Book Tuesday: Bared to You

I received a pitch letter for Sylvia Day's book that described it as erotic fiction along the lines of Fifty Shades of Grey. The plus on this being that Day has been a finalist for the RITA award, the top writing prize for the Romance Writers of America.  So presumably Bared to You would be pretty well written, as that is one of the common criticisms of Fifty Shades--intense, compelling but not the best written.

With those things in mind, I sat down and read Bared to You.  The book is an easy read and moves well enough to keep you from setting it down for long stretches.  It follows the romance of Eva Tramell, a young wanna-be ad exec in New York and the fabulously rich Gideon Cross.

Like all good romances, Eva and Gideon cross paths and feel an instant attraction, but do nothing about it. Gideon propositions Eva on their next meeting, which she finds sexy, yet offensive at the same time. The two eventually become lovers and endure and up and down relationship that would rival even the best yo-yoist (I'm hoping that's a real word; if not, what do you call a yo yo operator?).   There are a host of other characters that pop up in the book-- Eva's neurotic, mother; Eva's filthy rich step father; Eva's working class father; Eva's best friend Cary; and Gideons ex girlfriend; and Gideon's odd family.

Overall, I'd say the book is an easy breezy summer read. But, having the book compared to Fifty Shades in the sales literature made me compare it to the book, and I must say the characters are not as well drawn or memorable as those in Fifty Shades. Also, because of this, it's a bit hard to understand why the characters are acting the way they do. They seem flighty and fickle. The writing is well done, comparatively, but I don't think Bared has the same intensity or pull as Fifty.

Bottom Line: If you're looking for a quick read that's enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, check it out.

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

A Rockin' Bedtime Experience!

Rocking Bed (http://shinerinternational.com/wordpress/?p=31) 

Well, I was on Facebook the other day, and I saw an ad for something that piqued my curiosity: a rocking bed.

Yes, a rocking bed! Perhaps I'm the only one who's never heard of this, but it looks totally awesome.  I can't say exactly why, but I am so drawn to this bed. I feel like it was created just for me. It totally rocks!  And if I were single, it would be mine.

But, I'm not single (which is, on most days, a good thing). Today is not one of those days. For when I showed my husband this bed,  he said no way. "That looks awful to sleep in." Apparently, he likes the shape, but feels as a practical matter, he would not like his head dipping whilst he slept.

Sigh. Even though my hubby's not on board, I'm not giving up yet. I'm going to bide my time, and keep  leaving subtle clues about the merits of rocking to sleep.

So, wish me luck, because I'd really like that bed to  rock my world!

-Hyattsville Mom

Shakespeare, Dragons Ahead this weekend!

How to Train your Dragon live show

Happy weekend to you!

Lots to do this weekend. I'm taking my kids to see Ice Age 4 finally. I've heard good things about it, so it should be exciting. And hopefully a better experience than The Amazing Spiderman. I was mighty disappointed, as I'd seen this trailer and was expecting some answers that did not occur in the film (In fact the scenes where the villain says: "If you want the truth about your parents, come and get it!" and the scene where someone says, "do you think what happened to you was an accident?" are not even in the film! I read that some last minute editing occurred and they moved certain plot points to the sequel). That said, it's not a bad movie if you don't expect answers to those questions, but if you do, you walk away feeling cheated. The movie sheds very little light on Peter Parker's parents.

The Dark Knight Rises opens today. The trailers didn't excite me and it's almost 3 hours, which is a long time to spend with something that doesn't look that exciting, so I'm not sure I plan to see that. And it's tough to go to a non-kid movie, find a sitter, etc. if the movie doesn't excite.

Well, now that I've got movies out of my system, let's talk about other fun things to do this weekend. I've listed a couple things below. As always, you can find lots of activities in our calendar.

Shakespeare in the Park: This free production at the Montpelier Mansion grounds starts at 7 pm tonight. It will include an abridged version of all of Shakespeare's works (say what?). Yes, that's what they said. So, if you're interested in more details, call 301-446-3232 or check out this flier.

How to Train Your Dragon Live: This Dreamworks live show is playing at the Verizon Center through out the weekend. It's a little pricey, but there are dragons that fly above your head and if you like live productions, this may be for you. More information is at http://dreamworksdragonslive.com/.

Cupcake Decorating: The New Carrollton library has a free cupcake decorating class Saturday at 2 pm for kids ages 11-18. Registration is required. To find out more or register, call the adult information desk, 301-459-6900.

That's it for me today. Hope you have a great weekend, especially since it will be nice and cool.

-Hyattsville Mom

Only 12 years in does he think to tell me he's allergic to...

We were on vacation recently, and my husband told this story of this time when he felt helpless because his mother was oblivious to his discomfort.  He was a 11 and had gotten sick, vomiting constantly. The doctor prescribed an anti-vomiting drug (compazine) for him, and he had an allergic reaction. He cramped and became stiff and unmovable. His jaw contorted and froze so he couldn't speak. He was lying there in bed and his mother realized he didn't feel look, but didn't realize anything was wrong. She said, "you look like you could use a cool towel on your face." 

She got him a towel, put it over his face, and was very kind, but was not getting that he was in distress. He said,  "I thought I was going to die with this towel on my face. She was so helpful, but she didn't get it. I wanted to say help me. I'm going to die." But he couldn't move his jaw. His father came in after a while and they realized it was a real problem, and took him to the hospital (they literally had to carry him because he couldn't move). 

What is interesting about this story, is that in 17 years of knowing my husband (12 of them married), he has never once mentioned this story.  When he finished, I said, "You know, if you'd fallen ill yesterday and the doctors asked me, 'is he allergic to any medications?'  I would have said, 'no.'"

It was so weird that I'd never heard this story. But, I guess it goes to show, even when you know someone, you can miss crucial bits of info. 

