Grant & I went to Barnes & Noble yesterday as he was in need of a new dayplanner. When he couldn't find one he liked, he left me there in order to search out Target and OfficeMax. There's nothing like shopping at B&N without Grant repeatedly telling, "Quick like bunnies! Quick like bunnies!" :) So, left alone to shop at leisure I found two great buys: The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard and What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. Now, the Lippman novel was 50% off and I got 30% off the Bayard novel with a special coupon for renewing my B&N membership card! I think I get the $25 back within a month of buying it. :) I'm especially excited about the Louis Bayard novel - here's the synopsis from the back:
"At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an Octobert evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man's heart. Augustus Landor--who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective--is called in to discreetly investigate. It's a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally--a mood, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that changes from telling to telling. The strange and haunted Southern poet, for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar Allan Poe."
Oooh - it's going to be so exciting! I finished Under the Banner of Heaven and will not be able to think of Mormonism the same ever again. And, I don't know how I missed in the news that Mitt Romney was Mormon before. No voting for Mitt by this GOP gal. Now I'm listening to Wuthering Heights, a book that I haven't read since probably my freshman year of high school. I'd forgotten how good it is! I think I'll be on a classics streak for a while now. Two of my favorite books in high school were Emma and Jane Eyre and I think I'd like to read (listen?) to those again, too. Which brings me to my next topic...
If one listens to a book on CD, can it really be said that it was read? Grant and I discussed this over dinner last night and he felt that yes, it would be counted as having read the book because you know the contents of the story it contains. I tend to agree, but thought I would open it up for discussion. Any feelings one way or the other?
Other than that, not much going on. I'm on the consult service right now and things are going along just swimmingly. I must say that being a second year is a far improvement over internship year!!! :)
More later!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
When the cat is away, the mice will play!
So Grant went home this past weekend for a friend's wedding, leaving me at home to do what I wanted!! :) Friday night I ended up relaxing at home and watched "The Devil Wears Prada" on HBO. Despite seeing the book countless times at B&N, I never had any desire to read it. The movie, however, was decent & I enjoyed Anne Hathaway. I woke up Saturday morning and went into the base to attend the "Advanced Cardio Max" workout session. Wow. My legs are super sore - maybe the "advanced" should have been a warning. I usually attend the session after Cardio Max, but wanted to get an early start on my Saturday. I'll be paying for that judgment call for a couple days. I heard a rumor that if you go into rhabdomyolysis, you could possibly get waived from the PRT. I'm just not sure risking kidney failure is worth it. :)
So, after the workout of the century, I went back home & got cleaned up. I sat down to paint my nails & toes and decided that it'd been over a year since I got a real mani & pedi, so set off to find one of the nearest "Nails Oasis" boutiques. You have to love a $30 mani & pedi combination! Plus, they used OPI, so I was happy. My nails look great & I was totally relaxed after the experience, so I think I'll be making more frequent appearances there now.
I spent Saturday evening up at Barnes & Noble s l o w l y perusing through the aisles and picking up various books that I had on my "to read" list. (I think this will be a lesson to Grant not to leave me alone again for a long time! haha). Here's what I got:
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of its Survivors by Doug Stanton
Mount Misery by Samuel Shem (this is the sequel to House of God - the hysterical book about what it's like to go through medical school.) The sequel is actually about the main character who decides to go into a psychiatry residency. I'm starting this one already - I love Shem's sarcastic sense of humor.
Then - those of you who frequent B&N will know what I'm talking about here - I bought three of the B&N Collector's Library pocket-book series. These are the books that measure about 3x5 inches and only appear in the store about three times a year. I love this series because they are hardbound and fit perfectly in a white coat pocket. I pull them out whenever I get bored in the hospital and am supposed to be waiting on an attending, etc. Previously, I've gotten The Brothers Karamozov and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (currently in my white coat pocket). So last night I added to my collection: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, and Great Expectations by Dickens. And, even Grant will appreciate this: they were only $2.39 each!!! (Normally, $2.99 but 60 cent discount with the B&N club card!) Woohoo! What a buy!!! After I spent about 90 minutes looking through the store, I settled down in the cafe and studied psychopharmacology for about 2 hours. What a relaxing night!
