Knits for Nerds from Amazon.com

A Google + friend, Rilana is a pattern contributor to this awesome book: Knits for Nerds. As a Nerdy Knitter myself, I can’t wait for this book to release!

I mean, look at the cover, it just screams, buy me and knit me!!! (Okay, well at least it does to me!)

I am really excited about this book, because I have been working on a lot of nerdy knitted items for people and I am really glad to see a insurgence of nerdy knitting patterns, because there just aren’t enough out there!

This book releases on February 21, 2012, but knitting nerds like me, that’s going to be hard to wait for! Make sure to preorder your copy and give us nerdy knitters and especially pattern creators like Rilanna some nerd love!

Let’s set the Way Back Machine to a year ago.

I am a HUGE fan of Sherlock Holmes! I was sorely disappointed in the Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey, Jr. and I was nervous when I first saw the previews for Sherlock. However, the BBC Sherlock was not a disappointment! I loved it and found it to be very close to the original books, which was odd considering that it was set in modern times.

Benedict Cumberbatch is the perfect Sherlock Holmes! Martin Freeman is a great Dr. John Watson and plays really well against Sherlock. I think that the writers have done an amazing job with Sherlock. Thank you to Mark Gatiss, who produced, wrote and plays Mycroft Holmes in this great series!

I loved this show so much that I gave it as a birthday gift to my father in law, who is a huge Sherlock Holmes fan too. (He loved it too!) So when I heard that they would be completing a Season 2, I was excited!

Fast forward to now.

The second season of Sherlock hasn’t disappointed! I love season 2 better than season 1. We meet Irene Adler, see the Hounds of Baskerville and have a show down with Moriarty! So make sure to watch them on BBC America!!!

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Well, it’s official Borders bookstores across the nations are liquidating. They decided to do this instead of officially filing for bankruptcy. Could it be that people really don’t like Borders? Or could it be that the marketing of their eReader, The Kobo just plain sucked! It’s pretty bad that I didn’t even know that they had an eReader when I do go in there on occasion.

The thing that I can’t stand about Borders is the filing of their non-fiction section. They defy the dewey decimal system and you can’t find what you are looking for. Plus the  times that I have needed help from their staff have been horrible. One would assume that you know about books if you work in a bookstore. Or at least that should be the case. While I have a Barnes and Noble Nook, the Kindle is very nice too. I prefer the Nook Color mostly because it has an awesome night reading function that doesn’t keep my husband up all night when I can’t sleep! My parents have the Kindle and they love it. I think when it comes down to it, it’s just a matter of personal preference for your eReader. The Kobo eReader has next to no functions available. Basically it’s a cheap version of the Kindle, don’t believe me read for yourself.

So it’s not totally surprising that Borders is going out of business. They aren’t great at marketing their products or shelving their non-fiction books. None the less, Borders is on their way for a liquidation, so if you want to pick up some books on the cheap, make sure to stop at Borders!

I read this book years ago and thought it would be a good fit for a movie adaptation. So I am really excited to see the trailer for this new movie. I am glad that they have split it into two parts, as it is a bigger book that deserves to be a two part movie. I am bummed because this movie only hit select theaters in April and the select theaters are no where close to where I live, so I will just have to wait for it to come closer or for the DVD release. If you are like me and no where near a theater where it played, then at least enjoy the trailer!

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If you are fan of True Blood like I do, you will be happy to know that Season 3 is now on DVD and Blu-Ray! This season was a really good season. It was grittier than normal, Sookie really stepped up and showed her stuff and we found out that there are sexy werewolves & witches out there too (as if you didn’t know already)! It was full of action and craziness!

So make sure to pick up the True Blood Season 3 today!

If you want more of Sookie Stackhouse, make sure to check out Charlaine Harris’s newest book, Dead Reckoning!

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BossyPants, written by the nerd-do-well herself, Miss Tina Fey takes us on a funny journey through her life. She talks about growing up, working at Saturday Night Live and then producing her own show 30 Rock and all the bumps and funnies along the way.

