The post TBR Challenge: Paranormal or Romantic Suspense – Into the Night by Suzanne Brockmann appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>I’m on vacation this week so I don’t have a review for you but I did want to share what I’m reading for the TBR Challenge.
I chose Into the Night by Suzanne Brockmann for my “scary” read this month. I actually read the previous book in this series, Out of Control, for last year’s October challenge. Here’s the blurb:
It was supposed to be a “dog and pony show”—an elaborate demonstration of SEAL rescue techniques—to celebrate a presidential visit to a California naval base. Professional, no-nonsense White House staffer Joan DaCosta arrives early to scope out the area. Assigned to be her SEAL liaison is Lt. (jg) Mike Muldoon, a born leader—strong, decisive, tough, and fearless.
Against her better judgment, Joan finds herself drawn to the handsome young officer. Skilled at being “one of the guys” in the mostly male world of politics, she is dismayed when Muldoon breaks through her defenses. While tension mounts between them, fueling their growing attraction, a far more sinister danger is lurking, as terrorists plot a daring attack against the president. To protect their commander in chief, Joan and Muldoon must not only risk their hearts—but their very lives. . . .
I really like the Troubleshooters series, at least up to a certain point. There are only a couple of series (J.D. Robb’s In Death series and J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood come to mind) that I can stick with through all the books. Most of the time long series start grating on me; I lose track of all the characters and often times the story becomes repetitive. We’ll see how far I get with this series. I’ve jumped around a lot, reading books 3 and 6 first, before going back and reading the first and second one. I read the fourth one last year, and now I’m reading the 5th. They mostly stand alone, although it is helpful to dive into a story knowing a little about the characters first.
I don’t know if I will continue with the series after this book. It’s obviously not that enthralling to me since I’m just now getting around to reading the fifth book, a year after reading the fourth. Romantic suspense is not my favorite subgenre (unless it’s Nora Roberts) mostly because I don’t like scaring myself. Some of the Troubleshooters’ books hit a little close to home because they’re about terrorism and problems in the Middle East, so more than likely, this will be it for me with this series. Unless of course, you outrageously disagree with me and give me excellent reasons to keep reading!
If you’re doing the TBR Challenge, what did you read this month?
*affiliate links ahoy!*
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]]>Hacked By Not Matter who am i ~ i am white Hat Hacker please update your wordpress
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]]>The post Weekend and Vacation Reads appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>I’m on vacation! I’ll have lots (and lots!) of details for you when I get back, and I have a few things scheduled for next week so you won’t have time to miss me! lol
I’ve been saving up ebooks for this trip and I’m super excited that I finally have time to really dive into them!
What are you reading this weekend? Do you like to set aside books to read specifically on vacation?
*All links are affiliate*
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]]>The post October is National Medical Librarians Month! appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>October, best known as breast cancer awareness month, is also national medical librarians month. In the spirit of that, I thought I would put together a roundup of all my posts about being a medical librarian. Happy National Medical Librarians Month!
What Is a Clinical Librarian?
A Day In the Life of a Medical Librarian
Using QR Codes In the Medical Library
5 Tips for Better Database Searching
Library Day In the Life – What Exactly Do I Do?
Doctors Say the Darnedest Things
A Tour of My Library
When Google Isn’t the Answer
Library Day In the Life
So, You Want To Be a Hospital Librarian?
Does Using the Medical Library Make You a Bad Doctor?
Keep It To Yourself
What’s Our Policy On…?
Going Solo In the Library
The Accidental Medical Librarian – You Need What?
The Accidental Medical Librarian
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]]>The post Ellora’s Cave v Dear Author & Massive Blogging Implications appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>I briefly mentioned this story on Friday in the Weekly Wanderings post and now I want to elaborate on it a little because this lawsuit has huge implications for journalists, bloggers, and anyone who likes to leave anonymous comments.
First off, a little background: Dear Author is a romance review site run by Jane Litte (blogger, lawyer, podcaster, and general all-around bad-ass). Dear Author gets its name for the unique reviewing style of addressing the review to the author instead of just posting a straight up review. It’s a cute gimmick that sets DA apart from other sites. DA is a massive site and I consider it to be one of the more reliable, unbiased romance review sites out there. Along with Smart Bitches, Trash Books and All About Romance, it’s definitely one of my favorite places to find good book recommendations.
Ellora’s Cave is a mostly online-only publisher of erotic romance. The publishing house has been groundbreaking on many fronts, from being among the first to publish digital works (by emailing PDFs to buyers way back in 2000) to publishing a sub-genre most houses were staying far, far away from. Several well known romance authors have published with EC, including Sylvia Day, Belle Andre, Jaci Burton, and Lora Leigh. EC was widely successful until 2010 when sales began to stagnate. It’s interesting that that happened because everyone else was jumping on the epub bandwagon and ebook sales were booming. There are a number of reasons why that might have happened and Jane Litte wrote about many of them in the post that launched the lawsuit.
