Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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I got a Kindle!

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Well … I bit the bullet and went and bought a Kindle. I’ve been look at the Kindle and thinking about getting one for at least a year.

Last weekend I finally decided that the time had come to get one. Why .. well maybe it had something to do with the super heavy novel that I’m trying to finish reading (The Girl who played with Fire). The thought of reading it on something that weighs just over half a pound was appealing. I mean, have you see how thick and heavy the novel – The Girl Who Played with Fire is? It must weight four or five pounds!

I ordered the Kindle on Saturday and it arrived last Tuesday – a day earlier than had been estimated. Of course I had to play with my new toy within minutes of it’s arrival.

I had already downloaded a few (21) free Kindle books from Amazon over the weekend. Did you know they have quite a few classics (pre 1923) that they offer for free? They also have a version of kindle for the PC so even if you don’t get an actual Kindle you can still read books created for the Kindle on your computer or even your iPhone or iPad.

The first thing I did with the Kindle was to start reading the instruction manual that came loaded in the Kindle. The Kindle was very easy to figure out, but reading the manual gave me a way to start getting used to using the Kindle and reading a book on a computer like doohickey rather than on paper. It only took me about 10 minutes into the manual to start becoming very comfortable reading on the Kindle.

I still haven’t finished reading the manual. I wanted to get started reading something I was interested in as soon as possible so I transferred the many free books that I’d found on Amazon to my Kindle and later that evening I went shopping for more books – Ones that I actually paid for.

Kindle books come in a wide range of prices. To justify the expense of buying the Kindle I’m trying to get books that are $6 and under … so I guess I won’t be getting any newly published books for a while. I’m in Canada so the prices and deals aren’t as good for me as it is for my American friends. Oh and I’ve also found several other websites where I can download or buy more books that will work on the Kindle.

So I guess I’ll be reading as much as possible in what little spare time I have.

I’m not thrilled with how Amazon is set up for finding Kindle books. If you’re just browsing it’s kind of hard to find books in the price range that you’re interested in. It’s kind of tedious like filling out an employment screening form. I certainly got used to reading on the Kindle faster than I have searching for books I want to read.

Do you have a Kindle or have you tried reading eBooks on your computer, iPhone or iPad? How do you like reading books on something like the Kindle? I’m enjoying it, but I tend to read on my side in bed so I’m terribly afraid of falling asleep and dropping the Kindle only to wake up as it crashes to the floor!

Oh and if anyone knows of some good sites where I can get really good deals on eBooks I’d love to hear about them.





Stephen King on The Hour and surnames in China

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I was just watching The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC. George used to be a Much Music V-Jay, then last year he hosted a US game show or talk show (The One?) that I think failed miserably, but his show “The Hour” is actually pretty cool.

He babbles away about great topics and ends up interviewing some pretty interesting people. I’ve just watched him interview Mia Farrow and now in a minute or two he’s going to be talking with Stephen King.

Just before his Stephen King interview begins he started talking about how common certain names are in the US. Smith of course is the most common name and King is the 30th most common surname. Did you know that in China with it’s population of about a billion people that there are only 100 surnames? There’s something like 97 million Wangs, and 98 million Lee’s and so on!

Hmmm 97 million Wangs. Why doesn’t that line sound quite right? LOL

Can you imagine trying to find someone in a phone book there? George said the Chinese goverment is finally going to allow people to combine last names so their kids could end up with the surname of the mother or father or perhaps a hyphenated surname. Hopefully this will make a few new surnames come into play. They certainly need some!

Now I’m going to watch one of my favorite authors … excuse me for a moment while I hang on to his every word.

A new memoir – Defiance

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I was just reading about an interesting new book that I think I’m going to buy as it sounds like a good read. It’s called “Defiance” and it’s a true story that has apparently made the KGB and the DHS want to get rid of the author.

The story, written by Alex Konanykhin, a self made tycoon in post-Soviet Russia, talks about how by the age of 25 he’s created and controlled the largest bank in Russia, but that’s where his troubles began.

Apparently the KGB kidnapped him and stole his fortune which led to Alex Konanykhin to make a daring escape and move to the US in 1992. Unfortunately his troubles weren’t over when he moved to the land of opportunity because he ended up having to fight the FBI, INS, and Justice departments in order to hold onto his freedom and his very life.

In this memoir you can read about how the Russian mafia took out a contract on him, and how the US government is still trying to deport him back to his homeland of Russia where he’d likely end up being killed. Alex is only 39 now- so all of this has happened in the last 14 years. He’s already lived through a lot of trouble and it’s not over yet.

On the Book Website you can even read deleted chapters, and look at photos and various documents that are related to the book and what has happened in Alex’ life so far. Yep, I think this a book that I’m going to buy. It certainly sounds interesting to me.

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