While I don’t agree with Tina Fey on a political level, I love her! She is funny, sarcastic and great! Let’s face it, if you are a cool enough star to have a Sesame Street satire about you, then you’ve hit the big time!

What I like about Tina is that she has no problem saying what’s on her mind. In society, where we tend to be so guarded about what we say, she is refreshing. Also the fact that she has become a nerd-do-well in a predominately male workforce is awesome and inspiring! Thank you Tina Fey!

Make sure to check out her new book!

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(Thanks to my friend Becky for the great find on this one!) The Hobbit is one of the best loved books of all time. The Peter Jackson movie based on this beloved book will be coming out in December of 2012. In the mean time, make sure to check out these great worksheets.

This is a great resource for home schooling kids around middle school age. The worksheets have great questions that ask about the characters, the plot line and the symbolism of the book. For the parents, there is an answer key! Also featured is a great vocabulary list of some of the more complicated words in the book.

This is a great set of worksheets for someone who is homeschooling or for someone who wants to get more out of the book!

Here is a great eReader blog carnival worth checking out! I was a featured article, among may others in this blog carnival. For those of you who don’t know what a blog carnival is, a blog carnival is where people can submit their articles to be featured as one big blog post.

DB Readers is a great blog that features all of the ereaders on the market, and has a great comparison feature as well! This site is an excellent resource for anyone with an ereader, or for anyone looking into getting an ereader.

While I was ready to  peruse the stacks at Barnes and Noble, my kids had a different idea. Sophia, my oldest made a beeline for the HUGE display of the Nook Ereader from Barnes and Noble. Now, this is a 6 year old who has mastered the art of using an iPad, so I wasn’t too surprised when she sat down (in the kids area of the display) picked a book and started reading. What I didn’t realize it that some of the children’s books give you the option to either read them by themselves or have them read to you. Sophia had a heyday!

Now, I admit, I was not really into the whole e-reader movement. I admit I can be a bit of a snob about books, I like the smell of books and the feel of the actual book in my hands, but therein lies the problem as well. See, I have fibromyalgia and most days it doesn’t bother me too much, but I will admit it is getting harder and harder to hold up a book (especially hardbacks of 500+ pages) and they get heavy.

That being said, I picked up the Nook and played with it a little bit myself. While I admit, it’s no iPad, it’s perfect for me. I can check my email in a WiFi area, surf the Web a bit and read my books. It also has Pandora and a few other cool apps. The other cool thing that I like is the social aspect. You can share quotes and your progress and even recommend a book on your Facebook profile or Twitter straight from your Nook Color. It also has a LendIt feature for some of your books so that you can lend it to a friend on Nook if you want. I thought this was really an awesome way to share books! With more and more of the public library system featuring electronic format books, this is a great way to enjoy them and not worry about late fees (ask my library, I am horrible about them!)!

Now for the warning: While books are half the price as they would be on the shelf, it is so easy to rack up and huge bill for purchasing your books, especially if you are an avid reader like me! So I would highly suggest in buying a Barnes and Noble gift card once or maybe every two months, loading it up and purchasing off of that. There are some great deals in the Steals ‘n’ Deals part of the Nook store. I was able to purchase the entire series of the following: Anne of Green Gables, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austin, and Wizard of Oz all for $0.99 each. so make sure to bargain hunt!

If you have an ereader, tell me what you think about it!

While I am not the most science minded person (aka, I suck at math, therefore I am never going to be a scientist), I love Michio Kaku! I am almost done reading his book Physics of the Impossible. This book explores the ideas of science fiction such as: phasers, Death Stars, teleportation and etc. This is book explains that while some of these things may not be possible currently, it doesn’t mean that they can’t happen in the future or not.

This book is great for any sci-fi fan or Fringe fan as well. Michio explains the science behind the principles of each item or thing in such a way that you can understand it, but you don’t feel as though you are being talked down at. He is also humorous, which makes the book all the more enjoyable! What I liked the most about Michio’s book, is that he is not dry. While Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of the Universe is interesting, I found it very dry, unlike Michio.

So make sure to pick up this great science/sci-fi read for yourself or your sci-fi fan!