Category Archives: favorites

Book Quotes

I feel like I’ve been away from the blog for too long. Sadly, its due to a lack of interesting things to say. I (re)started writing because, generally, I find myself pretty amusing. Not so much lately. It’s kind of depressing me to be honest. I’ve got 5 or 6 good drafts going, but I can’t seem to want to finish them. It’s kind of tragic. So, in an effort to motivate myself to start writing (about things other than my weekly baking adventures), I’m posting my favorite highlights from my Kindle. Some may be funny, some may be sad, but in general every quote “says” something to me. Thats the great thing about books… they can speak right to your soul. I also put in the Kindle location.

“The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world , the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground… He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains… he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. -Sen G. Vest, 1870” from Watchers, Dean Koontz. Loc 8604-14

“Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; prosperity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed-time of continental union, faith, and honor.”  from Common Sense, Thomas Paine. Loc 258-60

“In serving dumb creatures, you are ennobling the human race.” from Beautiful Joe, Marshall Saunders. Loc2650-51

“‘Your man Jesus seems to me a bit of a son of a bitch when it comes to women, was he ever married?’… ‘No, but his girlfriend was a whore.'” from The Dark Tower V, Stephen King. Loc 9126-29

“Vas’y plus fort, mon petite cochon d’amour!”… “Do it harder, my little love pig!” from Bloodsucking Fiends, Christopher Moore. Loc 481-82

“Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” from The Name of the Wind: Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One, Patrick Rothfuss. Loc 12535-36

“We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That’s as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.” from The Wise Man’s Fear: Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two, Patrick Rothfuss. Loc 1162-65

“It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.” from The Wise Man’s Fear: Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two, Patrick Rothfuss. Loc 11209-10

“It’s my New England sarcasm coming out in full force. Folks that don’t come from that region have a difficult time truly understanding what is being said to them. Many will find it an abrasive form of communication. It is, without a doubt, an acquired mode of information dissemination.” from Zombie Fallout, Mark Tufo. Loc 3596-98

“In their selfishness & greed, they see free people as their oppressors. They wish to have a leader who will cut the taller plants so the sun will reach them. They think no plant should be allowed to grow taller than the shortest, and in that way give light to all. They would rather be provided a guiding light, regardless of the fuel, than light a candle themselves.” from Wizard’s First Rule, Terry Goodkind. Loc 3177-79

“Lazy people don’t think for themselves; they only think about themselves.” from Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth #3), Terry Goodkind. Loc 1493-94

“Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.” from Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth #5), Terry Goodkind. Loc 5429

“Like  hounds at a feast, people gather ’round the table of tyranny, eager for the tasty scraps tossed on the floor. Not everyone will wag their tails for a tyrant, but most will, if he first makes them salivate with hate  and gives license to their covetous impulses by making them feel it is only their due. Many would rather take than earn. Tyrants make the envious comfortable with their greed.” from Soul of the Fire, Terry Goodkind. Loc 6233-36

“To truly love someone, you must revel in their existence because they make life all the more wonderful.” from The Pillars of Creation, Terry Goodkind. Loc 10404-5

“Mercy grants value to the life of a killer, while, at the same time, it strips away the value of the life of the innocent victim.” from Naked Empire, Terry Goodkind. Loc 7263-64

“All that could be hoped for was for each generation to be raised to be sensible enough to learn from the past, not to lose sight of the things that mattered, and to understand why they mattered.” from Confessor, Terry Goodkind. Loc 3663-64

“The wind is filled with music. New breezes chase the night. Away we run beneath the sun, whirling, feather light.” from The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West, Mary Stanton. Loc 2043-45

“My vengeance shall be slow and involve paper cuts, many papercuts.” from Shatter (Children of Man #1),  Elizabeth C. Mock. Loc 3970

“An errand is getting  tank of gas or picking up a carton of milk or something. It is not getting chased by flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo.” from Blood Rites (Dresden Files #6), Jim Butcher. Loc 157-58

“I’ve noticed that people get the most irrational whenever family was around- while simultaneously losing their ability to distinguish reason from insanity. I call it familial dementia.” from Blood Rites, Jim Butcher. Loc 1705-7

