Wednesday, April 20, 2011

AMAZON KINDLE HAPPINESS

I received the Amazon Kindle as a gift for Christmas in 2010.
I love it.
Things I love about it:
1. I have enjoyed finding free books through Amazon which means I've been revisiting many of the classics that are now free domain.
2. I have enjoyed the ability to "try" a book before buying it for the Kindle through free samples which are more than two pages and give a really good sense of the book.
3. I have enjoyed that I can put my crochet patterns and recipes in .pdf format on the Kindle which means I'm not traveling around with a ton of random pieces of paper and then losing said piece of paper. It's on my Kindle. I can bring the patterns and recipes to share without hassle.
4. It is fantastic that I can put work documents in .pdf format (mainly reports and research papers) on it. It cuts down on the paper I travel with as well as it opens up my commute to getting the reading I need to get done for work.
In short I love the Kindle.

The one and only thing that bugged me about the Kindle:
1. NO LIBRARY ACCESS. I hated that. There were programs out there to strip e-books from the library of their programming that kept them from being loaded onto a Kindle but that just didn't feel right and in most cases was a hassle. I tried it and it didn't work.
The NOOK had library e-book access. It was a bummer not to have that access.

MY YAHOO MOMENT:
Kindle is opening up its lending library program to 11,000 libraries later this year which means I can start getting my library books on the Kindle. So so so so so excited about this.
Of course I will still continue to go to the library to get books as it is still fun to have a book in hand that is hard cover etc.
Of course Wylie still loves going to the library as well which means our use of the public library isn't going away anytime soon.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Five Finger Rule...

I follow Emily Rosenbaum via her blog Wheels on the Bus. She tells it like it is and then throws in some great insight as to why and how you might be feeling the way you are in a situation. Love it.
Once again I read something that on the surface seems okay but then totally makes sense as to why I hate it.

Emily writes about a Five Finger Rule to identifying if a book is too easy, just right or too hard for you or your child to read. Pick a random page and read it to the bottom. Every time you come across a word that you do not understand or can figure out in context raise a finger (try not to raise the middle one please). If there are five fingers up at the end then the book is too hard. If none too easy.
Think about it. Pick up the book closest to you and see what you think. The book closest to me is a business book (boring I know) about The Influentials. I know all the words, I know all the context, so the book must be too easy, but if it is so easy why on earth can't I finish it. Because it's boring and not very new in thought and idea.
My Dilemma:
As a child I was continually encouraged to read at home being the youngest of three I read what was on the shelves and in the bookbags, parents bookshelves, siblings rooms etc. I read any and everything and I read far too much Lois Lenski, Judy Bloom, and Agatha Christie. I loved reading it was my world.

As a child and young adult I was continually encouraged to read but was completely and utterly limited continually about the subject matter of what I read at school. I remember hiding books (the idea!) from teachers because I would be in trouble for reading them. I am not talking about Flowers in the Attic or Forever. I'm talking about Hitler Stole Pink Bunny, The Last Empire, Blue Valentine, Zoo Boy. These were touching on things I couldn't possible experience or understand immediately but they exposed me. They made me want to know more. Most stuck with me later in life and to be honest there isn't a book I won't try.

As Wylie gets into elementary and middle school I want him to read. I want to encourage him to explore with his mind and take that learning and exploration with him through life as he learns and goes new places. I also want to be supportive in his school. Tough because as a child I read what I wanted and pretty much ignored what my teachers said were too hard.

So what do you think?


So what do you think? How do you rate a book