Grant arrived home safely this morning and brought back my engagement ring with him. We'd sent it back with Drew last weekend so that the prongs and setting could be checked at Allison's Jewelry store back in Sidney, Ohio. Otherwise, not much else going on here. I'll write more this week as I'm almost done with a couple of books and will put my reviews here.
Have a great week!
So, after the workout of the century, I went back home & got cleaned up. I sat down to paint my nails & toes and decided that it'd been over a year since I got a real mani & pedi, so set off to find one of the nearest "Nails Oasis" boutiques. You have to love a $30 mani & pedi combination! Plus, they used OPI, so I was happy. My nails look great & I was totally relaxed after the experience, so I think I'll be making more frequent appearances there now.
I spent Saturday evening up at Barnes & Noble s l o w l y perusing through the aisles and picking up various books that I had on my "to read" list. (I think this will be a lesson to Grant not to leave me alone again for a long time! haha). Here's what I got:
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of its Survivors by Doug Stanton
Mount Misery by Samuel Shem (this is the sequel to House of God - the hysterical book about what it's like to go through medical school.) The sequel is actually about the main character who decides to go into a psychiatry residency. I'm starting this one already - I love Shem's sarcastic sense of humor.
Then - those of you who frequent B&N will know what I'm talking about here - I bought three of the B&N Collector's Library pocket-book series. These are the books that measure about 3x5 inches and only appear in the store about three times a year. I love this series because they are hardbound and fit perfectly in a white coat pocket. I pull them out whenever I get bored in the hospital and am supposed to be waiting on an attending, etc. Previously, I've gotten The Brothers Karamozov and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (currently in my white coat pocket). So last night I added to my collection: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, and Great Expectations by Dickens. And, even Grant will appreciate this: they were only $2.39 each!!! (Normally, $2.99 but 60 cent discount with the B&N club card!) Woohoo! What a buy!!! After I spent about 90 minutes looking through the store, I settled down in the cafe and studied psychopharmacology for about 2 hours. What a relaxing night!
Grant arrived home safely this morning and brought back my engagement ring with him. We'd sent it back with Drew last weekend so that the prongs and setting could be checked at Allison's Jewelry store back in Sidney, Ohio. Otherwise, not much else going on here. I'll write more this week as I'm almost done with a couple of books and will put my reviews here.
Have a great week!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Recommended Books for Psychiatry Residents
Because I started this blog with the intent to write about both literature and psychiatry, here is the recommended reading list I received today from my program director. I'm happy to post this because extensive searching on the internet revealed nothing similar to this listing, so hopefully it will be helpful to others as well.
From the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Pyschiatry Residency Program:
REQUIRED READING
1.) Kaplan and Saddock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry. 10th edition. Benjamin Saddock and Virginia Saddock . LWW. May 2007.
2.) Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists. David Myland Kaufman. Suanders. 2007.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
1.) Kaplan and Sadock’s Study Guide and Self-Examination Review in Psychiatry. Benjamin Saddock and Virginia Saddock . LWW. May 2007.
2.) Drug Interaction Principles for Medical Practice: Cytochrome P450s, UGTs, P-Glycoproteins. 2nd edition. Kelly L. Cozza, Scott C. Armstrong, and Jessica R. Oesterheld. APPI. 2003.
3.) Principles and Practice of Psychopharmacotherapy. Philip G Janicak, John M Davis, Sheldon H Preskorn, et al. LWW. 2006.
4.) The Neuroscience of Clinical Psychiatry. Edmund S Higgins and Mark S. George. LWW. 2007.
5.) Essential Psychopharmacology. 2nd edition. Stephen Stahl. Cambridge University Press. 2000.
6.) The Clinical Interview Using DSM-IV-TR. Volume 1: Fundamentals. Ekkehard Othmer and Sieglinde Othmer. APPI. 2002.
7.) The Clinical Interview Using DSM-IV-TR. Volume 2: The Difficult Patient. Ekkehard Othmer and Sieglinde Othmer. APPI. 2002.
