Reading Speed Test

Take the Staples Reading test. See what your reading speed is. Post your results in the comment section.

Source: Staples eReader Department

My Kobo Review

Today I purchased a Kobo e-reader touch edition. The hardest part to hooking it to my Wi-Fi was crawling under my computer desk to get WEP key number. It recognized my Wi-Fi and displayed it on the screen for me to select. Once that was done I could go to the store online and download a few free books. Classical books mainly. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol, The Count of Monte Cristo, Moby Dick, The Invisible Man and, believe it or not, the United States Constitution.

  

So far I am having fun just learning how to use it and the many option. I was surprise that it didn’t come with a 200 page manual. At first I was puzzled. Then I realized that if you tap the ? in the square it takes you to the HELP page and there you find your user manual – online.

I read a lot of reviews before I decided to buy the Kobo and they all were favorable. Most preferred the Kobo over the more expensive Kindle from Amazon. I’m sure I will be satisfied with my Kobo. At any rate, I will keep you posted.

This is Man's Best Friend & Fishing Buddy

Check out this video. If you love to fish this is the dog you would want to have, though on second thought, this dog may be to much compitition. My luck the dog would catch more fish than I would.

"I'm Back!!!

To Quote Mark Twain, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated". I have not died, though some may have wished that I had. Who, I'm not sure. Actually, I can't think of anyone who would wish that I were dead, so that really is a unfactual and dumb statement for me to make. Maybe I should take another year off of writing.

So what have I been doing? Not writing as I should have been. But, that's going to change. I have taken up flyfishing and fly tying. At this point I am not very good at either but I will improve. I would like to share a video on fly fishing that is my insperation to continue fly fishing.

The Stranger in the Stranger

Well, my couple of days has lasted 21days. Hope this doesn't become a habit.

This story is composed of 4 parts, Meursault’s mother’s death, Meursault killing an Arab, Meursault’s trial and Meursault’s sentence to death.

As I said in my last post I thought the main character and narrator, Meursault, was strange. Very strange. This man is totally detached from the world around him. His mother’s death doesn't faze him nor the love and proposal from his girlfriend, Marie. He is totally detached at his trial and comes to peace with his death sentence. He shows as much emotion as a rock. He doesn’t care what happens around him or to him. He just goes with the flow. For example, in Part 1 Chapter 5 his girlfriend Marie asks him if he wanted to marry her.

"That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't love her. "So why marry me, then?" she said. I explained to her that it didn't really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Besides, she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes. Then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said, "No." She stopped talking for a minute and looked at me without saying anything. Then she spoke. She just wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with whom I was involved in the same way. I said, "Sure."

He is totally detached from life. What ever happens happens. I didn’t see any real joy, excitement, sorrow, anger, frustration, pity, remorse, sadness or love. Though at one point he said he got bothered in Part 2 Chapter 4.

"One thing bothered me a little, though. Despite everything that was on my mind, I felt like intervening every now and then, but my lawyer kept telling me, "Just keep quiet-it won't do your case any good." In a way, they seemed to be arguing the case as if it had nothing to do with me. My fate was being decided without anyone so much as asking my opinion. There were times when I felt like breaking in on all of them and saying, "Wait a minute! Who's the accused here? Being the accused counts for something. And I have something to say!" But on second thought, I didn't have anything to say."

See! This man is going to the guillotine and he doesn’t have anything to say in his defense. Why? In the end, he is fascinated by the guillotine that will take his life. While in his prison cell he realizes he will be sentenced to death for killing the Arab on the beach, and he rationalizes that death is inevitable. He just hopes that, well here, I’ll let him tell you:

Actually, this would be a good book to take apart chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, word by word, and explore it and its author fully. To know the book is to know the author. His likes his dislike. What he love and what he hates. Albert Camus was a socialist who opposed capital punishment. I feel there is some symbolism there if you choose to look for it.

“For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.”

Maybe once I am retired and have more time.

My first reading of Classics - The Stranger by Albert Camus

Well, today is January 1, 2010 and I have started my Classics Reading of 2010. I actually got the book last week and couldn't help but start reading.

At times, during my reading of the book, I thought the Stranger was definatly title correctly. The main character is a strange person.

Give me a couple of days to finish and I will explain. All in all, it is a very interesting book and I am enjoying my read.

My Classic Book Reading List for 2010

I have put together a Classic Book Reading List for 2010. I have chosen 12 Classics and will read 1 a month. The list is as follows:

Janurary - The Stranger by Albert Camus
February - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitzyn
March - 1984 by George Orwell
April - For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
May - Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
June - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
July - Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson
August - Metamorphis by Franz Kafka
September - The Invisable Man by H.G. Wells
October - Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
November - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
December - The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

So there it is. Wish me luck. I  have always had a difficult time getting through most classic books. Each week while I am reading I will post what think, like and dislike about the book.

I start in one day (January 2010).