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The Help by Kathryn Stockett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved loved loved this book! Once I started reading, it was hard to stop!

It’s about what it was like for black maids to work for white families in Mississippi in the 60s. I liked the 3 main characters whose point of views the story was told from. The chapters written in the dialect didn’t bother me, and that kind of thing usually does bother me. I like the way the story unfolds with a good mix of seriousness and humor. I got really nervous at times and couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen.

I know one of the reasons I enjoyed the book was that it’s set in and around my hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. I recognized a lot of the areas that were mentioned. It sucks to think that things were that bad just 50 years ago. The story begins about 16 years before I was born. A lot has changed and a lot still needs to change.

It’s a great book. Check it out if you haven’t already. I’ll probably be watching the movie sometime this week.

HTML5 Cookbook by Christopher Schmitt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A good book. Well-written with helpful examples. It looks like they tried to make things a lot better with HTML5.

The book does a great job of explaining HTML5 features. It presents everything in the form of a problem and a solution. It shows features that are widely supported, features that are supported by some browsers, and features that aren’t supported by any browsers yet. You get workarounds for pretty much every feature just in case the user is using a browser that doesn’t support the feature.

Rule 34 by Charles Stross
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the latest Sword & Laser pick. It’s based around the Internet meme Rule 34 that says if it exists, then there’s a porn for it. The book is set in the near future in Scotland and there’s a police force set up to make sure people aren’t doing anything illegal in this regard. Overall, I thought the book was okay. It’s definitely not my favorite S&L pick.

Most of the book is told from the point of view of one of 3 main characters. As you get further into the book, more characters are introduced. Just like the A Songs of Ice and Fire series, the name of the point of view character for that chapter is at the beginning. The problem is that I didn’t care for most of the characters. And didn’t care for the author’s writing style either.

An odd thing about this book is that it’s mostly written in the 2nd person point of view. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book in this point of view before. Made up example: “You wake up. You get out of bed, take a shower, and put some clothes on. You grab your keys and head out the door.” Weird, isn’t it? The “you” isn’t the reader, it’s the point of view character for that chapter. I got used to it, and it didn’t bother me after a while.

Something that did bother me was the Scottish dialect/vernacular. I’ve always hated reading dialogue written in the vernacular because it’s makes for slow reading. In this book, there were words written in a Scottish accent and words that I didn’t know the meaning of. Annoying.

I suggest passing on this book unless you’re a fan of the author. I’ve heard that his earlier work is better, so check that out instead.

CSS3 For Web Designers by Dan Cederholm

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m not a design person, but I learned a lot and I think I’ll get a lot of use out of what I learned. It gives a good overview of CSS3 features that can be used now, even though CSS3 isn’t finished yet (as far as I know). It focuses on non-critical aspects of the experience layer so that people using browsers that don’t yet support these features won’t know that they’re missing anything. It’s short, to the point, and even funny in a lot of places. Definitely worth checking out.

P.S. – I don’t feel bad about including this type of book in the 20 I want to read for the year. I did read this book all the way through and I plan on reading a couple of trilogies that are counted as 1 book on Goodreads.  3 down, 17 more to go.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I finally got around to reading some Dresden Files. I really enjoyed the TV show and I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not to read the books.

I’m not big on urban fantasy but I liked this book a lot. I don’t the 1st person perspective, the way that some points were repeated too many times, and some aspects of the magic system. However, I did like the story and the character, especially Harry Dresden. This book sets up the world nicely. I’m pretty sure I’ll be reading more in this series and re-watching the TV show.

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good end to a great series! All fantasy fans should read this trilogy!

It’s been about 2 years since I first started this book, but it didn’t take long to get back into it. My only issue is that the climax went on too long. Other than that, it was great. I wouldn’t mind reading other books set in this world.

Here’s my list for 2012. Hopefully I’ll have an even better success rate than I did in 2011.

• Listen to music more. I want to try to get back into music like I used to be.
• Read 20 books. I read 17 this year according to Goodreads. 20 should be doable.
• Go to a Halloween party. I’ve never been to one or even dressed up for Halloween. That needs to change.
• Go to a Christmas party. I’ve never been to one of these either.
• Buy new clothes. I shouldn’t have any excuses not to this year. I want to buy a few nice things while I’m at it.
• Meet new people. I should meet plenty of new people in Portland.
• Do social gaming. Whether it’s board games or online video games, I want to game more with other people. Playing with by myself gets old after a while.
• Start buying collectibles. I want to grow my collection of geeky items. I have Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Dexter-related items, but I want more.

With everything going on lately, I had kinda forgotten that Christmas happened this year. Since neither my mother and nor my sister were in Jackson this year, I didn’t even go home. It’s the first time I’ve ever spent Christmas alone.  I wasn’t completely alone.  Reese is always here, but you know what I mean.