I suggest you read Jane’s post, The Curious Case of Ellora’s Cave, as well as this interesting piece from independent publisher, Melville House, as well as the continuously updated SBTB post about the lawsuit and some of the social media shenanigans that have happened since the suit was filed.
Besides the fact that a publishing house thought it could get away with not paying all owed royalties, I have two main points I want to discuss.
Ellora’s Cave has filed a defamation suit on a blogger for what is basically a (very well researched) piece of investigative journalism. The journalist, in this case blogger Jane Litte, took a serious look at some controversial practices and followed up on rumors and stories circulating on social media and basically became a whistle-blower. My question is, if The New York Times or Buzzfeed or some other news outlet known for breaking whistle-blowing stories wrote this piece, would they be sued? I’d like to think yes, for fairness sake, but we all know that most things aren’t fair, and that no, while EC might send a cease and desist letter or demand a retraction, it is highly unlikely that a large news outlet would get sued over something like this. It would be a violation of freedom of the press. But this is different because this is a blog and a blogger being sued. While many of us rely on blogs for all sorts of news and information, the courts have been slow to protect bloggers’ rights and recognize them as journalists.
As a blogger, although not one who reports on news (unless Caty shredding yet another roll of toilet paper counts as news), I find this concerning. If Ellora’s Cave wins this suit, what’s to stop someone from suing me because they didn’t like the review I gave them? What if I made an off hand comment about something/someone I didn’t like and they decided to sue? These are obviously far-fetched and very unlikely scenarios, but I think you see my point. Bloggers need to know that they can publish true accounts, however horrible they might be to the ones being reported on, without fear of retribution. Many bloggers already fear negative comments so much they don’t post what they really want to. That’s a separate issue, but any blogger or freelance writer publishing in an online medium needs to know that their right to publish whatever they want (you know, in line with the law and everything) is protected.
The suit filed by Ellora’s Cave demands the names of the authors who commented on the post saying the same thing happened to them. Can they do that? I don’t know; I’m not a lawyer, but something about it seems fishy. I know there are laws in place to protect anonymity in other situations and many journalists (print and television) use anonymous tips and clips while reporting, so I would think (and hope) that that right would be extended to commenters. Bloggers have always dealt with anonymous commenters, mostly encountered as negative posters, and most bloggers retain the rights to delete any comments that are truly offensive. Many sites won’t let you post anonymously, but that isn’t the case here. Dear Author does allow anonymous comments and now EC wants to know who they are, probably so they can seek retribution. Jane has vowed to protect those who commented anonymously, which is good news for those authors. But, again, what does this mean if Ellora’s Cave wins? How far will others go to punish those who are trying to protect themselves? I can’t think of a single good thing that could come of that.
I find this case to be scary because the implications on the blogging world are huge. It may be that this is only a scare tactic to force Jane to remove the post (which is totally not happening – Jane is a lawyer after all!) and the lawsuit won’t actually proceed. A temporary injunction hearing was held last week and the judge requested that DA come back for another hearing with more evidence in their defense. Jane is now seeking testimonies or affidavits from EC authors on whether or not they were paid all that was owed to them. So we shall see what happens next.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think EC has legal grounds for a defamation suit? How would an EC victory affect the blogging community?
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]]>The post Weekly Wanderings appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>Where To Find All Harry Potter Destinations Around the World – we’ve talked about my love for Harry Potter before, right? So obviously this post was right up my alley. Who wants to go to Scotland?
At Home Facial Series: Mud Mask Amp Up! – I love at home/DIY beauty projects! I’ve got both a mud mask and various facial scrubs lying around so I can’t wait to do this.
Ebola Outbreak 2014: Information Resources – The National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine have put together a HUGE list of free resources on Ebola. Whether you are a librarian, health care professional, or just a concerned citizen, this should be your one and only stop for reliable information about the Ebola outbreak.
Ellora’s Cave Sues Dear Author – this is super important I have a full post with my own thoughts forthcoming, but if you are AT ALL interested in protecting your rights as a blogger/writer, you should be following this case.
Pinterest and How To Get Rid of Those Pesky Related Pins – Apparently, I’m not the only one who doesn’t like all the “related pins” that suddenly flooded my Pinterest feed back in August. I put up with it for a while, and then when I got super tired of it, I went in search of a solution. It’s not a perfect one, but it does allow you to see only the pins/boards you have chosen to follow.
