Lumo
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Posts posted by Lumo
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Has anyone read an autobiography or biography that they thought was an especially good read or left a lasting impression?
It's a genre I have not read very often, however, recently I have read a few and found the description of a life very different to mine interesting to read. Therefore, I'm not too concerned about the theme (discoverer, business person, politician, soldier, monarch) but am looking for one which gives great insight into the life of the person the book is about.
Any ideas?
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I have songs I associate with Autumn and make me feel quiet inside, but not quite in the way you describe Hyzenthlay, rather than the world holding its breath before winter comes it's more looking back and contemplating the year that's passing by. However they still mark a pivotal point in the year.
So far (I'll probably think of more soon) my songs would be:
Don Henley - The End of the Innocence
Dobie Gray - Drift Away
Sting - Fields of Gold
Great idea for a playlist BTW :-)
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For some biological reason I don't fully understand, there is something in the water here at the moment that makes waves turn florescent when they break on the shoreline. Various people had been talking about it and last night I went to the beech to see what it was like. It really was quite something - a normal beach at night, then when a big wave comes in it lights up and flashes bright just as it breaks (no, I wasn't drunk...). It really did look like TV special effects were being done right in front of me.
Anyone else seen this? One of natures hidden charms I suppose :-)
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Yeah, I saw that. Seems a strange decision not to bring the Touch to the UK.
Also, the £89 version has shorter battery life and less memory than the existing Kindle 3. The cheaper price point is a winner, though.
Yes, it would be surprising if the touch never comes to the UK, and as the Kindle is likely to be a popular christmas present it would be odd if they didn't release the touch in the UK until after christmas, but one never knows.
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£89 and available from 12th October. This could be what I've been waiting for! I was hoping for a Kindle for Xmas, but at £111 I thought it a bit much to think about. This is FAR more affordable and so sleek and pocket-sized!
That seems to be the new Kindle rather than the Kindle Touch, I wonder how much the Kindle Touch will be...
EDIT: various news sites are saying there is no release date for the Kindle Touch in the UK yet :-(
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My son was amazed...because it is just a year older than himself. (He lived with it for ever, but it is really young!!)
I find it very strange talking to people who were born after something which seems 'recent' to me happened. I was around 17 or so when google was launched, the idea that someone born since then is already able to talk about it makes me realise how long ago that actually was, I suppose as I get older this will become more and more frequent.
And yet they don't seem to have done anything special for it - that amazes me!
ETA: And the reason for that would be that we're wishing Google a BELATED happy birthday - according to Wiki, Google search engine was launched on 15th September 1997.
Hmmm, interesting, I wonder when it became popular, must have been around 2000 that I started using it as my main search engine. Around the time I also used FireFox (or FireBird or whatever it was called then) as my main browser.
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Ahh only the $79 one is out now, the touchscreen "Kindle Touch" is not released until November:
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NEW Kindle, Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire released
They look good to me (well not so sure about the Kindle Fire), what does everyone else think?
I'm in the US at the moment and am tempted to buy the $79 version...
Kindle Touch:
Kindle Fire
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It's a google birthday cake party today.
GooooooooooooogleI remember coming across google for the first time, I was using Yahoo searches on a dial up modem and a friend at school said I should give this new search engine called google a try.
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...I didn't see anything epic in Crime and Punishment.
Yes, while I found it an excellent read, I thought its reputation spoilt it a bit as I too was expecting something more epic than it actually turned out to be.
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Yes it is. You can also collect passages and put them in a separate "clippings" file if you want. Not that I have bothered though I am always too busy just reading on it!
Thanks, that sounds very useful. I often see passages that I like or want to remember for some reason, but I seldom remember them so I find myself flipping through pages or even scratching my head wondering what book it was that had that passage I could sort-of remember and wanted to check again.
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With the kindle is it possible to highlight text or leave permanent bookmarks? For example if I saw a sentence or passage that I really liked could I mark it in some way to be able to find it easily months/years/books later?
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I think The Help will be the first one I get then.
I was also quite tempted by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, having never read the book, however, I have seen the 1970s BBC TV version of it, my attention drifted for a moment and then I realised I had no idea what was going on and who everyone was...
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Thanks for the replies, I think I will give it a go before I travel next.
Being able to preview is great and I was also thinking of only getting unabridged longer books. At the moment first on my list is The Help, however that might change when I browse through the site, I'll probably see many that I want.
