Sunday Salon - Changing face of reading and Church

A couple of weeks ago, while sitting in church, I counted the number of electronic devices that people were using to read their bible off of. As you can guess, I am a regular church goer and hence I notice these sort of things and I am also a user of several e-devices and couldn't help noticing that sort of thing.  I think I counted about 10-15 devices within the area I was sitting in.

It used to be that people would bring their Bibles and it was basically one or two different versions and now I don't know how many versions people are reading off of when I am listening to a sermon (knowing my church, it probably is still one or two versions, as we have switched to primarily ESV).  Most people in church are probably reading off their iPhones or whatever smartphone they have, but there were a few that were that had their Bible on a tablet of some sort or an e-reader.

The availability of books on e-readers and tablets has changed the way people read and interact with books and I would think that there are people have multiple devices that they read off of whether they have a smartphone and an e-reader or a tablet of some sort that they do their reading.  And I think that has changed how people read and interact with their Bibles, as they can choose what app they download to read and even if they have multiple Bible apps, depending on the features that the app that they use has (the app that I primarily use doesn't have much in form of features in terms of maps, etc. and am considering at least getting another one for my iPhone so that I can at least access those sort of things that my current app doesn't have).

It will be interesting to see how churches and publishers will adapt to people using smartphones and tablets to read the Bible.

No reviews this week.

Booking Through Thursday - Carry-Ons

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

Do you bring the book(s) you’re reading with you when you go out? How?Physically, or in an e-reader of some kind? Have your habits in thisregard changed? (I know I carried books with me more when I was inschool than I do now–I can’t read while I’m driving to work, afterall.)

It really depends on where I am going.  If I am going somewhere where I know I won't likely be able to get any sort of reading done, I don't bring anything, just to resist the temptation.  But since on one of my e-readers I have downloaded a Bible app onto it, the temptation is always going to be there.  But for the most part I do bring a book with me, whether it be on one of my two e-readers (one is like a tablet and one is a more traditional e-reader) or a physical book.  I even bring a book with me to church, in case I get bored with the sermon and need to concentrate on something else.  My habits really haven't changed in bringing a book with me, because I never know how long I am going to wait for something or somebody (I even bring my tablet e-reader into a movie theatre because I read through most of the "ads" before the movie trailers and as people are filing into the movie theatre) and I sometimes bring a book to a family event because I never know if I am going to get a bit bored and need something to do. If I was going to the opera or something like that, I wouldn't bring a book; it would just be rude, but since I have a Kobo app on my phone, there is nothing really preventing me from reading something at any moment.

WWW Wednesdays (Sept. 26)

This is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B at Should be Reading.  To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll be reading next?



Answers:
1) What are you currently reading?
I am currently primarily reading Wuthering Heights and A Farewell to Arms.

2) What did you recently finish reading?
A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware (review)

3) What do you think you'll be reading next?
I probably will be reading Quiet and The Queen's Vow.

What's on Your Nightstand? (Sept. 25)

Can't believe that the end of September is already here and that in about a week and a half, Canadians will be taking part in the annual gorge fest that is Thanksgiving (Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving the second Monday in October).

Anyways, its been a couple of months since I last posted here, but life got in the way last month and I didn't do it (I think I forgot).  At the moment I reading A Farewell to Arms for my book club and Wuthering Heights for a read-a-long, along with the usual books that I have been reading throughout the year.  I am going to have A Farewell to Arms done by Saturday, well at least I hope so.

Here are the books that I have completed since the end of July:
1) The Turning of Anne Merrick
2) The Rebel Wife
3) Canada at War
4) Henry V
5) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
6) Lady of Milkweed Manor
7) Fire
8) The Crown
9) A Race to Splendor

Talk to you in about 4 weeks!

Sunday Salon - A Bunch of Randomness

Before I start, I hope that everybody is having a nice, relaxing Sunday, whatever you are doing today.