8.) Study Guide to DSM-IV-TR. Michael A Fauman. APPI. 2002.
9.) Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-IV-TR. APPI. 2000.
10.) DSM-IV-TR Case Book. A Learning Companion to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision. Robert L. Spitzer, Miriam Gibbon, Andrew E. Skodol, et al. APPI.
11.) The Art and Science of Brief Psychotherapies: A Practitioner’s Guide. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Mantosh J. Dewan, Brett N. Steenbarger, and Roger P Greenberg. APPI. 2005.
12.) Introduction to Supportive Psychotherapy. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy.Arnold Winston, Richard Rosenthal, and Henry Pinsker. APPI. 2005.
13.) Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. A Basic Text. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Glen O. Gabbard. APPI. 2005.
14.) Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. An Illustrated Guide. Core Competencies in Psychiatry. Jesse H. Wright, Monica R. Basco, and Michael E. Thase. APPI. 2005.
15.) Competency in Combining Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy. Integrated and Split Treatment. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Michelle B. Ribs and Richard Balon. APPI. 2005.
16.) Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice. 4th edition. Glen Gabbard. APPI. 2005.
17.) Cognitive Therapy, Basics and Beyond, Judith S. Beck. Guilford Press, 1995.
18.) Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. Irvin D. Yalom. 1995
19.) Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought. Stephen Mitchell and Margaret Black. HarperCollins. 1996.
20.) Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry. 5th ed. Theodore A Stern, Gregory Fricchione, Ned H. Cassem, et al. Mosby. 2004.
It's exciting to me that there's so much out there to learn about psychiatry. A bit overwhelming, but still exciting. :)
From the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Pyschiatry Residency Program:
REQUIRED READING
1.) Kaplan and Saddock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry. 10th edition. Benjamin Saddock and Virginia Saddock . LWW. May 2007.
2.) Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists. David Myland Kaufman. Suanders. 2007.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
1.) Kaplan and Sadock’s Study Guide and Self-Examination Review in Psychiatry. Benjamin Saddock and Virginia Saddock . LWW. May 2007.
2.) Drug Interaction Principles for Medical Practice: Cytochrome P450s, UGTs, P-Glycoproteins. 2nd edition. Kelly L. Cozza, Scott C. Armstrong, and Jessica R. Oesterheld. APPI. 2003.
3.) Principles and Practice of Psychopharmacotherapy. Philip G Janicak, John M Davis, Sheldon H Preskorn, et al. LWW. 2006.
4.) The Neuroscience of Clinical Psychiatry. Edmund S Higgins and Mark S. George. LWW. 2007.
5.) Essential Psychopharmacology. 2nd edition. Stephen Stahl. Cambridge University Press. 2000.
6.) The Clinical Interview Using DSM-IV-TR. Volume 1: Fundamentals. Ekkehard Othmer and Sieglinde Othmer. APPI. 2002.
7.) The Clinical Interview Using DSM-IV-TR. Volume 2: The Difficult Patient. Ekkehard Othmer and Sieglinde Othmer. APPI. 2002.
8.) Study Guide to DSM-IV-TR. Michael A Fauman. APPI. 2002.
9.) Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-IV-TR. APPI. 2000.
10.) DSM-IV-TR Case Book. A Learning Companion to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision. Robert L. Spitzer, Miriam Gibbon, Andrew E. Skodol, et al. APPI.
11.) The Art and Science of Brief Psychotherapies: A Practitioner’s Guide. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Mantosh J. Dewan, Brett N. Steenbarger, and Roger P Greenberg. APPI. 2005.
12.) Introduction to Supportive Psychotherapy. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy.Arnold Winston, Richard Rosenthal, and Henry Pinsker. APPI. 2005.
13.) Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. A Basic Text. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Glen O. Gabbard. APPI. 2005.
14.) Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. An Illustrated Guide. Core Competencies in Psychiatry. Jesse H. Wright, Monica R. Basco, and Michael E. Thase. APPI. 2005.
15.) Competency in Combining Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy. Integrated and Split Treatment. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Michelle B. Ribs and Richard Balon. APPI. 2005.
