I hope this will be the first (and only) friends-only post I ever have to do, especially for something that should be as public as a book review. But since I haven't heard back that the author has forgiven me (or at least heard my apology), I don't particularly want a repeat of last time.

[Update: this review has been moved to public, because I think that's where book reviews ought to be. I haven't heard back from the author, so I'm hopeful it's been long enough that he isn't interested in my opinion any longer, which is why I'm choosing to make it public at this time. (12-24-07)]

So without further ado...

Book #25: Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher
( Dresden Continues )

On a final note, I think I'll dub this installment of the Dresden Files the "interesting words novel". Page 78 gave me the word "gobbet", which connotationally speaking can imply chunks of flesh, but was well-used in referring to rust on an unsavory-looking building. The other one (and I kid you not) is "lickspittles", as in "You think the world wouldn't be better off without people like Marcone and his lickspittles?"

Yeah. "Lickspittles". I wonder when I can find an excuse to use that new gem in my vocabulary? ;)

Yes, I did a pre-order of the final Harry Potter book. It's the only one in the series that I've actually purchased within a year of release, but I figured that $15 for a hardcover book is a great deal. On a side note, I was speculating with a friend about just how rich Ms. Rowling must be by now. Given that the last book has already sold 72.1 million copies in the first three days of its release (and if we assume that all her other books have sold as "poorly"), if she only made $.05 a copy sold she would still have over $25 million for all the books sold. In reality, the author has made over $1 billion dollars.

So without further ado...

Book #23: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
( Spoilers: Ron is Really a Dalek, and Dr. Who Saves Harry... )

So is J.K. Rowling going to settle for the $1 billion and retire, or does she have something else up her sleeve?

There aren't many people that I truly look up to in my life. I respect and admire a lot of people out there who are better public speakers, or particularly brave, or exceptionally intelligent, but I've always had my own way of thinking and doing things and there are very few people that I would genuinely say "I wish I had their talent".

But reading my most recent book, I think I have found someone that I can both admire and look up to.

Book #20: An Ordinary Man, by Paul Rusesabagina, with Tom Zoellner
( When a Man Stands Up to Genocide )

Book #14: The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
( Some spoilers, if you don't already know the basis for the plot )

I'd like to recommend an article from a very reasonable-sounding Christian in regards to the book, which I highly enjoyed: "Dancing With Da Vinci"

I have certainly committed a heresy, but prior to a couple of weeks ago, I've never watched the X-Files *gasp!*. However, I have set about trying to remedy that and have been regularly getting them from Netflix. I'm now up to Season 2, Disk 2, which I hope to watch this weekend.

So when I was browsing non-Fiction at the library and ran into a book called Real-Life X-Files, I jumped on it out of curiosity.

Book #12: Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal, by Joe Nickell
( It Would Be Wrong If I Didn't Say It...The Truth Is Out There )

Whenever I think of Americans on a diet, the word “irony” always pops into mind. For most of our existence as homo sapiens sapiens we've been struggling to find enough to eat. In Paleolithic times, human cultures idolized the overweight female figure, creating Venus statues with double-E breasts and rolls of fat hanging over the waistline. The Vikings had a concept of heaven where every day was a perpetual feast, and the giant hog would willingly come to the slaughter each day only to be resurrected the next day after it had been eaten. And in Africa today, women actually go to “fattening camps” to gain weight for special events such as weddings.

Amazingly, Americans have achieved the dream of almost every culture in the world up until modern times. With morbid obesity on the rise, many women (and men) resemble those Venus figurines that were so delectable to our ancestors. We can go to an all-you-can eat buffet any day of the week if we wanted, and even if we can't there are still plenty of opportunities to overfeed ourselves. So I find it ironic that now we have made our dream a reality, we want to fight it and starve ourselves.

That being said, I've gone on a diet... ;)

Which leads me to my most recent read:

Book #9: 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End your Dependency on Cooked Food, by Victoria Boutenko
( Or, How to Become a Rabbit in Just 15 Days )
That being said, my recommendation for a raw food diet is not necessarily the same as my recommendation for the book. I generally don't do "diets" in the typical sense. I have very little willpower, and if I feel too hungry the diet goes away without reservation. I would rather be slightly overweight and happy than thin and miserable. The past three "diets" I have embarked on have been for health reasons, with weight loss as only a hopeful side effect.

