boek, գիրք, kitab, кнігі, liburua, βιβλίο, bok, книга, buku, หนังสือ, grāmata, książka, הספר

As mommyodyssey said this morning "What’s that jibberish in the subject line you ask?" Well, given our titles are different, our answers are too.  All those words mean book (what...don't believe me...copy and past any of those into Google Translate and see what you get).

I want to talk about books today. I'm going to warn you ahead of time that this post may be scattered and random because I'm writing it with a germ addled brain...well, composing it with a germ addled brain and typing it with fingers controlled by said germ addled brain.  Ugh, now I have this vision of a brain sitting in front of a keyboard while trying to type despite having no appendages to hit the keys with.

What are you reading? Do you like it? I'm reading The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. So far, it's an easy, rather engaging read...not something I would hang onto and read over and over but good. However, I've hit a snag in reading it.  At about 5 chapters in, I figured out who the bad guy is and who she was years ago. This has me itching to flip to the end and confirm what I already know. Would you be able to resist the lure to find out or would you give in and read the end? It is distracting me horribly from the book.

What are you looking forward to reading? There are two books coming out soon from two of my favorite authors and I can't wait to read them. Remember when I begged you to go out and get a copy of The House on Teacher's Lane? Rachel Simon has a new book called The Story of Beautiful Girl coming out in the beginning of May and Rachel has done me the honor of putting an advanced copy into my grabby hands with nothing required except an honest review. Considering her past stellar efforts and the rave reviews this is already getting, I CAN"T WAIT to read it!

I also am really looking forward to reading Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke. It's the latest book in a murder mystery series that Marty and I both like.  I do have to admit, these books raise an interesting question. Why exactly do people continue living in small, quiet (albeit fictional) towns like Lake Eden when they have murder rates that would make a larger city ashamed? And, why do authors describe a town as small and quiet and then have more than one murder a year set there?

Do you prefer "real" books or digital ones? Do you have an e-reader? Which one and would you buy it again? I've really been thinking hard fantasizing about getting an e-reader and I've also been debating the merits of a dedicated e-reader vs. an iPad with the e-reader apps downloaded onto it. The fabulous ladies over at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books reviewed a bunch of e-readers last fall - the Bookeen Cybook Opus, the Kindle III, the Sony Touch PRS-650, and the BN Nook - and, frankly, while the reviews are great, it did nothing to narrow down my choices. Heeeeeellllllpppppppp! I already buy digital books so I know I like reading them that way. Despite my adoration of real books (or maybe because of it),I know this is a purchase I'll make eventually. The shelves in my house will thank me (they are already filled to bursting with books).

And last, but definitely not least, have you signed up for the 2011 book challenge (click on the cute little tab up under my header)?

Ooops, I lied.  This is last. If you participated in the 2010 Book Challenge and want a chance to win the quilted tote that is almost ready to be claimed, go comment HERE and let me know how you did.