16.) Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice. 4th edition. Glen Gabbard. APPI. 2005.
17.) Cognitive Therapy, Basics and Beyond, Judith S. Beck. Guilford Press, 1995.
18.) Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. Irvin D. Yalom. 1995
19.) Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought. Stephen Mitchell and Margaret Black. HarperCollins. 1996.
20.) Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry. 5th ed. Theodore A Stern, Gregory Fricchione, Ned H. Cassem, et al. Mosby. 2004.
It's exciting to me that there's so much out there to learn about psychiatry. A bit overwhelming, but still exciting. :)
Friday, July 6, 2007
Reading on the Beach!
This past week most of my husband's family came down to visit. My mother-in-law helped me clean my house and Grant hung up pictures and decorations that we've been collecting for the past year. So, finally, the condo is shaping up! And, I think that every single article of clothing that Grant & I own is clean as Maureen (my mother-in-law) worked like crazy to get it all washed, dried, ironed & put away!!! It actually feels relaxing to be at home now! :) So - all that activity took place during the first half of the week and then the latter half of the week we spent down at Nags Head. We got to see our niece and nephews and play on the beach for a day. I got a healthy amount of sun but Grant got a little more than he thought! I'm not thinking that the spray-on sunscreen is the safest way to go.... While Grant & his brothers played football and swam, I sat under my umbrella and finished two books! I have to admit, my idea of a perfect vacation is going to a museum or a historical place, but relaxing on the beach with a good book is a close second. :) I finished two books down there: Maisie Dobbs and Water for Elephants, both of which were great. I'd previously said that Water for Elephants could be a bit hard to stomach with the descriptions of the way that circus animals were treated, but there's justice in the end. :) I'm now reading the second Maisie Dobbs mystery, and I'm about halfway through a new Jamestown archeology book that we picked up in Williamsburg earlier this week. (Oh! I forgot - Williamsburg was great! Maureen & I only got to go to a few of the shops, but I'm definitely planning on taking Grant back to see the actual historical area & the first psychiatric hospital in the colonies!) As I haven't been driving to work for the past week, I still have a bit more to listen to in Under the Banner of Heaven, but anticipate finishing it this coming week.
Now, for the much-anticipated summer reading recommendations from the National Review:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGExNWRlMTk0NjJiMTIxZTdhMGQyMzBiMDQ4YjA3YjY=
There are some great books on this list!!!
And, for some exciting news for Alexander McCall Smith fans (thanks for the update, Emily!!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/04/AR2007070401548.html?hpid=sec-artsliving
Hollywood has finally decided to take Precious Ramotswe and her No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to the big screen!!! It's supposed to be out by Christmas! I'm so excited - this is one of my favorite series of books. Hopefully the movie will be well done!
I have to do some shopping for office supplies over the weekend & plan on moving into my new office at the hospital Sunday afternoon. More updates later!
Now, for the much-anticipated summer reading recommendations from the National Review:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGExNWRlMTk0NjJiMTIxZTdhMGQyMzBiMDQ4YjA3YjY=
There are some great books on this list!!!
And, for some exciting news for Alexander McCall Smith fans (thanks for the update, Emily!!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/04/AR2007070401548.html?hpid=sec-artsliving
Hollywood has finally decided to take Precious Ramotswe and her No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to the big screen!!! It's supposed to be out by Christmas! I'm so excited - this is one of my favorite series of books. Hopefully the movie will be well done!
I have to do some shopping for office supplies over the weekend & plan on moving into my new office at the hospital Sunday afternoon. More updates later!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Intern year is finally over! (well, almost...)
