LynnAB

Boy, you are good. Yes and no.... LOL This novel was in 2001 and there was controversy tied to Oprah. He was very dis-satisfied with her choosing this novel (don't know why). The one I think you are alluding to was James Frey's A Million Little Pieces supposedly about his drug addiction (fact based) and she had him on the show and then again when it turned out to be made up.

 

Regarding our dog...yes it is heart breaking and one of the toughest things we had to do (cried like a baby). The first chapter of this book is similar...told thru the dog's perspective, which in and of itself is hard...but somewhat re-assuring......don't want to ruin the read for you.

I'm not that good <g>. I was thinking of the wrong author!!! You're right!!! It's James Frey I'm thinking about. THAT kept me avoiding Jonathan Franzen's books. How sad. Oh, well. They have the same initials, right?

I finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet last night. I consider it a "must read," although there are some sad moments. I started The Art of Racing in the Rain and was disturbed by the first chapter. You're right again. That was sooooooooooo sad already and setting me up for future heartbreak. I wasn't going to read the book. Then again, I get that way late at night. This morning I got back into the book and am going to LOVE it even though I'm going to hate the ending, right? Anyway, I'm enjoying it immensely.

I understand the "crying like a baby." We all did here and will again. My husband was sooooo upset last time that he didn't want to get another dog. We did, of course, because of all the wonderful years of love.

Did you get another dog? Actually, we got two for the first time in our lives.

Very easy read....good book. Written from a dog's perspective (very mature older dog). Made me cry....we had to put down our 16 year old this past March and brought it all back. That aside though, it was good.

 

Have another one for you to consider. Jonathan Franzen --- The Corrections. Almost done. Another good author.

 

Jim

OMG! You know I'll cry!!! Dogs (our two poodles in particular) are my passion. In 2001 we went through "that" with our 10-year-old poodle at the time and we were ALL devastated. Now we have two poodles coming up on 10 years. Sigh!

I keep wondering about Jonathan Franzen but have never read his books. Okay. They're officially on my list now. Isn't he the one who had made up stuff in his book but had claimed it was true? Am I thinking of the correct author who was on Oprah?

My new one is Garth Stein, The art of racing in the rain.

Okay! We're back in tune with each other. The Art of Racing in the Rain is next up on my list. How is it?

Just looked it up. Looks very interesting. The write up kind of reminded me a little of snow falling on cedars....

Oops. I hadn't read this response when I replied to you. Yes, I think you'd really like it, too.

Hmmm. I never read Snow Falling on Cedars. Now I need to check THAT out.

Not at all. Who is the author?

The author is Jamie Ford, and it's on the NY Times Bestseller list. I think you'd like this book, too. Really <g>.

I'm trying to broaden my reading horizons this year so I can "talk" about some different reads. Right now I'm in the middle of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet...and enjoying it a lot! Have you read it?

I agree.....I kind of miss hearing about the reads (and listens). Happy New Year!

Oh, good. I'm glad we're going to keep in touch and talk about our books again. I'm looking forward to it.

I kind of diverted to a light fantasy genre on my Kindle. After reading all five of the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, I started liking YA fantasy. Not too scary for me but very magical. Now I'm reading one of Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci books, Charmed Life. This discovery is a totally new genre for me other than Harry Potter. Fun!!!

Things are well. We just married off our last two (September and November). My son and DIL were on the Brilliance for their honeymoon over in the med when she had all that listing trouble. They were actually featured on GMA and Inside Edition (as well as others) and phone interviewed on the ship and then when they got to Malta. Got a free cruise out of it but never got to Egypt (the highlight of the cruise). They were pretty scared... All is well though:)

 

Just got off of Oasis....(again) you are living the grand life style now;):)

Wow, Jim!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I read all about that cruise, of course, and remember the couple being interviewed. I would have paid more attention if I had realized that was your son and DIL. Why did think you had all daughters? I guess because of the engagements and weddings <g>. What a cruise that must have been!!!!

Yes, Oasis was amazing...even a second time. I loved seeing all the shows again...particularly Hairspray. RCCL really has spectacular entertainment.

Here's to a wonderful 2011. I hope we can resuurect this thread and start discussing books again. I've really missed that.

Hey everybody, I know this thread has kind of died off, but I wanted to say "Happy New Year" to everyone!!!

Hi, Jim,

You beat me to it! I was just signing on here to do the same <g>.

Happy New Year to Everyone. Here's to a Happy, Healthy one.

How are YOU doing, Jim? I'm actually just starting to get back into audiobooks again as of this week. My son gave me a 32 gb iPod Touch for Christmas, and I'm soooooooooo excited and having sooooooo much fun. It's WONDERFUL for audiobooks (as well as a lot of other things, of course).