What did I get this year?  I got Darksiders on the Xbox 360 and the first book in the Dresden Files series from a friend.  I got usual movie theater gift cards from my boss at MSU before I left there.  I got the Dresden Files TV series from a kind friend on Twitter. I participated in Twitter Secret Santa again this year and got an awesome USS Enterprise pizza cutter.  I don’t think I’m going to use it.  I think I’ll keep it as a collectible.  If last year is any indication, my sister will probably find the time to send her gift to me around February.

Overall, I just wasn’t into Christmas this year.  I hope it’s different next year.  I hope that whether I’m in Oregon or Mississippi I get to spend Christmas Day with people I care about.

Hamlet, William Shakespeare. This is the first book I read on my Kindle! I wanted to read it because the overall story one of my favorite current TV shows, Sons of Anarchy, is influenced by it. Hard to judge this since it’s so old and the speech is so different that it was hard to understand what people were talking about sometimes. It’s alright. The David Tennant movie version is arriving from Netflix today. Maybe I’ll enjoy that more.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson. This is the last book in The Millennium Trilogy :(. What a great end to the series! It was a continuation of the story started in the last book and it tied up all the loose ends nicely. The last 2 books were their own complete story. I know there’s a 4th book in legal limbo, but I would be happy if there were the last one.

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis. I read this on my Kindle for free thanks to Amazon’s Lending Library thingy. It’s about how one of the poorest baseball teams, the Oakland A’s, managed to win so many games and do well against much richer teams. It’s a good book if you like baseball, which I do, though not as much as I used to. As much as I love statistics, there was too much of it in this book. Maybe I would’ve liked this more if I read it when I was more into baseball. Another thing, I didn’t like the way that players were thought of as chess pieces instead of human beings. I need to read some fiction quickly.

I’m pretty sure there’s a way to embed my Goodreads review here, so I’ll probably do that from now on.

I added all the Kindle books I have acquired to my reading list. Woah! I’m going to try to get through 20 of the unread ones and not add any new ones in 2012. Like that’ll happen.

• Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie
• A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham
• The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
• Under the Amoral Bridge: A Cyberpunk Novel, Gary A Ballard
• Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!, Terry Brooks
• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
• The Awakening and Selected Short Stories, Kate Chopin
• Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
• Principle-Centered Leadership, Stephen R. Covey
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
• Bleak House, Charles Dickens
• Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens
• The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection, Arthur Conan Doyle
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Paranoia, Joseph Finder
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
• No Mercy, John Gilstrap
• The Deputy, Victor Gischler
• Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• The Associate, John Grisham
• Ford County: Stories, John Grisham
• In Her Name: Empire, Michael R. Hicks
• Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• Daisy Miller, Henry James
• The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemison
• 11/22/63, Stephen King
• The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
• The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights, James Knowles
• Mercury Swings, Robert Kroese
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
• The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson
• Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis
• Completing the Cycle, Mike Lewis
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• I Am Number Four, Pittacus Lore
• The Giver, Lois Lowry
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
• A Dance With Dragons, George R.R. Martin
• Crimson City, Liz Maverick
• Letters to Steve: Inside the E-mail Inbox of Apple’s Steve Jobs, Mark Milian
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
• Batman: Year One, Frank Miller
• Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• The Hangman’s Daughter, Oliver Pötzsch
• L.A. Noire, Rockstar Games
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
• Blue Boy, Rakesh Satyal
• Hamlet, William Shakespeare
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Private Parts, Howard Stern
• Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain
• The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain
• King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Unknown
• The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks
• Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
• Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
• The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
• The Optimist’s Daughter, Eudory Welty
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams
• Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 – Unmanned, Brian K. Vaughan

It’s been about a month since I got my first Kindle. I was either going to get a Kindle Touch or a Kindle Fire, both new models. I decided to get a Kindle Touch because of the E Ink (Electronic Ink). I know how much I’ve hated reading books on my computer and I figured the E Ink would be easier on my eyes.

I love my Kindle Touch! I’ll be reading paper books as long as they print them, but I’m getting a lot of use out of the Kindle. I’ve read at work when I needed a break, in the waiting area at the doctor’s office, in the waiting area at the mechanic, on the stationary bike, etc. I feel like I’m getting in a lot more reading. Navigating in the menus is a little slow, but I don’t have to do that much. I’ve had it for a month and haven’t had to recharge it yet. Also, I’m really digging the touch screen. I am very pleased.

Before the Kindle arrived, I already had about 40 books for it. I got most of them for free from Amazon or from author or publisher websites. I won’t have a problem with finding stuff to read for a long time, not that I did before. I’m a little slow to embrace devices that take me away from physical media. Once I do, I’m usually happy that I did. As long as I still have the physical media.

One suggestion that I’ve mentioned before on Twitter. Since I still like physical media, if you buy the paper version of a book, I think Amazon should give you the Kindle version for free or give for a small additional charge. It would be almost like buying a blu-ray and getting a digital copy with it. That way I can read my paper copy at home and read my electronic copy when I’m on the go and not have to worry about carrying a book around and possibly damaging it. I’m sure they’ve already thought of this. Maybe it’ll happen one day.