Author: Geoff W

Reading my way through life.
Random

Is It Really Technology?

Geoff W

Thirteen months ago I wrote about Spritz, a speed reading technology that Michael finally mentioned on Books on the Nightstand this past week. And even though I think it’s an awesome technology for non-leisure reading, I want to talk about something else.

2015 04-09 Turtleback Cover

I don’t remember when I bought this, but it was definitely pre-2003 and I completely forgot I owned one until I stumbled across it last December in a desperate attempt to find my passport. I decided to write about it as I’m trekking through The Witching Hour which clocks in at over 1,000 pages and the cover was starting to get pretty beat up from being shoved into my bookbag constantly. And this will most definitely help out with that. If you didn’t read what the left half of the photo says, I’m sure you’re asking what the hell is that?

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Books

Book 343: Year of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks

Geoff W

I picked this novel up back in November 2012, and as is usually the case, I’m sad I didn’t read it sooner. I enjoyed Brooks’ March, but apparently not enough to buy and read the rest of her works immediately.

Zombies may be all the rage these days, but plague has been around and written about for so much longer. Zombies, according to Wikipedia at least, didn’t appear in popular culture until the 1800s, whereas plague has been a stark reality off-and-on since the 1300s.

Now imagine three hundred years after the Black Death ravaged Europe, you live in a small village with fewer than 500 people in central England. In less than a year more than 2/3 of the people were dead and you were one of the survivors to witness this and all of it is because of the plague. What would you do? How would you respond? Well this is that village’s tale and the flashback to what happened in this “plague village,” and it is not the only plague village, check out Eyam via Wikipedia.

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Updates

March Recap 2015

Geoff W

2015 03-15 Coffee ShopsSo far 2015 is turning out to be one hell of a roller coaster. Every time something great happens it’s like there’s someone waiting to smack you in the face before you get too excited or stay happy for too long.

The major positives are 1) we’re 1/4 of the way through the year so we’re past the “Monday” of 2015. 2) We beat the record so all the snow was worth it. And 3) Most of the snow has melted in Boston (even though it snowed this week), and we’re finally starting to see signs of spring including a couple of 50+ (10C) degree days over the past two weeks and the sun is out a lot more than it has been. It never ceases to amaze me how an extra 10-15 minutes of sunlight a day can seriously improve your attitude! As the weather has been so iffy lately I’ve spent a lot of time in coffee shops and curled up reading books, and thus the starting photo. (Yes that’s a spoon pushed into the cement.)

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ARC, Books

Book 342: The Anxiety Toolkit – Alice Boyes

Geoff W

My friend Caitrin (of podcast fame) sent me an article from Refinery 29 about this book and after checking it out I knew I needed to read this book. I reached out to the publisher, Perigee Books (publisher’s site), and they generously provided a copy of the book in return for my honest opinion. In addition to the book, there is an amazing free resource at theanxietytoolkit.com!

Last year I had a panic attack which resulted in a hospital visit when the lingering effects didn’t go away. I was already in therapy for stress, so I was convinced I was having a heart attack, but I wasn’t. That experience resulted in my researching more about anxiety and ways to deal with it. Between therapy last year, I “graduated” 😀 last month, and reading this book I’ve come to realize I’ve always experienced a lot of anxiety but I’ve developed really good coping mechanisms throughout the years. Now on to the book!

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Books

Book 341: Funny Girl – Nick Hornby

Geoff W

The only other Hornby I’ve read is High Fidelity (the film adaptation was meh). And I loved the film adaptation of About A Boy, so I wasn’t sure where this novel would go. I hadn’t planned on reading it, but one of my favorite podcasts, Pop Culture Happy Hour, announced they were going to do an episode a few months ago so I put it on hold and timed it almost perfectly to listen! (I missed the exact episode by a little less than week.)

I think the podcast hit the nail on the head when they talked about the story being more focused on “the show [Barabara (and Jim)] rather than the funny girl of the title, Barbara/Sophie. But what Hornby didn’t do, was show us the show; he only ever referred to specific gags, situations or dialogue. Someone on PCHH said it should’ve been called “The Show” and I can’t agree more. It would be a better title and I would definitely have chosen to read it if that were the title too!

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