We sailed on Oasis of the Seas again a few weeks ago, so I'm back in cruise withdrawal <g>. We had a fantastic time. I keep meaning to write about our cruise on my blog, but we've all had terrible colds since Christmas, so I haven't accomplished much around here. Today is the first day in a while that I'm feeling like myself again.

I hope all is well with you!!!!

Lynn

Hey Lynn.

What program do you use to convert your AVI's to MP4 ? I use one called PSP Convert or something like that. I will get the correct name if you want. I set my movies and TV shows when I go to bed and I have it shut off the computer when it's done. When you download books are they in a M4B format? ? I am so rushed when I get home I have time to do a fraction of what I want to do. I will list me books I like when I get time.

I just got my phone 4 weeks ago. I already had some .avi files. I haven't had to deal with anything yet. The books I buy on Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (Nook) come in their own proprietary formats that import seamlessly.

I would love to see what books you like and recommend sometime. Its always great sharing ideas and suggestions.

Lynn

No my Mom is very sick so it was not a planned trip. I leave for San Juan on 08/28/10 to sail on the Serenade. How do you load your movies, books and songs on to your phone? ? It has to be better than loading on my Iphone or Touch. I have a PSP I loaded with movies and did not use it one time. Probably going to get rid of it as I don't need it. I also travel with a portable 8 inch Divx DVD player. You can load up to 6 movies on a DVD.

I'm sorry to hear your mom is so sick. Are you still going to be able to go on your cruise?

I don't think I do it any differently than you do. My books are ones I buy for Nook or Kindle (although I only have a Kindle). I download books to their software, which is free to put on iPhone or Droid. Movies have to be in mp4 format for the Droid. I don't know about the iPhone specifically. All my songs in mp3 format just drag and drop to my Droid. I believe you have to use iTunes, right? I do everything through Windows, which is nice and easy.

Thanks for letting me know, Ronnie. First of all, my husband and I saw Knight and Day in the theatre ... which is only worth mentioning because we rarely go to the movies. Funny that it should be the same movie you watched.

But ... instead of the iTouch, I ended up getting a DroidX phone, which I am madly in love with <g>. My son bought it for me on launch date (July 15), although my birthday was June 15th. Anyway ... I can now do EVERYTHING with my DroidX ... carry my music, movies, eBooks (although, of course, I still love and use my Kindle all the time). It's great, though, and does everything I need a multimedia player/phone to do. I'm soooooo happy finally. My son rocks!!! It was HIS idea.

You flew to Florida? Did you go on a cruise??????????????

I'm listening to an interesting book, The School of Essential Ingredients, by Erica Bauermeister. So far this is definitely a woman's book and definitely also a foodie type book. The language is extremely descriptive, and I'm enjoying the use of words.

Hi Lynn,

Told you I lurk;) sound like what you need is the iPad it is much bigger than the iPad Touch but does pretty much the same things. I've taken a look a them and would love one but DH doesn't feel I need any more technology.:rolleyes:

I got the same response from MY husband <g>. I honestly don't want an iPad right now because I have my computer(s), my netbook, my Cowan .. I sort have a lot of technology, too <lol>.

The ITouch screen is way too small to watch movies. I do it because some people like to watch in the dental or doctor offices. Also I did it to make sure I knew how to do it. It's fun to use all of the technology I can. So you do not use news groups for your .avi's.? ? What program did you use to convert the dvd's over ? By the way, any Philips DVD player will play the .avi files and let you watch on your home t v. Same goes with portable players. That's what I use going to Vegas or PR. You can buy most for under $50.00 at Target or Walmart.

Hi, Ronnie,

I haven't converted one of my DVDs for a long time because it wasn't working out watching a movie on my Cowon. I think you're right about the ITouch being too small for that, too. My son commented on that. He said I'm better carrying my small portable DVD player around, which I love. I have a great Panasonic. I used to have DVD Shrink. I'm not even sure if that's a current program.

I've never used any news groups. Maybe I should?

Since you have .avi files you must use the n g's. I don't want to say too much about them. Let the man go after p to p people and leave us alone. I use Xnews for my reader ( free ), PSP Video 9 ( Free ) to convert from .avi to drag and drop onto my Touch. .avi movies are small enough once converted to put on a Touch. Never tried DVD's. I don't have that much space. If you download audio books you need to convert from MP3 to M4B. Use a program "MP3 to IPod Audio Book Converter " . Just Google as it's free. I will list my favorite books tomorrow.