I found this diet while searching for a way to deal with sugar addiction, which stopped my last summer's diet from succeeding. Last year I tried a diet to cut all refined sugar and flour from my diet, and I was promised by the book I was reading that it would be tough for the first 2-3 weeks before energy would magically come rushing into my body. I waited it out for six weeks, and I was perpetually hungry and tired and cranky before I finally gave up. I wanted to find an alternative, and raw food was one of the ones presented to me.

What most impressed me were the before-and-after pictures I saw on several of the raw food sites, as well as the testimonials that went with them:

• Paul Nison's Site


• We Like it Raw


• RawFoodInfo.com

So far I've been on the diet 2 1/2 weeks, and I have to say that I'm quite pleased. It hasn't been a miracle diet like it was for Boutenko ‒ I still have bad knees, my allergies are acting up, and I don't have boundless amounts of energy. However, I have noticed my energy is more consistent throughout the day, my sex drive is up, and I have lost over 5 pounds, which I consider to be a minor miracle. I have never lost any weight on a diet ‒ in fact, I can't even remember the last time I didn't gain weight from a diet.

I would definitely recommend a raw food diet as something to try at least once in your life, just to see what it's like, even if it's only for a week. Most people who go on a raw food diet eat anywhere from 50%-90% raw ‒. For most people, that's like eating a couple of meals of healthy fruits, vegetables, and nut dishes, and then having a nice big steak for dinner. While 100% raw is the golden number strived for by purists, I think that kind of eating is over-doing it, especially for people just dabbling with healthy eating.

I'm finding that most people object to giving up good food when going on the diet, but there are some surprisingly good raw food recipes out there on the internet (Borders in Arborland Mall also has several raw food cook books as in the "special diet" section). The trick is not to expect everything to taste like typical American cuisine. True, some dishes try to mimic what we're familiar with, but for best enjoyment, treat it like you would any new cuisine. You don't eat Chinese food or Indian food because you expect it to taste like McDonald's. Likewise with raw food cuisine.

If anyone has any questions about the diet, feel free to post here or e-mail me. Also, for anyone interested in hearing about my experiences with the diet so far, feel free to visit my blog set up just for this purpose.

Spring break has arrived, and I'll finally get around to sending e-mails toward people's inboxes. I've got a busy week ahead of me, but in a good way. I have a lot of things that I've been wanting to do (errands, chores, as well as fun things) that I hope will get done this week.

To inaugurate my week of fun, I've already done two things: purchased Guild Wars:Nightfall and read two books over the weekend. I'm exceptionally pleased with Nightfall. I was getting to the point in Prophecies where I couldn't do most of the quests without resorting to joining a group. Apart from the few people I game with, I absolutely hate joining groups, because you often end up with immature players who are only in it for themselves. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a group where someone will drop out just because things aren't going as quickly or as smoothly as they wanted, leaving the rest of the party in a bind because we no longer have our tank or our healer or some other critical member. And they usually drop out at the worst possible moment (i.e., in the middle of a crucial battle with a boss).

Guild Wars has henchmen you can hire, it's true, but the henchmen are only good up to a certain level before the AI just isn't good enough to handle the harder tasks. But Nightfall has made up for this problem by adding Heroes. Heroes are like henchmen, but you can control them directly ‒ you can change their armor and weapons, and even go so far as telling them exactly which spells or skills to use in battle. And the AI is pretty good if you don't feel like micro-managing. Unlike Alesia (the Prophecies henchman healer), your Hero healers won't go off and get themselves killed unless you specifically set them to attack. You can even set them to run away from battle if things start getting rough. As most RPGs go, healers are the lifeblood of the party and should be kept alive at all costs ‒ the rest of the party can die, but if the healer still lives they can always resurrect the party.

I've only done about four hours of gameplay so far, but I like what I see. I enjoy the fact that Nightfall gives you much more experience for the quests than Prophecies has done. I also like the new Dervish class that has been added, and I'm looking forward to purchasing Factions so I can play a Dervish/Assassin ‒ a combination that I've heard kicks ass.

Now on to my books:

Book #5: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril, by Lemony Snicket
( Don't worry, no spoilers. Yes, I know it's a children's book... )

Book #6: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End, by Lemony Snicket
( Nope, no spoilers here, but a brief note of something to look for... )

First off, is the pink decor for Valentine's Day making anyone else shudder with revulsion?

In looking at my first two book reviews, as well as considering others in the past, I realize that when I dislike something, I am much more likely to write lots of material on it (hence drawing more attention to the thing that I don't want people to read). I'm not sure I can change that tendency (I feel like good things speak for themselves, but bad things have to be headed off at the pass), so I'm drawing attention to my third book with the statement:

Please Read This Book

( See what it is... )