Eris by HTC. From what I’ve seen, my Eris does all the stuff that an iPhone does – at least the stuff that I WANT it to, as I’ve got no interest in watching TV/movies on my phone – and cost a fraction of the price. Not only that, but Verizon never drops my calls. Never. And I live in the Timbuck-3 mountains.

So if I’ve got a touchscreen phone and all the apps I can stand and an mp3 player that holds a ton of music and movies, as well as an e-reader that checks my email and surfs the web – the iPad is obsolete FOR ME. I get that there are people who want everything in the same gadget but I really don’t. I like having a separate mp3 player because it means I’m less likely to break it – my phone has to withstand a lot of abuse. My phone is built for portability and wicked web access, so I don’t need a laptop hardly ever – unless I really want one.

All of this brings me to the Kindle. Yes, it’s a superior delivery system. I can get a book (including a whole mess of FREE books) from pretty much anywhere, anytime. I’d argue about it not being a superior reading experience though, and for a couple of reasons. It’s much a lighter than a regular book. It’s far more portable and allows me to do everything a regular text would do (bookmarks, notes) as well as things it can’t (email, web). Not only that but I can carry up to 1,500 books around all the time. I’ve got 207 on there currently and I love that if my attention wanders, I can just hit the Home button and switch to something else. On a plane or roadtrip, this portability is invaluable. It’s great for waiting rooms, lunch breaks and coffee stops.

As to the experience – I know that Spouse loves the fact that he can increase the text size whenever he wants. It makes reading in low light easier. The auto text-reader is also nice, if a bit robotic.

I don’t miss turning pages. It always surprises me that I really ENJOY reading on the Kindle. I’m an English major. I’ve been reading voraciously since the age of 3. I LOVE books. Yet I find that I don’t miss the feel of paper in my hands or even the smell of the pages – things I would have sworn at one point were integral to my reading experience. In fact, when I HAVE to read a paper text now (for classes) I find I’m annoyed with how cumbersome and unwieldly they are. I don’t like having to lug them around and having to flip back and forth rather than just click a bookmark is irritating. The lack of backlight makes my Kindle page just as easy to read as a printed page, but better for the environment.

So yeah – when people talk to me about how they love books and can’t POSSIBLY like an e-reader, I call bullshit. Read a book on a Kindle and if you’re not converted, I’ll believe you. I just don’t think it’ll happen.

Second: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest came out this week.

It is no secret that I am a huge book nerd. That said, I cannot remember a time when I’ve been so anxious for a new release. This series of novels has been brilliant, intense, engaging and thought-provoking. You can’t say THAT about your average mystery book – which is what makes them brilliant. They are, on their face, a great series of mysteries. They are, but they’re SO MUCH MORE  – incredible social commentary on prejudice, social justice and journalism. They are a bit like what The Wire was aspiring to in its last season of journalistic commentary, just as hard-hitting and tackling a wildly unpopular topic in abuse/mistreatment of women.

There are very few books I’ve recommended in the last several years as much as I’ve recommended these. I’m glad to hear there may be another manuscript floating around (despite the truly terrible treatment of Larsson’s partner) and I’ll be keeping an ear to the ‘net to see if it’ll be emerging.

How about this: I’m watching I Hate Valentine’s Day and I think maybe the only thing Nia Vardalos has changed since My Big Fat Greek Wedding is her eyebrows. Alas, it’s not a change for the good. I find these eyebrows or the makeup or something about it to be weirdly distracting.

Books! I finally finished Finch. While I enjoyed the story I loathed the fragments. I will not reread it and I won’t be looking for more of VanderMeer’s work. Also finished The Year of the Flood, Atwood’s latest and I really enjoyed it. In fact, it made me want to reread Oryx and Crake (again) and then YotF right behind it. I didn’t though – I read Silver Borne, the latest Mercy novel from Patricia Briggs. Pretty happy with the whole novel but I think I put more details on my 2010 reading list page.

I’m also in the middle of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Not sure if I just hadn’t heard anything about it but I was expecting something really different. Thus far, engaging protag and interesting story.

Our flights were uneventful. Against what must be the largest number of odds, on each flight I was seated next to someone who was going to be visiting our new hometown in the near future. I really loathe seating process of Southwest. Frankly I don’t see anything wrong with being able to check and and get my seat assignment early, INCLUDING a spot next to my spouse, rather than depending on the kindness of strangers allowing me to sit next to him. Add unnecessary seat-partner anxiety to all the least fun parts of air travel (cattle call loading and unloading) with a dose of ‘whoever gets there first, wins’ and yeah, it’s not my most enjoyable travel. I was also not enamored of the Southwest/Kevin Smith debacle, where they were dicks and he was unjustly thrown off a flight. Those things mean I’m not sure we’ll be flying Southwest again.

Seattle was lovely as are my long-distance friends. Probably I’ll upload some pictures soon and then get on with the whole yoga post.