RonnieD

Hi, Ronnie,

Actually, a while back I converted a few of my DVD's (of which I have a huge collection of romantic comedies) to .avi so I could watch them on a Cowon that I have. It turned out to be useless because the screen is too small for me to enjoy a movie on. Therefore, I'd like to get something bigger and watch my own movies. I have so many movies already, and it would be great to carry them around with me.

So it sounds like the iPod Touch is more finnicky as to formats. Is that correct? My Cowon takes .avi and .mp3, which is pretty standard, I believe. If only the screen were bigger. Sigh!

I'll check back for your book recommendations. Thanks!

Lynn

LOL, I have read it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, though. The Dream had a little rocky start in terms of some of the reviews posted here, but it has settled down. This Itin is the same one we are going on (think it is the 10th time I will cruise and stop in Cozumel!).

 

Couple of interesting things about this review. First, how do two older guys (relatively speaking...they are much younger than I ...sigh!) get to travel with 4 younger girls....(where was all of this when I was single!). Second, they took some nice pics. Pretty good review. The Carnival main blog is pretty large and has some really good reviewers (actually story tellers). I finally posted an abbreviated (first time review) from our Splendor cruise last August...kind of felt I owed it to the community, but it was a far cry from some of these:eek:

 

I can only assume they do the same thing in the main Royal blog area (I think they have a separate one for Oasis if I am not mistaken). You would be a great review writer. Have you done one for your Oasis cruise?

 

Jim

I was wondering the same thing <lol>. They "work together," one of the post reported. That being said, HMMMMMM. I believe the 26-year-old woman and the 42-year-old man are a couple. Just my guess or figuring it from something I read.

Anyway, you can live vicariously <g>.

No, I've never done a review. Maybe I should for Oasis? Have to think about it. That you for the vote of confidence.

Off to work ... TONS of transcription to do this weekend.

I am so in cruise wanting denial.....can't wait till August! A year between cruises is way to long.

I know!

Just in case you haven't seen it, this is a very well done review on Carnival Dream. I had such a good time living vicariously through this group's cruise, including ports I haven't been to. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1216856&highlight=carnival+dream

That is a good one.....You are going from Royal's largest ship to their smallest (class wise anyway). All that being said, I am sure you will have a wonderful time. When we went on the Imagination last year for a 3 day (much smaller ship...less of a difference than you have, but still the same idea), we had a blast. Sure you will have a great time!

I think it will be fun, too. We're going to enjoy our anniversary and the ocean. We'll save Oasis for "getting out there" and going nonstop.

Majesty is the one RCCL ship I have sailed on... It is small but they recently added a whole center section during a dry dock. Anything would be small compared to Oasis...

Is it as big as Oasis's lifeboats? I'm wondering. Oasis is HUGE.

I know what you mean....mine is approaching 60 books :eek: See you scheduled a cruise on the Majesty in celebration of the anniversary....good deal!

Yes, we did. I am so not a small ship person. Actually, Majesty is one ship we have never even sailed on. The thing is that we sailed on Oasis in May and are hoping for another week's cruise towards the end of the year. Majesty sails on our anniversary in November and does a 3-night cruise. That would be a perfect quick getaway that we do without using up vacation time.

We have several friends who love Majesty. I'll have to let you know. I like big, big ships and lots of excitement. I'm a kid at heart <g>. This will be nice, though, since our honeymoon cruise 27 years ago was on Song of America.

It's not a nightmare and def. not Stephen King'esh style of doom and gloom. There is a murder and it revolves around the people that semi-involved with it. Good listen.

Sounds good, actually. I'll put it on my ever-growing TBR list.

Like most of the works of Cormac McCarthy that I compare him to, the ending would not make you all warm and happy inside. Not a nightmare....but certainly not riding off into the sunset.

If they're not a "nightmare," I'd probably like them. I can't read Stephen King and those types of authors.

According to the jacket (or cover as in the case with a CD book) it is his first book. Kind of written from 6 different people's perspective over an eventful time. Only part I was not to keen on is it is written referencing the recession in the south east and mid-west and mill closings etc. A little depressing.

I'll wait or a further review from you then. You know I like uplifting stories <g> ... at least a HEA (Happily Ever After). Okay, so that's NOT reality, but I get reality on an everyday basis.

OK, have a new author and audio book for everyone to consider. The author is Philipp Meyer and the book is American Rust. Very good listen, he is kind of like a Cormac McCarthy or John Steinbeck kind of writer (maybe I set the bar to high, but that is who i put his style like).

 

Jim

Thanks, Jim. I'll check him out. I haven't read any of his books, so that's exciting.