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]]>The post Recipe: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>I don’t make a lot of stuff with pumpkin. It’s not that I don’t like it – I like pumpkin a lot actually – it’s just not something that I choose to cook or bake with that often. The only two recipes I have here that use pumpkin are these Thanksgiving muffins and this AMAZING pumpkin cobbler. Last weekend I found a link to a recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin bread and knew immediately that I had to make it. I’ve never made pumpkin bread, but y’all all know how much I absolutely love bread of any kind, so of course I had to make this.
This quick bread is outstanding and takes no time to mix up. It’s very moist and just sweet enough. I made it a little more wholesome by using some white-wheat flour, but I think it could be made with all white-wheat flour or a combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flours. I used a 9×5 loaf pan and also made 4 muffins. I think you could put all the batter into the loaf pan, but you’ll need to increase the bake time and watch to make sure the top doesn’t get too brown.
If you’re looking for a fall breakfast treat, look no further than this chocolate chip pumpkin bread! Really, you need to make this. I just dropped a chocolate chip on my computer because I couldn’t stand to write about this bread and not eat any!
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup white wheat flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 of a 15 oz can of pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350º and grease a 9×5 loaf pan and 4 wells in a muffin tin with cooking spray, butter or oil.
In a small bowl mix the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Add sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and vanilla to a large bowl. Mix with a stand or hand mixer until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Divide batter evenly among loaf pan and 4 wells in a muffin tin. Each should be about half full. Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and they bounce back slightly when touched. Bake the loaf another 35-45 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. You may need to shield the top of the bread with foil to keep it from over browning during the last 10 minutes of the bake time.
Cool in pans on wire racks for 20 minutes then loose with a knife before turning out onto rack. Let loaf cool completely before slicing.
Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
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]]>The post Internal Server Errors appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>I’m sure by now many of you have gotten an “internal server error” message while navigating through my site. It looks like this:
I just want you all to know that I am aware of the problem and am working on a solution. It looks like it’s a combination of things including security problems and not enough space on my shared hosting server. I may have to migrate to a different plan or another hosting company all together if this doesn’t get any better.
Through the magic of social networking a friend of mine referred me to Greg Bellan, founder of KTC Digital, a web design, consulting, and digital marketing company. Greg has awesomely taken a look at my problems and is helping me solve them. I’ll keep you posted on how the repairs are going. In the meantime, if you have any ideas on what I should be doing, please let me know in the comments or drop me an email at lifelovelibrarianship [at] gmail [dot] com.
Because I know you need it, here’s a picture of Caty Cat wondering why I woke her up taking a picture.
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]]>The post Weekend Review & Menu Plan Monday appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
]]>Hello hello! It’s the start of another week; are you excited? I’m only excited because that means I’m another day closer to the big trip I have coming up (more on that soon!). I’m just not a fan of Mondays, especially Monday mornings. Monday mornings make me want to curl up and sleep like Caty Cat. Lucky girl – no work, just sleep.
This weekend I decorated for fall! I only added one thing new since last year, and that was a few new printables. I got kind of obsessed with printables last Christmas and have been collecting them ever since!
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I also had my Forever YA book club this weekend. If you like young adult literature and hanging with cool people, you should see if there is a FYA book club in your area. So far it’s mostly just girls I went to library school with, but hopefully one day we’ll have more people. I totally didn’t read the book (again) this month, but it’s on my TBR list. I really want to read next month’s selection, Anna Dressed in Blood, as it sounds different, maybe slightly creepy, but it is (or will be) October! I’m in the mood to read something different.
I pulled up my garden on Saturday afternoon. All that’s left are my herbs – basil, rosemary, and thyme. I finally killed my parsely so that had to go. I was still getting tomatoes but they weren’t good quality and the plants themselves were looking pretty puny. I’d like to put in some fall flowers and maybe some kale next weekend.
The rest of my weekend was spent doing some shopping, practicing yoga, and catching up on some cleaning. I’ve got a new cleaning routine that I’m dying to share with all of you. It’s the perfect cleaning plan for anyone living in a small space, living alone, or with just another person. It’s simple and effective, and (so far) it is working for me.
So that was my weekend. How was yours? Now onto the menu…
Sunday: Garlic butter shrimp and quinoa, roasted broccolini
Monday: Grilled chicken salad
Tuesday: Pasta with spinach, white beans, and tomatoes
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Herbed balsamic chicken, lemon-basil mashed potatoes (I didn’t get to this last week)
Friday: TBD
Saturday: Gameday aka I have no idea but I’ll be eating at my parents
I made some AWESOME pumpkin chocolate chip bread that I’ll be enjoying for breakfast and I also tried a new sandwich bread recipe that turned out rather nicely. I’m looking forward to having a sandwich or two for lunch this week.
Are you eating anything fun this week?
This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday
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]]>The post Weekend Reads appeared first on Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship.
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