by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
As I stood in an estrogen-saturated line at Barnes and Noble, I wondered at the crowd this book draws. There were a very large number of teen-age girls squealing over the strangest things; a small set of disgruntled looking men on short leashes next to their wives/girlfriends; and a small handful of people, who like me, looked rather perplexed and ready to bolt, book or no book. I suppose it’s a part of Meyer’s talent that she can write for such a large audience.

A lot of people love Stephanie Meyer’s books, but claim that her writing style needs work. I disagree. As with all her novels I find it easy to pick up this book and not see a single word, just images in my head, like watching a movie. As far as I’m concerned that is one of the key ingredients to a good book. While she is a bit predictable, towards the end she really had me wondering how she would wrap it up.

The romance still gets to me, though unlike some authors, Meyer’s still happily keeps it around PG-13. I did have a little trouble towards the middle of the book, where the story transitions a bit. But overall, another nice piece of fun, easy reading from Meyers.

View all my reviews.

Aunt Marie had an interesting blog post recently. For the exact text, click here. The gist of it is that it’s a book list containing titles of 100 books. It generalizes a bit, for example, it lists Harry Potter and Shakespeare, no specific titles there. The point of the list was that apparently the average adult has only read 6 of the 100. Things like that bother me. The list reflects a fairly diverse taste, with an obvious preference for the classics. But it isn’t as though there are only 100 good works in the world. I’m not sure why “The Time Traveler’s Wife” made the list. It was a good story, but it was filthy-dirty! Not one I’d recommend to anyone looking for a wholesome reading experience. And it was missing a lot of titles that I would consider essentials, like Fahrenheit 451, Anne Frank, anything by George Orwell or Isaac Asimov. If we’re doing compendiums, then where is 1001 Arabian Nights, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or Aesop’s Fables? Don’t forget the Illiad or the Odessy.

The list also does not take into account a person’s background. A lot of people read extensively, but they prefer Newspapers, Technical Manuals, or Children’s Books. Reading is supposed to be about having fun and improving yourself. Lists like that can be fun, they are a nice reminder of how much is still out there. It might be a good list for a book club. But a lot of those books, though epic or thought-provoking, are often very dry. Not that I’m trashing Moby Dick, but if you finish the whole book, you’ll not only have the story we all talk about, but a thorough background in whaling. Are you less of a person for reading the abridged version? Read because you enjoy it, not because some stuffy windbag thinks your less of a person for not having their idea of a well-rounded literary experience. I just don’t like the idea of something as wonderful as reading being used against people. Whatever happened to reading because you just want to enjoy a good book?

“Actually, my experience has been that people generally don’t recommend this kind of book at all. It is far too interesting. Perhaps you have had other kinds of books recommended to you. Perhaps, even, you have been given books by friends, parents, or teachers, then told that these books are the type you ‘have to read.’ Those books are invariably described as ‘important’ — which, in my experience, pretty much means that they’re boring. (Words like meaningful and thoughtful are other good clues.)” – Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson.

My iPod Classic (pre-video) kicked the bucket recently. I love walking to the grocery store and anywhere else I can, but I like doing it with music. I’ve been compensating for a few weeks by either taking my whole laptop (no control over volume or fast forwarding), or my old, decrepit, touchy, barely working Discman. Still, the loss of my iPod had me appreciating the Discman, which I’ve had since, I was 12 or 13. And I’ve been missing my Walkman, the one I’ve had since I was 8, and eventually gave away, still in perfect working condition, to a roommate. The iPod lasted almost five years. However, the iPod always had problems. It stopped working about two or three years ago for a while, until a friend advised smacking it soundly. That worked. But not this time. Ultimately this seems to be a problem with the hard drive. You could hear it clicking and choking every time it had trouble.

So I had decided I wanted another iPod, but have been dubious about two things. First being price, second being it’s ability to last a while, especially given price. Costco is a great place to get them, it’s about the only place you can get any sort of discount on the price. They have Nanos, Classic Video iPods, and the Touch. My inclination was towards the Classic again, but while 80GB sounds great, I highly doubt that those have flash hard drives. I just don’t like the Nanos, even though they are nice and cheap (relatively). The major problem I have with the iPod Touch is that it is one step short of an iPhone. I’d love an iPhone if I could get a reasonable plan with it. But that’s right out. So I settled on getting a 8GB Touch, with much trepidation.

I’ve had only a few hours of sleep since.

I LOVE it! I love it too much. I got home, plugged it into my computer and went and took my shower. After getting out I went to check on it before climbing into bed. It was already done charging and had my music synced. I was having trouble finding my cell phone (aka alarm clock). So I looked and figured out how to use the alarm clock on the Touch. Then I needed to adjust the Time Zone. And add Portland. Set up weather. See if Safari really worked. Connect to my wireless network. Set up email. Send a message on Facebook. And OK, we’ll put on some music and finally go to sleep. Nice music interface, play with that a bit. And hey, direct link to YouTube so we’ll just watch some Muppets and Doctor Who shorts. I didn’t get much sleep today. The one thing that really bothered me is that I only got the 8GB. And it was about 70% full with my currently uploaded music. That doesn’t leave much room for movies, more music, and apps. I took the 8GB Touch back and splurged for the higher capacity model with 32GB. This thing is way too cool. I’m officially converted. This is enough to possibly derail my ambitions for the Nokia Treo 1973.

And now, just a few tidbits of the best Youtube and the Muppets have to offer:

Meh

Ode to Joy

Stars and Stripes FOREVER

Classical Chicken

Habanera

Danny Boy