Let me rephrase that

Please help my friend [Public]

2015-10-24T02:29:48Z

A friend of mine from school has entered a radio station contest to try to get some dental work paid for. He was in a car accident awhile back that messed up his teeth, but his wife has MS and they have a young child, so his health has always come last.

It's basically a popularity contest, whoever can get the most people to vote the most often. It's open until around 10am EST on October 30th, so if you can vote multiple times, that would be awesome. The link should go directly to his entry, but in case it doesn't he's #327 (be aware, the link contains a picture of his teeth and it isn't pretty).

If he's a finalist, there's another round of voting from Nov 9-Nov 13.

>>crossposted to dreamwidth

Book Poll 2014!

2015-01-02T19:04:30Z

View Poll: Book Poll 2014

2013 Poll Results

2014-01-09T12:47:49Z

Responses to the poll: 35
5 have read none of those books.

Top responders:
*cgbookcat1 79
*vierran45 53
*blue_ant 53
cissa 48
usa_p 34
agentclaudia 31
sassy 30
jorghes 30
*attolia 29
*tortoise 28

*Top responders in a previous year as well.

cgbookcat1 again gets the (non-existent) prize for having read an amazing number of the books I read - well over half.

Most read books:
25: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
22: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
19: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
18: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
17: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

13:
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

12:
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

Least read books:
0:
Machine by Jennifer Pelland
Alias: Disappeared by Lynn Mason
The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld
The Mallet of Loving Correction by John Scalzi
Cat Nap by Claire Donally

I recommend all of the top-read books with the exception of A Study in Scarlet, which I found, frankly, boring. And I don’t really recommend any of the least-read books. Maybe Bloody Jack, if you’re particularly interested in YA historical fiction with a main character who crossdresses to become a ship’s boy (but if you are, I’d recommend Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld first). (it turns out someone has read it :)

Book poll 2013

2014-01-01T15:09:23Z

View Poll: Book Poll 2013

Book Poll 2012

2013-01-01T20:58:46Z

The list is in the order I read them (with the duplicates removed), so there are lots of series that are not together and so on. There are:

*New reads (anything without an asterisk is a reread)
^Non-fiction (I don't read much non-fiction)
&Books I read twice this year (I try not to do this, though most this year were once in paper and once in audiobook)

View Poll: Book Poll 2012

2011 Book Poll Results

2012-01-01T19:48:31Z

Responses to the poll: 33

Top responders:
*cgbookcat1 67
alasen 54
*vierran45 41
*blue_ant 40
stfg 36
*otterevil 36
*nessreader 30
*lisa_bee 29
*tortoise 26
*nwhyte 22

*Top responder in a previous year, too. cgbookcat1 wins something for having read half of the books I read this year. Wow!

Most read books:
12:
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane

11:
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

10:
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
*Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Least read books:
0:
*No Such Thing As Dragons by Philip Reeve
*Varjak Paw by SF Said
*The Sarah Jane Adventures: The White Wolf by Gary Russell
*Changeling by Nancy Jane Moore
*The Lexical Funk: a triumph of words (the little ebook edition) by Daniel Clausen
*The Secret History of Fantasy, edited by Peter S. Beagle
*Sign of the Dove by Susan Fletcher
*Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
*A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
*Spells by Aprilynne Pike
*Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
*Charitable Getting by Sam Starbuck
^*The Great Fat Fraud by Mike Schatzki
*Not On My Patch by Diane Duane

(Frankly, I wouldn't recommend most of these anyway. Varjak Paw is cute, Not On My Patch is great, after the first 50 pages Charitable Getting is a lot of fun, and Secret History of Fantasy is a good anthology - but skip the rest.)

reading stats

2011-12-31T21:33:41Z

Stuff that is probably not interesting to anyone but me :)

Total books: 135 (last year: 144)
Total new books: 68 (last year: 62)
Total pages: 29599 (last year: 39517)
Total audio book time: 2d21h50m (last year: 65h20m)

F/SF rereads: 56 (last year: 79)
F/SF new reads: 59 (last year: 56)
Fiction rereads: 11 (last year: 11)
Fiction new reads: 6 (last year: 2)
Nonfiction new reads: 3 (last year: 3)

Doctor Who and related series books (mostly audio): 13 (last year: 24)

Average pages per day: 81 (last year: 108)
Unique books: 133 (last year: 131)
Books read twice during 2011: 2 (last year: 12)

Book Poll 2011

2011-12-31T20:07:50Z

The list is in the order I read them (with the duplicates I found removed), so there are lots of series that are not together and so on. There are:

*New reads (anything without an asterisk is a reread)
^Non-fiction (I don't read much non-fiction)
&Books I read twice this year (only a couple this year)

View Poll: Book Poll 2011

jewelry/beading magazines

2011-10-21T19:21:17Z

Are old jewelry/beading magazines worth anything? I don't mean can I sell them at a profit and become rich, I mean would anyone ever be interested in anything like that? I just found a stack of magazines, the one date I noticed was in 2003. Of course any pricing info and so on is way out of date, but patterns and suchlike could still be useful.