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I like audiobooks when travelling or sitting about for a long time and when I am a bit tired to read a book for hours on end but need some entertainment to pass the time.
I'm a big fan of librivox and podiobooks and have heard some excellent books from there. I also look on eBay for bargain second hand audiobooks.
I'm thinking of signing up to Audible - what do people think about this service - is it worth it?
I have some specific questions: do I get to preview a narrator before buying a book? If I get the one book a month service and want a second book, do I need to pay full price or is there a membership rate?
Is there another source of reasonably priced audiobooks?
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I have never seen them live, looks like I never will now, even if they have a comeback tour it won't be the same as a pre-split concert.
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REM: end of an era
We have lost one of the most influential rock bands of the past 30 years, says Dave Simpson
REM's split is one of those announcements that will leave fans absolutely stunned, and yet, as the dust settles, it has probably been brewing for some time. Indeed, the Athens, Georgia band have arguably never been quite the same since 1997, when drummer Bill Berry decided that life in a stadium-filling rock band was not quite as exciting as his hay farm.
Ever since, they seem to have been on a slow but steady artistic and commercial decline. While their last two albums have been extremely well received, it's been hard to avoid the perception that the band's once-unassailable relevance was slipping away, and the fact that they didn't feel moved to tour either album suggests they were feeling the same way.
And yet, we have undoubtedly lost one of the most important and influential rock bands of the past 30 years. For their hardcore following, REM's artistic zenith came in the 1980s, when signed to the smallish independent IRS label. Albums from 1983's Murmur through to 1987's breakthrough, Document, trailblazed a new style of alternative rock. Based on guitarist Peter Buck's Byrds-like Rickenbacker chimes and Michael Stipe's mostly unintelligible vocals, songs such as Exhuming McCarthy (Stipe's aghast reaction to the Reagan era) sounded enormously significant. An air of mystery was partially eroded when it became clear what Stipe was actually singing about and the lyrics were as uncharacteristically prosaic as "Shiny happy people laughing/Meet me in the crowd."
...rest of the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/sep/21/rem-rock-band-split
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French Vanilla coffee - never had it until last week. I'm on holiday and trying out the local coffees and teas.
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I think some people might also do it to change the sound of their name. For example if they are writing serious style detective books, macho action books or romance novels targeted at female readers they might want a different sound of name for each (and indeed a male writer might decide to change their gender to a female one).
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Ahh I hadn't realised it was the advert version. However just being on the screensaver and main menu I'm not sure if I would mind. Also good point about checking if it works with a .co.uk account. I could use a .com account and a US address, but that seems an extra level of fuss and the money saved would need to make it worthwhile.
I heard on the radio (so no idea if true) that Amazon are investigating the idea of 'renting' books to Kindles. I agree that paying more for an electronic version than a paper one seems odd and not worthwhile, but if I could rent it for a few weeks for much less than either the printer or electronic cost I would be much more interested.
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I'm now on holiday in the US and noticed the kindle on amazon.com is $114, which is just under UK£75, quite a bit less than the £111 amazon.co.uk charge. It's even more tempting now, but it's probably even closer to a new version coming out...
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...However, I found it slow, uninspiring and quite predictable, to be honest I couldn't wait to finish it, though I have to confess the ending bought a tear to my eye.
I have not read this one, but have read some of the earlier ones in the series. I think your comment there applies to them too. The first one I found interesting, particularly because of the location and some of the character descriptions, but as I read the later books in the series I found the stories a bit thin. This put me off reading any more (I still have one unread one on my bookshelf).
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Top Gear has been caught staging their electric cars running out of charge at incontinent and unexpected times:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/aug/05/top-gear-bbc
This confirms my view of the show and presenters going for cheap and easy laughs over anything proper. However as I haven't watched the show for many years I'll not comment more.
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People who walk along a crowded street in front of you then suddenly, without warning STOP
If you wrote a book about your work, what would it be called?
in General Book Discussions
Posted · Edited by Duncan
All of the titles so far sound good and some of them make me want to read the book, so get writing!
Titles that come to mind would be:
"Please can you pass me the bone cutters : Things I never thought I would hear myself say"
OR
"I've never fallen asleep in the sink : The student guide to life in the lab"
OR
actually I probably shouldn't post this one ;-) ;-)