Hurrah for the end of June and with it, the end of internship year! We had our graduation yesterday in front of the old hospital steps at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth wearing our formal dress whites. Despite the heat and humidity, it was a nice ceremony attended by not only our Admiral Cullison, but also a 3-star General from the USMC. I hope to post pictures soon. Even though I walked at graduation and received the "Psychiatry Intern of the Year" award, I technically have one more month of internship left as I started a month behind the rest of the class due to attending OIS last summer. I'm okay with this extra month though, as it is Consult Psychiatry, and I will basically be functioning as a second year. Starting in August then, I take over one of the two inpatient wards and dig into my R-2 year. I will stay on schedule with the rest of my class, and the rest of my year will be in three-month rotations. As a warning to the general public, however, it's always good to stay out of the hospital during the end of June and beginning of July as that's when the new interns come in and are beginning to work on the wards. I don't think I've done any major damage in the past year, but things are a little shaky when you're first working as a real doctor and no longer have that "I'm just the medical student" umbrella to work under. :)
In the spirit of celebration, I think I will buy a few more books (and maybe a purse or two...). I found a few more great sites that are recommending summer reads and wanted to share those today. The first is actually a website with recommended reading for those going into college. Some I've read & some I still need to read. Here's the link:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/boost-your-skills/23628.html
NPR is normally a bit liberal for my liking, but I did find these next three recommendations off their website appealing:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11354716
The printable list of 2007 recommendations is here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10662577
Books that I'm adding to my list regarding war and psychiatry:
Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress by Mary Edwards Wertsch.
War and the Soul by Edward Tick
Currently, I'm finishing up Water for Elephants (good, but hard to read at parts because I can't bear to read or hear about cruelty to animals and this makes you think twice about attending a circus...but overall, this is great) as well as the first Maisie Dobbs. I think next I'm going to dig into The Historian. Oh, I'm also almost done listening to Under the Banner of Heaven. The more I hear about the LDS faith, the more disturbed I become. It's actually a great read in terms of psychiatry, too, because it paints a picture of how delusional people can be. I'll go to the library soon to get another book on CD. I literally have a stack of books as tall as my desk sitting next to me compelling me to clean another day and seize today for reading! (Especially since Grant is on call today!) But...Drew & Maureen & Greg will be arriving today, and cleaning the house will take priority right now. I'm so excited because I finally have a bit of leave & will be home for the next week. Hopefully there will be lots of down time to relax & read. :)
More later!
In the spirit of celebration, I think I will buy a few more books (and maybe a purse or two...). I found a few more great sites that are recommending summer reads and wanted to share those today. The first is actually a website with recommended reading for those going into college. Some I've read & some I still need to read. Here's the link:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/boost-your-skills/23628.html
NPR is normally a bit liberal for my liking, but I did find these next three recommendations off their website appealing:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11354716
The printable list of 2007 recommendations is here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10662577
Books that I'm adding to my list regarding war and psychiatry:
Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress by Mary Edwards Wertsch.
War and the Soul by Edward Tick
Currently, I'm finishing up Water for Elephants (good, but hard to read at parts because I can't bear to read or hear about cruelty to animals and this makes you think twice about attending a circus...but overall, this is great) as well as the first Maisie Dobbs. I think next I'm going to dig into The Historian. Oh, I'm also almost done listening to Under the Banner of Heaven. The more I hear about the LDS faith, the more disturbed I become. It's actually a great read in terms of psychiatry, too, because it paints a picture of how delusional people can be. I'll go to the library soon to get another book on CD. I literally have a stack of books as tall as my desk sitting next to me compelling me to clean another day and seize today for reading! (Especially since Grant is on call today!) But...Drew & Maureen & Greg will be arriving today, and cleaning the house will take priority right now. I'm so excited because I finally have a bit of leave & will be home for the next week. Hopefully there will be lots of down time to relax & read. :)
More later!
Friday, June 22, 2007
A Must-Have Item for Book Lovers!
I bought two psychiatry books today and upon arriving home, immediately went upstairs to get a couple of my "Library of" stickers. When I picked them up, I realized that I hadn't mentioned this important part of my new-book tradition. :) Each library must have a way to identify individual books as being part of the whole collection and my personalized embosser makes this possible. The embosser can be used on the actual page of the book or, as I mostly prefer, on a sticker. I've seen various embossers available, but love mine from Willliams-Sonoma (and it's even the least expensive one I've seen yet at $36!) I get my stickers from Wilshire Graphic Press (I recommend the dull gold foil).
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
At last! A new Bookmarks!!