Or should I just toss them? I'm okay with tossing them if they're not of use to anyone - I'm certainly not interested in hanging onto them - but I thought I'd ask if anyone had any other suggestions first.

fiveforsilver @ 2011-06-21T10:42:00

2011-06-21T14:45:37Z

I like Netflix a lot - or at least, I used to.

Now, though, the Watch Instantly page is absolutely horrible and practically every link I click takes me to that page. Links like "Show all DVD and Instant history" or "Your Account & Help".

Netflix, you are TRYING MY PATIENCE.

Book Reviews

2011-01-18T06:00:46Z

So we're supposed to get a huge snow-and-ice storm for the next two days.

Book Reviews:
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
The Door Into Fire by Diane Duane

Random stuff, and book reviews

2011-01-13T19:46:37Z

I was about to walk out the door half an hour early on the way to an appointment that it takes me 5 minutes to get to (haircut) when I happened to look out the window in the stairway and see that my car was completely free of snow and ice. We had a big storm yesterday, and it wasn't supposed to break freezing today, so that was a bit of a surprise. That was why I was leaving so early; I assumed I was going to have to spend fifteen minutes clearing it off and possibly digging it out (I missed the plow guys yesterday and didn't move my car).

Also, I started watching two new shows, John Doe and Lie to Me. I haven't seen much of John Doe yet, but I'm liking Lie to Me a lot. Although I should maybe slow down my consumption of it or it may turn into one of those shows that I have to stop watching because it gets in my head a bit too much.

Book Reviews:
Exploring Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials by Lois H. Gresh (abandoned)
The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

Book Reviews (or review, rather)

2011-01-08T14:07:02Z

First book of the year: The Lies of Locke Lamora. I've moved my reviews from livejournal to tumblr this year.

Further poll results (updated)

2011-01-02T04:52:08Z

Responses to the poll: 59

Top responders:
cgbookcat1 59
blue_ant 43*
vierran45 38*
gypsychick7 37*
attolia 33*
nessreader 31
nwhyte 30
trialia 29
cissa 28
tortise 24*
meril 24*

*Top responder in a previous year, too.

Most read books:
Mort by Terry Pratchett (25)
Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey (22)
Killashandra by Anne McCaffrey (19)
So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane (19)
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (19)
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (16)

There are still over a dozen books with zeros to list least read books, so I'm holding off listing those.

(Updated Jan. 04, 2011)

Book stats 2010

2010-12-31T13:06:31Z

Some stats from this past year (which, since I counted them all by hand at 7am, are about as accurate as stats usually are, which is to say, more-or-less):

Total books: 144 (last year: 162)
Total new books: 62 (last year: 83)
Total pages: 39517 (last year: 48039)
Total audio book time: 65h20m (last year: 26h30m)

F/SF rereads: 79 (last year: 65 )
F/SF new reads: 56 (last year: 51 )
Fiction rereads: 11 (last year: 4)
Fiction new reads: 2 (last year: 11 )
Nonfiction new reads: 3 (last year: 5)

Doctor Who and related series books (mostly audio): 24 (last year: 15)

Average pages per day: 108 (last year: 131)
Unique books: 131 (last year: 152)
Books read 2 times during 2010: 12 (last year: 7)

Book Poll 2010

2010-12-31T12:55:31Z

The list is in the order I read them (with the duplicates I found removed), so there are lots of series that are not together and so on. I read

*New reads (anything without is a reread)
^Non-fiction
&Books I read twice this year

View Poll: Book Poll 2010

fiveforsilver @ 2010-11-13T10:40:00

2010-11-13T15:40:33Z

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce

I just read a hilarious review on LibraryThing that said, and I quote, "It's not a bad book. It just lacks any redeeming qualities." So, it's not bad, it's just...bad?

It's about The Wedding, which is a book I would never read (it's the sequel to Nick Sparks' The Notebook, which I made the mistake of reading awhile back) but I was curious what people thought of it after seeing one person who loved The Notebook say that The Wedding was nauseating. Which was why I was looking at the reviews. Not surprisingly, I guess, most people loved The Wedding just as much. Ick ick ick. I don't know how people stand that stuff. I'm not judging (I know a lot of people have the same reaction to f/sf; I don't judge them if they don't judge me), I just find it baffling.

Book Reviews

2010-11-07T21:34:04Z

It's been ages since I posted about book reviews that nobody cares about :)

Shapeshifter by Holly Bennett

Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Doctor Who: Wooden Heart by Martin Day, read by Adjoa Andoh

(No reviews here, just lists of books I read)

Daja's Book by Tamora Pierce
Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Fairy Tales for Writers by Lawrence Schimel
Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

White Cat by Holly Black
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones

Life in the Fat Lane by Cherie Bennett

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane

So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane
Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane
High Wizardry by Diane Duane
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
Page by Tamora Pierce
Squire by Tamora Pierce

Linger

2010-05-10T13:54:45Z

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, stop-motion book trailer

Book Reviews

2010-05-01T13:18:27Z

Charmed: The Book of Three

59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane
A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes

The Game of Sunken Places by MT Anderson

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

Doctor Who: The Many Hands by Dale Smith, read by David Troughton

The Nemoninte Invasion by David Roden, read by Catherine Tate

Wizards, Inc edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Loren L. Coleman
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Briar's Book by Tamora Pierce
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Doctor Who: The Story of Martha by Dan Abnett, read by Freema Agyeman
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce

fiveforsilver @ 2010-03-26T19:28:00

2010-03-26T23:31:21Z

I had plans for this evening that involved things like watching more of season 5 of The West Wing and probably chatting with blue_ant online. And then I checked my e-mail and realized that something was waiting for me at the bookstore. And...yeah, my plans have changed.