“When you do something stupid and die, it’s pathetic. when you doe something stupid and survive it, then you get to call it impressive or heroic.” from Dead Beat (Dresden Files), Jim Butcher. Loc 7698-99

“Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don’t feel it.” from White Night (Dresden Files), Jim Butcher. Loc 4599-4600

“Faith is about what you do. It’s about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It’s about making sacrifices for the good of others- even when there’s not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are.” from Changes (Dresden Files), Jim Butcher. Loc 3467-68

“It was never too late to learn something. The past is unalterable in any event. The future is the only thing we can change. Learning the lessons of the past is the only way to shape the present and the future.” from Ghost Story, Jim Butcher. Loc 4066-67

“There was a time when men believed that ‘the good’ was a concept to be defined by a code of moral values and that no man had the right to seek his good through the violation of the rights of another.” from Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Loc 11127-28

“To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason- Purpose- Self Esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge. Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve. Self-Esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living.” from Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Loc 23342-44

“Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly– they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” from Brave New World, Aldous Huxley. Loc 911-12

“…We can’t live our lives by ‘what if’ and ‘if only’. We can only do the best we can to the best of our ability based on what we know. That’s why the truth is so important.” from The First Confessor, Terry Goodkind. Loc 3859-60

“But she was too big to be a thief, too honest to be an assassin, too intelligent to be a wife, and too proud to enter the only other female profession generally available.” from The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett. Loc 2247-48

“The truth isn’t easily pinned to a page. In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find…” from Sourcery, Terry Pratchett. Loc 2765-66

“Genuine anger was one of the worlds great creative forces. But you had to learn how to control it. That didn’t mean you let it trickle away. It ment you dammed it, carefully, let it develop a working head, let it drown whole valleys of the mind and then, just when the whole structure was about to collapse, opened a tiny pipeline at the base and let the iron-hard stream of wrath power the turbines of revenge.” from Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett. Loc 4150-53

“When you don’t know what to do, do what’s right and do what’s  in front of you. But not necessarily what’s right in front of you.” from The Black Prism (Lightbringer), Brent Weeks. Loc 1765-66

“Put on some armor. Just remember what’s armor and what’s you, so when it’s time to take it off, you can.” from The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer), Brent Weeks. Loc 2609-10

“Idealists mature badly. If they can’t outgrow their idealism, they become hypocrites or blind.” from The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer), Brent Weeks. Loc 9182

 

The End.

-Hey Waitress!!

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April & May Reads

 
 
Sookie Stackhouse Novels- Charlaine Harris… 2-3 out of 5 stars.
I did a re-read of these books in April… mostly due to boredom, and a lack of interest in anything in particular. I also read the newest book…
Deadlocked…2 out of 5 stars. This book was par with the rest of the series. I’m not sure why I continue to read them, I’m always unimpressed. They’re not bad, just not good. I find Sookie to be a bit annoying. Claiming to be independent but always running to one of the “men”, commenting about being a good christian. I also find Harris’ need to repeat stupid details annoying (example- how great Sookie’s tan is). Overall it was (just) fine. A quick and simple read.
 
Zomblog, Zomblog II, Zomblog: The Final Entry- T.W. Brown… 4 out of 5 stars.
I loved this Trilogy! TW writes fantastic Zombie Apocalypse fiction. I seriously felt like this COULD happen! I like that he’s not afraid to deal with the darker sides of people (and there is ALOT of dark, scary, bad people). I loved Sam, and Meredith is an awesome character. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the ending of “The Final Entry”, I was really, really hoping for a happy ending. Or, at least as much of a happy ending as possible.
 
The Makers Fire Books I & II (Hemlock and the Wizard Tower, Hemlock and the Dead God’s Legacy)- B. Throwsnaill
book I gets 3 stars, book II gets 4. Overall I really enjoyed these 2 books. BUT, both books “tell” a lot, and don’t “show” much, it’s distracting. The quality improves in book II, and I enjoyed the little details. I had some trouble working out how the magic system works… I’m kind of a simple girl. I usually LOVE a female lead. In this case I found Hemlock a bit, ummm, annoying? I don’t think that’s the right word… I just don’t particularly care for her. That being said, I enjoy her back story. My favorite character is most definitely Merit.
 
Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand… 5 out of 5 stars.
Wow. This story really struck a chord with me. It’s totally relevant to today’s world. I know, I know… you’re ging to call me an idealist. But, really the story (to me) is about how capitalism works, and that the socialist ideals will only break the people. I dig putting an end to social collectivism (public school, property taxes, fed funded health care).  I didn’t particularly like how the “good guys” (Galt & his crew) could just give up, run away, and basically tell everyone to go eff themselves… I guess I’m not an Objectivist. Is there a dislike of God/ Faith in there too? I felt it.
The chapter of Galt’s speech was a bit tough for me. I wish She could have broken it up throughout a few chapters, maybe as the opening paragraph to each? I don’t like to be lectured, and THAT chapter felt like a lecture. Not so sure about the philosophy behind it, but it’s a good story. 
Now that I’ve finished my “review”… I noticed how contrary the reviews are. It’s either Loved or Hated…  
 
Happy Reading.
-Hey Waitress!!
 
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Fav Fall/ Wintah Muzak!

These are my favorite fall and winter tunes. Most of them aren’t new songs. Deal with it. 😉 Along with these songs I have a standard list of 70’s & 80’s punk, 80’s pop, Metal, Grunge… and a random splattering of the occasional Country song. I used Pandora, up until my phone kept randomly dialling people while i was listening to music. Now I use SiriusXm.
  • I Feel Like Dancing- All Time Low
  • Weightless- All Time Low
  • Curse of Curves- Cute is What We Aim For
  • Catastrophe- Foreever The Sickest Kids
  • For the First Time- the Script … I know this isn’t a “running song” but I heard it, and stopped in the middle of a run to listen to it. I can’t lie, I teared up.
  • I Just Wanna Run- the Downtown Fiction
  • My Friends Over You- NewFound Glory
  • Swing Life Away- Rise Against … soooo pretty, and not what I expect from Rise Against.
  • Stuttering- Friday Night Boys
  • Rolling in the Deep- Adele … I just “discovered” her a few months ago. WOW.
  • No Rain- Blind Melon
  • Memory- Sugarcult
  • 1983- Neon Trees
  • Loser- Beck
  • First of the Year (equinox)- Skrillex
  • Short Skirt/ Long Jacket- Cake
  • Rock and Roll Lifestyle- Cake
  • Calling All Cars- Senses Fail
  • Punk Rock Princess- Something Corporate
  • 1901- Phoenix
  • Boston- Augustana
  • MakeDamnSure- Taking Back Sunday
  • If You Could Only See- Tonic
  • My Hero- FooFighters
  • How Far We’ve Come- Matchbox 20
  • Low- Cracker
  • Rock On- Generation X
  • Chasing the Night- the Ramones
  • If I Ever Leave This World Alive- Flogging Molly
  • Suburban Home- Descendants
  • Fall Back Down- Rancid
  • Wishlist- PearlJam
  • Straight to the Bottom- Weaving the Fate
  • Muzzle- Smashing Pumpkins
  • Kids- MGMT
  • You Get What You Give- Free Radicals
  • Stupid Girl- Garbage
  • Soldier- Otherwise
  • Fever- Bullet For My Valentine
  • Pepper- Buttholesurfers
  • Bully- Shinedown
  • Girls Not Grey- AFI
  • Kick Ass- Egypt Central
  • Still Frame- Trapt
  • Too Much Time- Styx
  • Use Somebody- Kings of Leon
  • Hooch- Everything
  • Breed- Nirvana
  • Like a G6 (Heros rmx)- FEM & Cataracts
  • Decadence Dance- Extreme
  • Roots Radicals- Ramone
  • Til I Collapse- Eminem
Ahhh… good times.
-Hey Waitress!!
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My Fav Reading

