Pot Luck #57: TXT U L8R - Texting

I send text messages all the time. Usually it's not for an emergency. Normally it's to communicate a message without having to have a long conversation over the phone. I do not use the lingo discussed in the module, but I do abbreviate words quite often. After reading the article, it seems to me that it is the best solution to avoid texting while driving. I don't know if we need a law though, it should be obvious.

Books, Readers and Beyong: #53 Finding Books Online

Exercise One



The three closest bookstores to my location are Book-A-Million, Katy Budget Books, and the Bookworm. Books-A-Million has the best looking website. It's orderly, colorful, and professional looking. The Bookworm's website is also orderly. It also has that mom and pop shop feel. However, it's page colors are dull. Katy Budget Books website is b r i g h t! Bright yellow, that is. It has great content on its page, especially the notifications of visiting authors, but it' website is disorderly.





Exercise Two


I found the book Undead and unworthy available online at Books-A-Million. The online price for the book is 15.63. There was not an eBook or Audio version available. I was unable to find it on the other two websites in any format.






Exercise Three

This is not the first time I've downloaded an eBook. I like how the each section or chapter is organized. The problem for me is that if I'm reading a lot of text my eyes get tired. And, my body is not comfortable or relaxed. However, I do enjoy perusing nonfiction eBooks online, especially cookbooks. I have text and images to look at. This keeps me interested. My preference for reading is to read a print copy of work. I'm able to get into a comfortable position or take my book anywhere without worrying about theft, which would be the case with packing a computer around.

Books, Readers, and Beyond: #54 Social Networking Through Books

Exercise 1


I have never formerly been a member of a book club. However, I did try to start one with a couple of my coworkers. The first time it was with one coworker and we read three books. It was fun! The second time, it was with two other coworkers. But, we had other books we were reading or the timing just wasn't right and we just forgot about it. If I were to join a real book club it would be in person.





Exercise 2

I would be interested in creating a romance book club at my library. There are several subdivisions of romance that could be explored. I've read historical and contemporary, but right now I'm into paranormal. Using Reading Group Choices at http://www.readinggroupchoices.com/search/search1.cfm I found a book named Undead and unworthy by Mary Janice Davidson.

Exercise 3

Goodreads rated Undead and unworthy as 3.89 and Shelfari rated it as 4.0. That's pretty close. Judging by its ratings, it appears to be a good read. I was surprised that on each website both titles were rated by several hundreds of people. It's good to see others out their talking about books you enjoy reading.

http://www.goodreads.com/

http://www.shelfari.com/

Pot Luck #55 Getting the Most Out of Facebook

My initial and current impression of Facebook is that it is not for a privacy lover like myself. I do not want my image or personal information to be accessible on any website, including Facebook. I created an account previously to fulfill a requirement for a class I was taking. I never deleted the account. It's been awhile ago so I can't really remember what the experience was like creating the account. However, I remember having a negative impression of it, maybe due to the fact that most people post their photos. I wasn't having any of that. And, I pretty much forgot all about Facebook until it was mentioned in conversation by a few people I knew. To my surprise, I few people I knew found me on Facebook and invited me to be their friend. I reciprocated and searched for other people that I knew. It was a simple process. However, another thing that I did not like was that Facebook shows you some of your friend's friends' because you may know them and want to invite them to be your friend. The overall concept is smart. But, we live in a dangerous world. I'm protective of my own and my friend's privacy. I believe I won't delete the Facebook account any time soon, especially since some of my friends use it. However, I believe I will need to remove a couple of people as friends. I'm not likely to log on to Facebook regularly either.

Books, Readers and Beyond: #52 What to Read

Read-a-likes
Exercise 1

The first exercise involved finding a read-a-like for a title by an author of my choosing and conducting a search with 3 website sources.


After making an initial read-a-like search on NoveList Plus for author Robert Ludlum, I received the following recommendations:


Andy McNab's Remote Control

Vince Flynn's Transfer of Power

Philip Shelby's Days of Drums

Jon Land Ben Kamal & Danielle Barnea's Walls of Jericho


I was also provided with a brief introduction to each character. Robert Ludlum was placed into the spy & political thriller genres.
http://web.ebscohost.com/novp/search?vid=1&hid=105&sid=34e11b5e-aa8f-45da-a977-6d5543b65f4c%40sessionmgr108



After trying the Library Booklists website, I was presented with approximately 70 other authors. These were all in the thrillers/adventure genres. Some of the authors were: Ken Follet, Clive Cussler, & Mary Higgins Clark. Non of the authors matched the ones I found on NoveList Plus.

http://librarybooklists.org/



My third attempt was even less successful. Using the what should I read next website, I was given several recommendations for foreign history related books. http://whatshouldireadnext.com/search



NoveList Plus was very accurate. Library Booklists more or less lumped several adventure writers together, and that's a widespread. What should I read next was totally off base. However, I after trying some searches for children's books on the last two websites mentioned, I was more successful.

Exercise 2

This exercise involved finding 2 books each for a 4th grader who is interested in animals and for her 13 year old brother who likes ghost stories. I used NoveList Plus and found the following books:

For the 4th grader

The Cricket in Times Square by Selden, George

Down Girl and Sit by Nolan, Lucy

For the 13 year old

Restless by Wallace, Rich

Vintage by Berman, Steve

Exercise 3

Exercise 3 requires one to use two website resources to find three read-a-like authors for Dean Koontz.

Using what should I read next, I was presented some choices. The following are three that I picked out:

Iris Johansen

F. Paul Wilson

Linda Medley

NoveList Plus provided the following authors:

Robert McCammon

Charles Grant

John Saul

Exercise 4

In exercise 4, one must use a website resource to find the series title, order & title of books found in the series, and resource used for the book Alanna: the first adventure by Tamora Pierce.

Using NoveList Plus, I found the following information:

Series: Song of the lioness

Author: Pierce, Tamora

Book 1 - Alanna: the first adventure

Book2 - In the hand of the goddess

Book 3 - The woman who rides like a man

Book 4 - Lioness rampant