:D

Book reviews, pictures, and I'm off to dance class!

2010-02-27T16:17:16Z

Book Reviews:
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Fire by Kristin Cashore

Pictures:

I mentioned a couple of times that I've stopped biting my nails for the first time ever. Here is proof!

And clothes. I'm not very good at casual, actually. I'm pretty good at dressing up or dressing way down, but I'm still trying to figure out casual and work attire. Maybe because at the ages most girls learned about that sort of thing, I wore jeans and tshirts and that's about it. I find it a kind of difficult to see what's in between. Like I feel like it's a waste to spend money on clothes that aren't really nice. Except I know that's stupid, but maybe it's because even casual clothes for me are not cheap.

Anyway, here is a casual outfit I wore to random gaming at Laura's last week. The jacket is from Burlington Coat Factory and the black tank top I got from Zaftique.com, my new favorite clothing store.

And now it's time to leave for dance class. Here goes!

Book I'm looking forward to

2010-02-17T16:56:42Z

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.

Poll Results 2009

2010-01-04T01:58:52Z

Responses to the poll: 68

Top responders:
meril 29*
phoebesmum 29
tortoise 32*
wyvernfriend 33*
dressagegrrrl 41*
otterevil 44
vierran45 47
blue_ant 48*

*Top responder last year, too, and some were top responders in 2006 and/or 2007 as well! We seem to have similar tastes.

Most read books:
20:
Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
21:
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
24:
*Mort by Terry Pratchett
25:
*Watchmen by Alan Moore
27:
Dragondrums by Anne Mccaffrey
30:
Dragonsinger by Anne Mccaffrey
32:
Dragonsong by Anne Mccaffrey

Least read books:
0:
*Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye
*The Dragon Princess by E. D. Baker
*The Salamander Spell by E. D. Baker
*^I sold my soul on ebay by Hemant Mehta
*Imaginary Friends edited by John Marco and Martin H. Greenberg
*The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn
*The Bar Code Rebellion by Suzanne Weyn
*Doctor Who: Ghosts of India by Mark Morris
*Doctor Who: Martha in the Mirror by Justin Richards
*Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
*Doctor Who: The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier
*Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss
^*Mind-Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld, ed
*Saga by Conor Kostik
*^Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from The New York Times by Mark Bittman
*Liar by Justine Larbalestier
*Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson
*The poison eaters & other stories by Holly Black

(I decided to only list books read by 0 people this year because there were so many books read by 0, 1, or 2 people.)

Book recs

2010-01-03T22:15:54Z

Obviously if I reread a book, I like it a lot, but it's not as easy to tell with a list of new reads. I went through my list from last year and divided them into four categories.

Books I loved, which I totally recommend and will probably reread some day (if I haven't already):
Doctor Who: Stone Rose by Jac Rayner
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Looking for Alaska by John Green
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Paper Towns by John Green
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Girl At Sea by Maureen Johnson
The Dragon Princess by E. D. Baker
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
Fathom by Cherie Priest
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart
The Boy Book by E Lockhart
The Boyfriend List by E Lockhart

Books I liked; which I still recommend and I may or may not read them again, depending:
Sirius, the dog star by Martin H. Greenberg and Alexander Potter
Mort by Terry Pratchett
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson
Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
The Salamander Spell by E. D. Baker
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
Thirsty by M.T. Anderson
Imaginary Friends edited by John Marco and Martin H. Greenberg
Love is Hell by Melissa Marr, Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Gabrielle Zevin, and Laurie Faria Stolarz
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded by John Scalzi
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
The Seven Towers by Patricia C. Wrede
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body by Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby
Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss
Epic by Conor Kostik
Saga by Conor Kostik
Mind-Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld, ed
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson

Books I thought were okay or was indifferent about; I'm not saying are necessarily they're bad, but they didn't resonate with me and I will definitely not reread them:
Uncharted Territory by Connie Willis
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Tithe by Holly Black
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier
I sold my soul on ebay by Hemant Mehta
David Inside Out by Lee Bantle
Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
The poison eaters & other stories by Holly Black

Books I didn't care for and don't recommend (just my opinion, however):
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye
The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn
The Bar Code Rebellion by Suzanne Weyn
Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The White Mists of Power by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
Roar by Emma Clayton
Ash by Malinda Lo
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Makers by Cory Doctorow

I did leave out all of the Doctor Who and related books except one. The lists were getting so long already, and a lot of them were rather difficult to classify, since I didn't actually think they were very good books (at all) but listening to audiobooks read by cast members gave a different kind of appeal.

Like I said before, reviews of most books can be found at imperfectletter.