I really don't know how to describe this week.  The reason that I don't know how to describe the week is because I wasn't feeling well for most of it (got a nasty cold) and therefore didn't get much reading done this week, even though I did manage to get a book done yesterday, but most of the time I spent playing games on my Facebook account, hoping that I would be able to get out during the last of the warm weather out here on the west coast, which I was unable to do, due to the cold.  But I am hoping that I can get some more reading this coming week.

On another front I signed up for Katrina's (Callapidder Days) Fall Into Reading 2012.  I have been looking forward to this for some time and finally the sign up was available.  I didn't put much down, as I know that most of the books that I will read during the next few months will be primarily those that I just read on a hunch, but I do have a few that I am planning on reading.

Besides my reading, I am looking forward to tonight's Emmy Awards and I don't know who I want to win for best drama, since I have a couple of favourites that are in the category (Mad Men and Downton Abbey), but I am secretly hoping that Downton Abbey wins it, as I think its a better show than Mad Men, even though I still really like that show.  So for its hard to decide who I want to win, at least in that category.

And yes, I am feeling much better and should be fine next week...

Reviews:
1) A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware (review)

Fall into Reading 2012

I have been looking forward to this for a number of weeks and had been thinking about it since sometime in late August.  And now it is back!  Yay!

This fall looks like a a busy reading few months for me, between the two books for my book club this fall and the Wuthering Heights readathon.

I also have library stuff I would like to read, but that is largely dependent on my due dates for the books and what else I have on my plate and it seems that with my e-reader, the list has grown even more.

Anyways, here are the books I am for sure planning on reading:


• A Farewell to Arms
• Wuthering Heights
• Mansfield Park

I am probably going to work on completing on these books as well:

• Bleak House
• Anna Karenina
• The Taming of the Shrew (just saw a production on Friday afternoon and would like to read the play)

But those aren't a sure thing that I will get them done, but who knows with my trip to Edmonton in the next few weeks.

Have a great fall of reading everybody!

A Race to Splendor - Ciji Ware

Title: A Race to Splendor
Author: Ciji Ware
Pages: 526
Published: 2011
Genre: Historical Fiction
Challenge(s): Support Your Library, Historical Fiction
Edition: Trade Paperback
Source: Library

Description:  "Blindly, she inched along a floor pitching as violently as the deck of a boat in a midwinter storm. Her hands touched the threshold opening onto the ninth floor foyer at the instant the glass transom over her head exploded into a thousand pieces. Reflexively, Amelia cast her right arm in front of her face, but not before blood spurted from her scalp and ran down her checks. She crumpled beneath the doorframe, curling into a ball. Amelia screamed again as a twenty-five-foot expanse of wood paneling and masonry pitched outward and plunged nine stories to Montgomery Street below. She knew that no structure on landfill, no matter how well built, could withstand much more shaking without collapsing.

Then, just as suddenly, the convulsions subsided."

Early in 1906, the ground in San Francisco shook buildings and lives from their comfortable foundations.

Amidst rubble, corruption, and deceit, two women-young architects in a city and field ruled by men-find themselves racing the clock and each other during the rebuilding of competing hotels in the City by the Bay.

Based on meticulous research, A Race to Splendor tells the story of the audacious people of one of the world's great cities rebuilding and reinventing themselves after immense human tragedy. Filled with courage, passion, and conflict, Amelia Bradshaw's spirit will capture your imagination as she strives to redraft her life amidst the ruins with both help and hindrance from a wayward son of privilege who pulls her into worlds she'd never have known. (from Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: For the most part the book was pretty good and was easy to get into and I enjoyed it, but thing I didn't like about the book is that the author turned the book into a romance.  Sure I don't mind it when a book has a bit of romance in it to move the story along, but when the romance becomes the overwhelming driving force of the book, it can turn me off.  And this book did turn me off slightly with that sort of mindset.  I would have liked to see more of Amelia's struggle as a female architect rather than her falling in love with somebody who comes across as her boss.  It was also a story that should have taken me a few days rather than three months to read.

Bottom line:  I would recommend the book for those readers that like having a bit of romance mixed in with their historical fiction.  Despite its length, one should get through it in a few days, if you fully concentrated on it.

Rating: 3.5/5

Pages for 2012: 17730