This week was a great chance to test out my new camera. And the “nifty fifty”. Ohhhhh the bokeh. Creamy creamy bokeh. I’d never shot anything that could drop to anything less than an f4.5 so the f1.8….glorious! And running on all manual mode (SO MUCH EASIER ON CANONS) was fun too!
Rain
The lush green fields that follow
Brightly colored leaves on the trees
And brightly colored leaves on the ground
Tangled naked branches
Fallen acorns
And pigtails with coats.
What is in your autumn?
Reading is a hobby that I will manage to fit into my life any way I can. I’ll grab a half hour before bed almost every night, no matter how tired I am. Reading at work on lunch is a common occurrence (and also why I hide in a room away from everyone so people don’t ask me the dreaded question “What are you reading?” Seriously…I hate that question except from a select few that I know are already readers. But if you are just trying to make conversation? Don’t. For serious. You don’t care. Also, I’m not going to want/be able to answer the inevitable follow up question of “What’s it about?”. Just leave me alone to my book. Don’t worry, I will recommend the heck out of anything I love already!
In fact, if you’ve read my blog at all, you’ll find a few posts about books and authors and book signings….
I love when I have too many books to read. Well, love and hate.
Right now, on my side table, I have Mockingjay**, which is the third in The Hunger Games** trilogy. It’s about halfway done.
Then, right underneath it is The Way of Kings** by Brandon Sanderson. Also about halfway done.
Underneath THAT is Knife of Dreams** and The Gathering Storm** the most recent books in the Wheel of Time series. I’m hoping to read this and the subsequent books to get refreshed before November 2nd when Towers of Midnight** comes out. (BTW….it has a trailer. Which, really….AWESOME! I’m loving this trend of book trailers that look they are for movies.)
At work, I’m reading Outlander (again) on my iPhone via the Kindle app because I can. Also, thanks to the lovely Diana Gabaldon’s blog, I discovered that the ebook is free on Amazon**. So if you are at ALL interested in the historical fiction with a twist of time travel and romance and action and, oh, just go get it. For seriously!
**Please note, I am not an Amazon affiliate. Just wanted to give you links to the books to take a look at if you are at all interested and maybe read a few pages. These are my own opinions and blah di blahblahblahzzzzzzzzz…….
First off, let me share some very very happy news! My cousin’s family has grown by two more! Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes for their Haitian children making it home.
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Back in September, I was lucky enough to help out with a book signing at my local Powell’s. It was so much fun, getting to meet Brandon Sanderson and other Wheel of Time fans.
I finally have permission to share images as well! Woo!
So here we go, just a few!
The man himself, Brandon Sanderson on the left. With a local Portland artist, Greg Manchess on the right. He is a cover artist for Tor, the publishing company for The Wheel of Time. He is getting to do a project in the future for The Wheel of Time. I cannot wait to see it!
There were also people with items inspired from the books:
A gentleman with the Sword and Dragon pin of Asha’man.
A Maiden of the Spear complete with Old Tongue tattoo.
These two gentlemen got permission to print out Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker novel and bind it for a book making class. The one on the right is even leather-bound.
After autographing it, Mr. Sanderson was quoted as saying, laughingly “Probably the only time a book of mine will be bound in leather”
These are hand painted Christmas Tree ornaments with Allomantic metal symbols from the Mistborn novels. Mr. Sanderson was VERY excited to see them.
So there are just a few images from a day way back in September. It was so much fun, I hope I can do it again!
I am a huge reader. I love books and I love re-reading books. The stories that people come up with are amazing. As a child, I learned to read very early, if only so I could be transported into other worlds whenever I wanted. Being sent to my room was never horrible, because I could always read and escape. The biggest punishment was being restricted from reading.
Some of you may remember that I met my husband from an online book community. Our daughter is named after a book character. Books have always been a significant part of my life.
One of my all time favorite book series is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It’s a series that is difficult to explain, but is kind of a historical fiction fantasy. An English nurse from 1950 gets transported through standing stones back to the 18th century Scotland. It has action, adventure, romance, history….so many things. The writing is superb, the characters are so full and the story is just amazing.
Last night, I had the priveledge of meeting Diana Gabaldon. She was so sweet and unbelievabley smart. With a bachelor’s in zoology, a master’s in marine biology and a Ph.D. in ecology, she is not your usual novelist and it shows in how she speaks, the stories she tells and the books she writes.
Diana Gabaldon, myself, my mom and my mother-in-law
The new book is phenomenal and well worth the wait.
If you are looking for another book series to read, I highly recommend Outlander. It has anything and everything one could want in a series. If you’ve read it before, let me know so I can attack you and see if you’ve read the most recent book. My mom is finishing her re-read and my mother-in-law is still on book 4, so I don’t have anyone to talk to about it!
And with that, I leave you with a poem from last night that she gave us:
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