Once Upon a Bookshelf

Tagged by Aella: Pick the closest book to you, turn to page 123, find the fifth sentence, post the next three sentences. Tag five people and post a comment to the person who tagged you once you’ve posted the three sentences.

Closest books to my desk are computer books. On the top of the pile is Learning PHP & MySQL by Michele E. Davis & Jon A. Phillips. A little boring compared to others doing this meme, I’m afraid.

The numeric ID fields, combined with a source of unique numbers, provide a way of guaranteeing the key field is unique. Specifying the auto_increment keyword when creating a column is a great way to generate a unique ID for a column. For example, if there are two authors with the name John Smith, and you use their names as a key, you’d have a problem keeping track of which Smith you’re using.

Not tagging anyone, feel free to do this if you are so inclined.

I know a lot of people who really enjoy Georgette Heyer’s books. In fact, I have never heard a bad thing about her books. So, when Sourcebooks e-mailed me asking me if I wanted to read and review one of her books on my blog, I was definitely interested. As it turns out, Sourcebooks is re-releasing a selection of Heyer’s titles this year. (In all honesty, I will admit that I am surprised that they’ve waited this long what with the number of different publications of Austen’s works one can find in the bookstores currently.) Black Sheep will be released in June.

Black Sheep centers on Abigail Wendover, a 28-year-old single woman living with her sister and niece in Bath. Fanny, Abby’s niece, is not yet of-age, and yet finds herself “in love” with Stacy Caverleigh, a fortune hunter trying to regain his own lost fortune. In an attempt to prevent an elopement between Fanny and Stacy, Abby enlists the help of Stacy’s estranged uncle, Miles Caverleigh who has recently returned to England from being exiled to India by his family in his youth. Unknown to everyone in England, India agreed with Miles quite well, and he has gained his own fortune, but he is still considered to be the “black sheep” of the Caverleigh family, and not a suitable husband for anyone from a good family. Long story short, as to be expected from this sort of book, Abigail and Miles fall in love, though Abby is torn between her love for Miles and her relationship with her family (who claim they will disown her if she marries Miles).

The characters were wonderful, and the dialogue was witty and amusing. It was predictable, but that is what you would expect from this type of book. Of course the girl’s going to get the guy, everyone’s problems are going to work out wonderfully and all will live happily ever after.

As my first foray into Heyer’s Regency romances, it was certainly successful. I finished the book feeling the complete satisfaction that only a good read can leave you with. I can see why Jane Austen fans really enjoy her books, and I will definitely be reading more of Heyer’s works.

I had the chance to see Iron Man this week with a friend of mine, and oh was it fun! I will admit that the first 15 minutes of the movie had me worried that this movie was going to be all kinds of American propaganda supporting the war on terrorism. I was pleasantly surprised after that first section to realize that it definitely more about the accountability of our own actions.

Marvel definitely did not disappoint with this movie. But then again, it’s Marvel, so what did I expect? I mean, other than Spider-Man 3 and X-Men: The Last Stand, when has Marvel ever really disappointed me? Oh wait, there was the travesty that was Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer too. BUT other than those three movies, when has Marvel Studios ever let me down? It had what I enjoy in movies - great soundtrack (how could it not be good when it opens with AC/DC’s Back in Black?), great cast, awesome special effects and snarky humour. On the topic of the humour in the movie, let’s face it, Pepper Potts had most of the best lines. And she was not some wimpy female superhero’s girlfriend like a certain Mary Jane Watson.

The villain left a little bit to be desired… I can understand his lust for power would drive him to do what he does, but … there’s no mystery! I like my villains to be a little bit more in-depth, to make me wonder what drives them, and why they are the bad guy. I suppose, in the next installment, they can have more time to focus on the villains as the movie won’t be so much about introducing Iron Man. At least one can hope.

Of course there was the scene after the credits that I loved. Ah, how could one not be excited about Samuel L. Jackson’s appearance? I mean, dude. Excitement! Stuff to look forward to! Yay!

Overall, a fun and entertaining movie, but not one that I’m going to buy on DVD.

I got this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. I don’t usually go for apocalyptic fiction, but in this case the description that it was a “blend of history, myth, and science” sparked some interest.

Ancient Mayans predicted that the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. Now, a few years before that date, there may be a way to prevent this from happening - all in the form of one blue crystal skull. The blue skull comes into the posession of Stella and Kit, a newly wed couple, who have found clues as to it’s location in journals left by Cedric Owen - the skull’s previous owner who had died trying to hide it. Along with the skull comes not only the job of trying to save the world, but also the fact that there are many people who would kill to own this skull and possess the power it has, and at least one of them knows that Stella has it.

It was written so that half of it takes place in the present, and half of it is the story from Cedric Owen’s point of view, during the sixteenth century. I liked the way this was done, because we work with Stella and Kit to uncover the clues to the blue stone at the same time that Owen is discovering magical properties of the stone, or figuring out where it needs to be hidden, or even when Owen is learning what Stella will need to do so many years after his own death to prevent the end of the world.

Scott has taken Mayan mythology, and paired it with the crystal skulls to create an entertaining and riveting read. It was well researched, action-packed, and there wasn’t a dull moment. The characters left a little to be desired - I didn’t find them as detailed as they could have been - but overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.

Looking back on it, it reminds me of a cross between an Indiana Jones movie and your typical hero’s journey novel. Best thing about it, though, was that I didn’t even realize that it was the hero’s journey until three quarters of my way into the book, so it wasn’t predictable at all. In fact, even after I realized what it was, there were still a few surprises at the end. It was definitely a good read, and well worth jumping into apocaliptic fiction for.

So, I finally signed up for a Twitter account. In all honesty, it was only so I could subscribe to my favourite Stargate Atlantis actor’s feed. But I’m not a fangirl. Nope, not at all.

Obsess much?

Though, I’m still not sure whether I get the whole Twitter thing. No, let me rephrase that. I just don’t get why everyone thinks it’s the Greatest Thing Ever. I suppose I’ll just have to play with it for a while and figure it out for myself.

Do any of you have a Twitter account?