2008 November 17 » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

That Darn CueCat

Posted by Anastasia on November 17, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 172008

Image borrowed from LibraryThing

My CueCat came in last Thursday, and a few people were wondering how I liked it. The short answer: it’s awesome.

The long answer: it’s pretty much useless if I only have one or two books to input, but I didn’t let that stop me. I added the few books I got over the weekend (and Feed) and I already feel more professional and mature (for some odd reason). I probably actually only shaved off around 30-45 seconds from manually inputting ISBNs, not including tagging, but I’m going to keep using the CueCat even for adding a small number of books because a) I bought it! I should use it, right? b) it prevents me from making stupid typos late at night when I can barely keep my eyes open, never mind typing in 9-digit numbers.

Oh! And also, I’ve forced my mom to get a LibraryThing account (well, she hasn’t signed up yet, but whenever she does…) and the Cat should help lots.

I suppose the real test of how much time I’ll save is next month when I bring back my library book sale haul. This month it took me around an hour to manually add ~50 books. I’ll let you all know if I fare better with the Cat.

Review: Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks (2005)

Posted by Anastasia on November 17, 2008 1 Response »

Nov 172008

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
Publication (US): Harcourt Paperbacks (2008), Paperback, 560 pages / ISBN 0152061851
Genre: YA, Thriller, Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
Find @ Amazon, swap sites

I picked this up at Barnes and Noble on Saturday, mainly because it had such a high page count for a low-ish price. Also, shiny cover. I am easily swayed by shiny covers.

Summary borrowed from Amazon:

“At age seven, child prodigy Cadel Piggott lands in a shrink’s office for illegal computer hacking, where psychologist Thaddeus Roth delivers startling counsel: “Next time, don’t get caught.” Thaddeus is an agent of Cadel’s real father, a brilliant crook who, from behind bars, manages to place Cadel at the secretive Axis Institute for World Domination. By 13, Cadel is earnestly studying “Infiltration, Misinformation, and Embezzlement,” but as he increasingly relies on an outside friendship, he privately plots to extricate himself from the paterfamilias.”

Happily enough, Evil Genius turned out to be rather a decent read. It starts off quite slow, when Cadel’s around age seven. Luckily it speeds through four or so years until he gets to high school, then again when he gets to the Axis Institute. It really picks up around page 300, which leads to a fantastic action-packed ending that meant I couldn’t put the book down. I had to know what happened next now. Thank god for that, though; I think if it had been any slower I would have been bored (I very nearly was in the first 100 pages, anyway. Not completely bored, though, just hanging on the edge of it).

Mailbox Monday: November 17

Posted by Anastasia on November 17, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 172008

It was a quiet week, er, this week; only one actual book in the mail, and three from the store.

Thursday: Feed by M.T. Anderson, from Half.com. My review of it is here!

My CueCat! Woohoo! (Edit: For those who’re curious, a small post re: my CueCat experience is here.)

Saturday: The Dealer (CHERUB #2) by Robert Muchamore, from Barnes & Noble. I actually found this and #3-6 as well, but restrained myself to just one. (My review of #1 is here, by the way.)

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks, also from B&N. I was attracted by the shiny cover and high page count. I’m about 250 pages in so far, and it’s pretty good! Edit: I finished it today, and the review is here!

Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones, also from B&N. I wasn’t expecting to find this at all, as normally the only DWJ books in big bookstores are the Chrestomanci series, the Castle in the Sky books, and maybe one other (like Year of the Griffin). This really made my day. :] (Also, DWJ has a new book out for the Castle in the Sky series, House of Many Ways! Even MORE exciting!)

So, what sort of books came into your house this week? Anything terribly exciting?

[Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. Be Sure to stop by and see what other books came into people's homes this week, and participate yourself if you want!]