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Mentioned in a previous post, Jenn and I took a road trip recently and listened to audiobooks to break up the drive. We made it through all of The Ethical Assassin, but halfway into the second book, we rolled into the driveway and crawled seat-sore asses into the house. As I ride a combo of the bus and MAX light-rail to work everyday, the audio CDs stayed in the car for Jenn to listen to. I was far too lazy to put mp3s on my Creative Zen. As a result, I bought a copy of Nature Girl. I skipped right to the middle and picked up where I left off. This was a half and half book. half audio, half text. Nature Girl was worth the time invested and the hoops jumped through to learn how it all worked out. Carl Hiaasen’s Nature Girl is set in Florida. I dont mean Miami or Orlando. We are talking gators, poisonous snakes, fire ants and 10,000 islands wildlife refuge. Sammy Tigertail, blue eyed half Seminole has decided to become a hermit. His first day as a boat guide for the tribe, a tourist has ...

Ingeborg Pils did a fantastic job when putting together her book? ‘Baking For Your Dog: Tasty Treats For Your Four-Legged Friends’. essentially no more than a glorified cookbook for the niche market of loving dog owners, it was still an enjoyable read. her introduction reminds not to cook anything with toxic properties for dogs, which a surprising number of people have no idea about even if they have owned a dog for decades. no grapes or raisins, onions or chocolate. The book is broken into sections for the vegetarian owners, for dogs who prefer super treats, healthy biscuits. most of the recipes are pretty yummy sounding even for humans, which is very okay as everything in this book uses human grade food. examples of things i would eat from this cookbook: Crunchy Pumpkin Crescents Bonnie’s Banana Cookies Crispy Bacon Rolls Mimi’s Muesli Muffins Apple and Carrot Dumplings Recipes i would NOT eat: Polenta Cookies with Liver Sausage Scamps Ground Beef Cookies Pippa’s Tripe Cookies i thin...

Thank you Mr Doctorow. Doctorow, co-editor of Boing Boing and Copyright activist, released The Makers back in 2009, (or technically 2001 depending on which revision you reference)and i have been itching to read it. I never had the 25 bucks to go buy the hardback book though. i mean, i HAD the money, but getting 3 books for 25 bucks is always a hard thing to beat, so it just never came to fruition. I had never read a Doctorow novel before this, and am glad that i made this my first. When i finally got my Kindle2 (yes, i broke down and bought one) i was searching out some free (non-pirated) books to put on the device and came across The Makers. The novel was published simultaneously through Tor Books as well as Creative Commons for e-distribution. Cory’s only request is that if you enjoy the book, dont send him cash, buy a copy of the book and donate it to an organization or library in need. Prior to sale, Doctorow also published  a Serialized version directly on the Tor Blog, with t...

A couple months back, i read Patient Zero, book one of Jonathan Maberry’s “Joe Ledger” novels. Because Patient Zero was so stinking good, The Dragon Factory arrived with a taint of wariness to it. I was fearful that book 2 of the Ledger series was going to disappoint.. I mean, how can a semi-secret military science team battle terrorists and genetically modified “zombies” in book one and still have enough spunk for a second book? My fear was that the Ledger series blew its load after a 2 hour marathon, leaving nothing for round two. I was dead wrong… My oh my, how could I ever think such things? Joe Ledger has some stamina to him. Enough to f-with folks all night every night till the job is done. In Dragon Factory, you will run across? mass conspiracy, genetic mods, Nazi fringe groups, assassinations. The plot line is twisted enough to leave MC Escher impressed but looking over his shoulder into the shadows. If you were to combine the best DNA aspects from Clancy’s Jack Ryan, 24′s Jack...

Long car rides.. one of my favorite things in the whole world. an extravagant excuse to burn gasoline, smoke too many cigs, drink excessive gas station coffee, pee on roadside trees, and eat copious amounts of jerky. also a great time for the Audio Book, something i rarely have time for in daily life due to standard books, music, and other daily things. on our recent trip to California, we planned ahead. Hitting up the Public Library, we gathered 3 Audio books. enough that we would not run out while on the road (and if lucky, would be able to finish at least two in out allotted road time). we made it through 1 and a half. i will have to find time somehow to finish the second. ~~ The Ethical Assassin has been a bit of a desired read. At goodwill, on multiple occasions, both Jenn and I have picked this book up and perused it, waffling as to whether it is one we should invest 3 bucks in. Turns out, we should have, as it was quite fantastic. If not available at Goodwill, we will end up pur...