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

Beaten by the Heat!

I know they say you gotta beat the heat when it's this hot out. But, I totally feel like I've been beaten by the heat.

My a/c is working overtime but it's still overwhelmingly hot. If it would just cool off at night, I'd feel better. But, lows in the 80s with 60 percent humidity just don't cut it.

We've been doing some hanging out at the libraries--there's usually a fun activity going on at some library, or at least a nice book to read. We've gone swimming, and turned on the sprinkler here at home. We've also been heading to the movies (Greenbelt Academy 8 is just $5 before noon and $5 all day on Tuesdays). And I've even taken the kids to a bounce place once or twice this summer (check out Joyful Jumps' Facebook page; they often have deals; Monday's deal was $5 per kid; almost half the regular price).

So, what do you guys do to beat the heat? Or are you feeling just as beaten as me?

-Hyattsville Mom

Book Tuesday: Free ebooks!

Today, I thought I'd talk about something we could all use: free ebooks.

While I like good, old-fashioned paper books for my kids, I could go either way for books I read myself. Ebooks tend to be cheaper than paper books and there are many of them that are free.

Now, how free they are depends on your e-reader. If you have a Kindle, you're going to be dependent on Kindle's proprietary file format. If you have a Nook, Sony or other reader, you'll have a little more choice, but you'll be prohibited from reading Amazon's free books because they're all in the proprietary Kindle format. If you use a device other than a dedicated reader (ipad, smart phone, or computer), then you have a plethora of free books at your disposal because you can simply download the appropriate app to read the book.

A quick primer on file formats
We'll start with the big dog in the room: the Kindle format. Kindle is Amazon's e-reader and it uses a modified .mobi file format. This is important because Kindles will read things in .mobi file format, as well as the Kindle format.  However, Kindles do not read word documents, PDFs or Epub (which has come to be the standard file format).  So, if you own a Kindle, you pretty much have to buy from Amazon.

The most common other readers--Nook, Kobo and Sony--tend to support Epub, PDF and text files. Some, like Sony, support .mobi files, while others support Microsoft word files. Nook also supports it's own proprietary stuff.  So, when you are getting a free book file, you need to find out what format it is in, to make sure your reader can read it.

Enough already! Where do I get the free books?
While Amazon supports the least file types, it is the most generous with free book deals.  If you've never downloaded a free book from Amazon, go to Amazon's free collection page, and look through what's there. A lot are classics and have expired copyrights. But, a lot are new books, including self published authors and authors who have successful series they'd like to get you addicted to. For example, I got Gemma Halliday's Spying in High Heels for free. It's a pretty good book, and the first in a series, which she, I'm sure she wants me to buy more of.  Also, I got the great Malcolm Gladwell book, The Tipping Point for free, a year ago. I also got a self published book, The Halo Revelations by J.S. Colley free on special a couple of months ago. The thing with Amazon is that they make books free temporarily and then at some point, charge for them again, so you really have to be on your toes to catch the best deals.


Don't have time to check Amazon constantly? Neither do I. So, there is a great site, http://ereadernewstoday.com/category/free-kindle-books/, that tells you what new books are free on the Kindle each day. You can either check the site daily (ok) or (better) sign up for the free newsletter that daily sends you an e-mail of the new free books. It takes about 3 minutes to look through each day. But, if you like free books, it's wonderful!


Now, for those who aren't interested in Amazon books, you can check out the following sites for free books.

Overdrive. This is the company that manages ebook lending for libraries. Each library has it's own restrictions or rules for borrowing books. The PG county overdrive site is: http://pgcmls.lib.overdrive.com/0ECCDFB1-F519-4431-BA31-DD55B9C4F504/10/439/en/Default.htm. Overdrive is a great way to read new ebooks, as many of the free sites offer older, out-of-print books.  Overdrive lends in Epub or Kindle format (in most cases; For those who are interested, there's been a huge backlash from publishers over the Kindle format lending, and some publishers don't allow Kindle format lending for their books. It's a complicated story, but because of the Kindle formats' proprietary nature, some publishers don't feel they get the same protections against theft; and they'd like Kindle to read Epub. Amazon has continually pushed against that.)

Nook Free Books: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Free-eBooks/379003078/. This site is great if you have a Nook. It's not as extensive as Amazon's, but has some good choice. You also have to be a little more mindful on this site, as they have a lot of "free samples" where you just get 5 or 6 chapters of a book free, rather than the whole thing.

Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/. This site has transferred a number of out-of-copyright texts to electronic format. Most books are available as text, Epub or Kinlde format.

Open Library: http://openlibrary.org/. This project has a number of books that you can download for free. Like Project Gutenberg, many of the free downloads are for out-of-copyright books.

Sony Free books: http://ebookstore.sony.com/category/free-ebooks

Kobo Free books: http://www.kobobooks.com/free_ebooks

And that is it for me for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

Exciting Crafts at the Libraries!

Hope you all had a great weekend. My  hubby was away, and it was just me and the kids. So, that's always interesting. We treat it like an adventure, but it's a tiring adventure by the end of each day.


As you all know, I'm always looking for fun activities for the kids to do, so I was very excited when I popped into the New Carrollton library and learned they have a new set of activities for kids. And it's not even listed on the library site; it's only on fliers posted at the library itself.

The Crafternoons series takes place from  2 - 4pm Wednesdays at the library branch. Crafternoons will feature a fun craft activity for all ages,  a new theme each week.

The craft sessions scheduled are:

July 18: Monster Crafts
July 25: Owls
Aug. 1: Beading.

For more information, contact the New Carrollton children's librarians, 301-459-6900, 7414 Riverdale Rd. in New Carrollton.

That's if for today. Tomorrow's book Tuesday.  Catch you later.

-Hyattsville Mom