Kindle or Not Kindle? That is the question~~~

觀察電子圖書已經很久了，一直舉棋不定。

這種產品相對來說較新（雖然技術可能並不新），所以一上市就購買可能並不明智。可是對於究竟什麽時候纔是合適的購買時機，卻並不清楚。

每次到amazon網站，首頁永遠是Kindle的廣告；每次去B&N，櫥窗裏也總是Nook的廣告，所以一直有些心動，但又覺得還是再等等、再等等。

數碼相機的發明讓底片式相機幾乎銷聲匿跡，那麽電子圖書的風行會不會有一天也讓紙張圖書銷聲匿跡呢？這是我不太願意去想象的。如果生活裏沒有紙張圖書，似乎總覺得相當不習慣，而且，圖書館要怎麽辦呢？紙張圖書在可預見的未來應該還是會存在下去的吧~~~

我喜歡拿著實體書的感覺，紙張和油墨的氣味、翻過每一頁書的充實感、在空白處寫筆記的感覺、以及書架上一排排一列列的擺滿圖書的感覺，都是電子書無法替代的。當然，電子書的好處也很多：可以同時攜帶上千本書，體積十分輕便大概是對我來説最具説服力的賣點。我覺得我大概遲早會購入電子書，但現在比較猶豫的一點是會不會等有了電子書之後，還是會繼續購買紙張書呢=.=。而且，電子的東西，總帶有一定的不確定性，雖然可以備份，但一不小心，還是會呼啦一下，所有的東西都消失了。因此可靠性也是一個不確定因素~~~

又進入book stock up season~~~

Books, Cats, and Bloody Murders!!! What more could you ask for?  These are the perfect ingredients likely making up an ideal book that I will avidly add to my already sprawling "collection" (more like random motleys of books, really).  But anyways, I am totally bewitched by mysteries (as I've always been) that involve cats, little remote/scenic towns, libraries, herbs, cheese/flower shops, decadent cuisines, and....you get the idea~~~ so with these long list of keywords in mind (meaning MANY potential targets), I headed to my local B&N (for lack of better options) and started browsing up and down the mystery aisles....and.....ta da~~~~ here are the finds of the day~~~~ (I'm such a hopelessly bibliophile-spendthrift)

Kate Carlisle - Homicide in Hardcover (The Bibliophile Mysteries)

Kate Carlisle - If Books Could Kill (The Bibliophile Mysteries)

Lorna Barrett - Bookmarked for Death (The Book Town Mysteries)

 Avery Aames - The Long Quiche Goodbye (The Cheese Shop Mysteries)

and finally... (for the moment, at least)

Nancy Pickard - The Secret Ingredient Murders (A Eugenia Potter Mystery)

Oh, and the one I'm reading right now...you know, I DO believe I was meant to pick up this book which triggered a whole new passion for this mystery genre I never paid much attention to before.  The other day, I just sauntered into the B&N as I always do, and I was supposedly looking for Victorian Period novels, but I just happened to shot a random glance at the mystery shelves, and this book stood itself out...I saw the cover and I just had to have it...

Rebecca M. Hale - How to Wash a Cat

And I discovered Susan Wittig Albert, she writes the China Bayles Herb Mysteries and the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Mysteries, and other Victorian/Edwardian setting mysteries!!  Imagine the delight of finding an author that writes all the "right things"!!!  (Well, they are RIGHT things to me).  Anyways, I couldn't wait logging into my Amazon account...i know, i know...and then I read her blog, and found this lovely lovely saying:

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.--Jorge Luis Borges

I meow for that~~~~

Blick + Kitties

本以爲天氣就這麽轉涼入秋，誰知雨水一停，氣溫立刻直升，據説這個星期都將是90多度，看來還需耐心等候我期待的秋冬。

不知不覺，在新家已經快住滿了一個四季
不知不覺，經常看綠色的眼睛已經不再疲勞
不知不覺，Onyx已經長成了大貓
不知不覺，韶光在一天天地逝去，歲月一天天地攀上眉梢鬢角

又去了一趟Blick Art Store，果然是守不住錢包的地方（= . =）購入了一套Derwent Sketch Set，和本來說不需要的Derwent Drawing Pencils(24)。這套24色鉛筆的質感和Prismacolor Premier完全不同，似乎油性成分更多一些，色彩果然非常適合畫鉛筆素描，都是穩重成熟的綠色系列、藕色系列、和焦黃至棕色系列，沒有任何鮮豔幼稚的顔色，在紙張上著色的感覺幾乎像pastel。我直到前幾天才知道，原來oil pastel就是小學時候美術老師經常說的“油畫棒”。我一直搞不清楚油畫棒和蠟筆之間的差別，其實是不同的（=.=|||） 。本來說只想用彩色鉛筆畫工筆畫的，現在也開始同時練習用graphite pencil畫pencil sketch和drawing，畫sketch真的很過癮，尤其是畫陰影明暗的時候。另外，一些小工具也必不可少，包括：暈開顔色的paper stump(這個東西無敵好用)，還有白色的pastel pencil，也有暈色的效果，還有一把小刷子，用來刷掉鉛筆渣滓，另外最好也備一張砂紙，用於摩筆頭。有了這些便利的小工具，真如虎添翼~~~~~