 
FIRST! A disclaimer. I read mostly fantasy adventure. You know, the kind with swords, dragons, magic, mysticism… not a big fan of the “urban fantasy” vampire & wolf stuff.  I also REALLY like Dystopian Fiction.
SECOND! Another disclaimer. I own a Kindle. It was the BEST christmas gift EVER. I love it. I also miss turning pages and the way books smell. That being said, as part of my criteria for “Favorite Reading” I must feel the need to buy a hard copy. Let’s have a little aside here and talk about the Kindle… Did I mention I love it? ‘Cause I do. A lot of the stories/ books I’ve read on it are cheap ($2.99- $3.99), or even free! The other thing I really love about the Kindle (it probably holds true for all E-Readers) is the exposure to self published or “unknown” writers.
THIRD! Another disclaimer. There will only b a few descriptions, and they’ll probably be “borrowed” from the cover descriptions. because I type slooooow, and I’d rather be reading then poking away at a keyboard!
FOURTH! If I gave you ALL of my favorite books this post would be waaaaaay too long. So my other criteria for putting this list together was I had to read (or re-read)  from 2011-present.
So, without further a-do… My Favorite Reading
  • Anthem– Ayn Rand
  • Night Angel Trilogy– Brent Weeks
  • Bloodsucking Fiends, You  Suck, Bite Me!- Christopher Moore. (He’s funny… and that’s 3 different books.
  • The Dresden Files– Jim Butcher. This series is the story of Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Chicago’s first (and only)Wizard P.I.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire (series)- George R.R. Martin. The first book in this series is A Game of Thrones, which was recently turned into a HBO series.
  • The Shadow Dance Trilogy– David Dalglish. “Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. Marshalling the thieves’ guilds under his control, he declares war against the Trifect, an allegiance of wealthy and powerful nobles. His son, Aaron, has been groomed since birth to be his heir. Sent to kill the daughter of a priest, Aaron instead risks his own life to protect her from the wrath of his guild. In doing so, he glimpses a world beyond poison, daggers, and the iron control of his father.”
  • Desperate Times, Desperate Times 2: Gun Control– Nicholas Antinozzi. Story about surviving after a Socio-Economic collapse in the US.
  • A Dirty Job– Christopher Moore
  • A Dog’s Purpose– W. Bruce Cameron. “Tells the story of a dog who finds himself reincarnated and decides there must be a reason, a purpose he must fulfill, and until he does so, he’ll continue to be reborn.”
  • The Donzerly Light– Ryne Douglas Pearson. “…So begins Jay’s reluctant journey to a past he’s tried to forget. From his days ruling Wall Street as an impossibly intuitive stock picker, to just a few hours  before, when he pumped six bullets into a transient outside a dying Missouri town. A drifter he’d once thought was just an ordinary man.”
  • The Half-Orcs– David Dalglish. series.
  • The Tormay Trilogy– Christopher Bunn. A Hawk and His Boy is the first book. 
  • The Help– Kathryn Stockett. Yes, every once and a while I enjoy mushy, loveable, “real life” books.
  • The Mistborn Trilogy– Brandon Sanderson.
  • The Hunger Games Trilogy– Suzanne Collins. Hands down my favorite books of 2011.If you haven’t read it yet, you should.
  • Inheritance– Christopher Paolini. The first book in this series (the Inheritance Cycle) was Eragon.
  • The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption– Jim Gorant
  • The Kingkiller Chronical– Patrick Rothfuss. The first book in this series is The Name of the Wind. The series is the life story of a famous musician, mage, and adventurer named Kvothe. After gaining notoriety at a young age, he disappears from public life…
  • The Kinshield Saga– K.C. Mays. Series in progress…
  • One Good Dog– Susan Wilson. Yes. I like stories about how awesome dogs are. sue me.
  • The Penal Colony– Richard Herley.  Read the description here.
  • Ready Player One– Ernest Cline.
  • The Sisters Brothers– Patrick Dewitt
  • The Stormlight Archive– Brandon Sanderson. Starts with The Way of Kings.
and finally… I’m reading Terry Goodkind’s The Sword of Truth series. And LOVE it.
hope you enjoy these books as much as I did.
-Hey Waitress!
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