I'm on call tonight for medicine (only 9 more days left!!) so my free time tonight (and hopefully there's lots of it!) will be spent devouring the latest Bookmarks that arrived in my mailbox today. Couldn't have come at a better time! I'm definitely over reading academic material at this point in the year (did I mention that I have 9 days left till I'm straight psych, all the time?). And, this edition of Bookmarks is devoted to two of my favorite things in the world - 1) crime & mystery books and 2) summer reading!!!! How perfect! I love this magazine!
In a previous blog, I commented that Bookmarks' website leaves a lot to be desired. In the Letters section this month, the editor stated that they are working on improving the web site and are planning on making past issues available online! That's good news to me because last year I procrastinated on renewing my subscription and missed a few issues! Although my collection is now incomplete, I take heart in knowing that I will be able to review those issues online in the future. :)
I just finished listening to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt, and really enjoyed it. Although the author takes a bit of freedom in recounting the real-life events surrounding a murder in Savannah, Georgia (a la James Frey) it was an interesting book. I have to admit, however, that I could not take the suspense any longer by the time I reached disk 10 (of 14) and googled the book so I could find out how the trial ended. ;) Now I am in the middle of Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church and its twisted history and beliefs. It's rather disturbing, especially from a mental health perspective.
Finally, I wanted to mention two websites that have been brought to my attention recently. The first is www.abebooks.com - a website dedicated to helping locate new, used, rare, and out-of-print books. Very cool - especially its "Avid Reader" e-newsletter. The other site is one that's already added to my "favorite links" - www.librarything.com. This site has two main functions: 1) it allows for people to have a virtual catalog of books they own and 2) links all the online catalogs together. For example, I love Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, and when you type the title into the "search" function, it finds every library that contains Rebecca, and then gives suggestions of similar books others recommend. Additionally it lists new book recommendations, allows for searching the Library of Congress, and has numerous online book groups and discussions. For free, you can catalog up to 200 books; an unlimited catalog is either $10 per year or $25 for life. I haven't ponied up any money yet, but have to admit it's tempting. My only hesitations are that I'm not sure I seriously have the time to sit down and enter in all the books I own online (nor am I sure that I want Grant to know exactly how many I own!!) and - $25 could buy at least a couple more books! :) I'll probably stick with the free membership afterall. :)
In a previous blog, I commented that Bookmarks' website leaves a lot to be desired. In the Letters section this month, the editor stated that they are working on improving the web site and are planning on making past issues available online! That's good news to me because last year I procrastinated on renewing my subscription and missed a few issues! Although my collection is now incomplete, I take heart in knowing that I will be able to review those issues online in the future. :)
I just finished listening to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt, and really enjoyed it. Although the author takes a bit of freedom in recounting the real-life events surrounding a murder in Savannah, Georgia (a la James Frey) it was an interesting book. I have to admit, however, that I could not take the suspense any longer by the time I reached disk 10 (of 14) and googled the book so I could find out how the trial ended. ;) Now I am in the middle of Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church and its twisted history and beliefs. It's rather disturbing, especially from a mental health perspective.
Finally, I wanted to mention two websites that have been brought to my attention recently. The first is www.abebooks.com - a website dedicated to helping locate new, used, rare, and out-of-print books. Very cool - especially its "Avid Reader" e-newsletter. The other site is one that's already added to my "favorite links" - www.librarything.com. This site has two main functions: 1) it allows for people to have a virtual catalog of books they own and 2) links all the online catalogs together. For example, I love Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, and when you type the title into the "search" function, it finds every library that contains Rebecca, and then gives suggestions of similar books others recommend. Additionally it lists new book recommendations, allows for searching the Library of Congress, and has numerous online book groups and discussions. For free, you can catalog up to 200 books; an unlimited catalog is either $10 per year or $25 for life. I haven't ponied up any money yet, but have to admit it's tempting. My only hesitations are that I'm not sure I seriously have the time to sit down and enter in all the books I own online (nor am I sure that I want Grant to know exactly how many I own!!) and - $25 could buy at least a couple more books! :) I'll probably stick with the free membership afterall. :)
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