Friday, July 29, 2011

A Quick Update.

Dear readers please forgive my lack of posting... I have been very busy with work and trying to get things.. organized..I have also been struggling with migraines and some personal issues.  As of late reading has fallen by the wayside, not because of a lack of desire to read, but when one works 4/10 hour days and adds an additional 10-15 hours of overtime a week, it becomes hard to focus on anything else other than sleep.  I am still working on finishing The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Drood has unfortunately fallen to the bottom of my cavernous backpack, not seeing the light of day for a while. .. I just wanted to keep you readers abreast of the situation with bookgeekism.  I promise soon to write up an offering for your perusal for now I just ask your forgiveness dear reader for the lack of anything promising these last few weeks.

Sincerely,

GeekyBookGirl

Friday, July 15, 2011

The Next Two Selections.


Dear Reader, I have been thinking about my bookgeekism blog a lot as of late.  I have had some issues go on in my personal life that caused a delay in updating.  I had also at the same time begun work on an alternate blog for my adventures in Self Education.  As I thought more and more about it I realized that I did not have the time to maintain 3 blogs: a personal one and an additional 2 related to books.  So Dear reader I have come to the decision that I am going to combine the self education blog and this blog together.

Ultimately I had planned to read The Girl In The Steel Corset  as my next book selection, but due to a recent...err restructuring of my bookshelves its currently been...for lack of better wording, misplaced.  This dear reader is an unfortunate habit of mine and could possibly explain why I own 2-3 copies of some books (the major reason for the book restructuring is so that I can used Hooked In Motions book cataloging app on my iPhone to keep track of those books that I do own.)

For now I intend to read The Epic of Gilgamesh  as it is the first book off the Lifetime Reading Plan.  I had also been reading Don Quixote, but that book has also been misplaced for the time being.  I will endeavor to finish the Epic by the end of this weekend or hopefully by the end of this week at least.  Drood, was a gift from my mother who came across it upon one of her trips to the used book store (we believe in recycling books, we give books to the used book store and pick up new ones along the way sometimes).  I've read the first few paged of Drood and will have to say that I am very interested.  Drood centers around Charles Dickens, who I will openly admit is one of my least favorite authors.  I personally have never cared for the writings we were forced to read in school and can only say the one I really enjoyed was A Tale of Two Cities.  

I've been very ...very lax in my reading, I used to read as much as possible and now it feels like I am hardly reading anymore.. I used to try and read as much as possible at work, but it's been so busy at work and I am unable to read as much as I would like. I am going to try and find ..  or at least work on putting more effort into giving myself adequate time to read and work on my self studies.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

004-Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

    • Abraham Lincoln  Vampire Hunter
    • Seth Grahame-Smith


    • Audible Audio Edition
    • Listening  Length: 10 hour(s) and 14 min.
    • Program Type: Audiobook
    • Version: Unabridged
    • Publisher: Hachette Audio (March 2, 2010)
    • Language: English
    • ASIN: B003AOVPN4





    I have always been hesitant when it came to audiobooks.  I've always considered myself a purist in the sense that I loved the tactile feel of books, the feel of the paper, the smell of old books etc.  The first Audiobook that I recently experienced was The Sherlockian, a few months back.  The narration was amazing and made me want to listen to another audiobook. This was my second pick.  

    Synopsis: (Taken from goodreads.com)
      
    When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called the "milk sickness." Only later did he learn that his mother's deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe's father's unfortunate debts.

    When the truth became known to the young Abraham Lincoln, he wrote in his journal: henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become learned in all things—a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose."

    While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever understood his valiant fight for what it really was. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

    Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time—all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War, and uncovering the massive role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

    This was a great story and I really wish I had read the book instead of listening to it.  Although the narration was a bit flat, the story line was enough to keep me listening.  If you liked the authors first novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, you will definitely like this.   If you're willing to try it as an audiobook.. I definitely recommend it.