"'Sir, there are some things I'd like to know, if you can tell me... things I want to know the truth about...'
'The truth,' Dumbledore sighed, 'It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your question unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie.'
'Well... Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?'
Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time.
'Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will, one day... put it from your mind for now, Harry. When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know.'
And Harry knew it would be no good to argue.
'But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?'
'Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.'"

-- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling.

This is my first post here, I'm very sorry if I somehow make a mistake.
It's fairly long and thorough, but somehow on the short side. :o
I'd really love to see your results and such. :]



Here @ mea_culpa_x

Good Omens made me decide to pick up Wyrms. Good Omens raised some theological questions IMO, well if you’re willing to read beyond the humor much the same way Heinlein’s Starship Troopers raises interesting political questions if you read it as more than military science fiction.

Wyrms is a book about faith, and whether humans determine their fate, and how humans interpret God’s will. It is a science fiction novel, but the science in question is what most people I know call “soft” science. Biology, genetics, questions revolving racial memory and psi-talents.

Patience is the rightful heir to the human kingdom on Imakulata. For 15 years she has been trained to be a diplomat and an assassin. In her 13th year she discovers that she is the prophesied mother of the Kristos, essentially the second coming.

Upon her father’s death Patience begins the long journey to Cranning to deal with the prophecy, and in reality she has no choice.

Throughout the novel Cards raises questions about prophecies, second comings, and arguably religious fanaticism. Unlike his non-fiction political writing Card doesn’t burden the reader with his dogma. While reading, and upon completion, of the book the reader is left with questions about God, and how humans relate to their religion.

Hi there!

You rly don't have to copy this Tutorial exactly, This is just a way to show you a different perspective and new techniques to work with your icons,and maybe a way to open up your minds to creative and innovate ,who knows...


-Made with: Adobe photoshop CS2
-Difficult

HERE @ laury_kos


Other Icons Made with this Tutorial:

Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
Genre: Fiction
Page Count: 224 for the hardcover version according to Amazon, however I have a paperback copy with 208 pages.
Publishing Date: September 1, 2009

Summary: (from amazon.com)
From Ragtime and Billy Bathgate to The Book of Daniel, World’s Fair, and The March, the novels of E. L. Doctorow comprise one of the most substantive achievements of modern American fiction. Now, with Homer & Langley, this master novelist has once again created an unforgettable work.

Homer and Langley Collyer are brothers–the one blind and deeply intuitive, the other damaged into madness, or perhaps greatness, by mustard gas in the Great War. They live as recluses in their once grand Fifth Avenue mansion, scavenging the city streets for things they think they can use, hoarding the daily newspapers as research for Langley’s proposed dateless newspaper whose reportage will be as prophecy. Yet the epic events of the century play out in the lives of the two brothers–wars, political movements, technological advances–and even though they want nothing more than to shut out the world, history seems to pass through their cluttered house in the persons of immigrants, prostitutes, society women, government agents, gangsters, jazz musicians . . . and their housebound lives are fraught with odyssean peril as they struggle to survive and create meaning for themselves.

Brilliantly conceived, gorgeously written, this mesmerizing narrative, a free imaginative rendering of the lives of New York’s fabled Collyer brothers, is a family story with the resonance of myth, an astonishing masterwork unlike any that have come before from this great writer.

Review:
I was lucky enough to recieve an advance copy of this book from the First Reads program at goodreads.com. I had never read anything by E.L. Doctorow before, nor had I heard of the Collyer brothers (yes, they were real people) so I went into this with a pretty open mind. It's a short novel, but it's packed with quirky characters, rich details and interesting musings about life and love. I couldn't help but be reminded of Forrest Gump from the way American history played out in the lives of the two brothers and Grey Gardens for the way they were recluses inside their home. It'll make you think, and I don't think that there is a character in this book that someone won't relate to. I was captivated by it and had a hard time tearing myself away. Overall, I would give it a 4/5.

x-posted to bookish, tunnels_of_loce and goodreads.com

♥ And Joyce is smiling at me. Dogs indeed smile, and Joyce has every reason to smile. It's a beautiful world and she's part of it and yet...

... and yet we humans are not a part of it.

Look at us. We're all born lost, aren't we? We're all born separated from God - over and over life makes sure to inform us of this - and yet we're all real: we have names, we have lives. We mean something. We must. My heart is so cold. And I feel so lost. I shed my block of hate but what if nothing emerges to fill in the hole it left? The universe is so large, and the world is so glorious, but here I am on a sunny August morning with chilled black ink pumping through my veins, and I feel like the unholiest thing on earth.

♥ In the end, I think the relationships that survive in this world are the ones where the two people can finish each other's sentences. Forget drama and torrid sex and the clash of opposites. Give me banter any day of the week. And our characters were the best banterers going.

♥ So now I'm back in the courtroom supposedly documenting this frivolous and endless land deal trial. These men should all be tarred and feathered and be flogged as they walk naked down the street for screwing around with the lives of common people the way they do.

♥ I'm also seven years older than Jason, but after about thirty-three, we're all the same age in our heads, so it's not the big deal it looks like. As least not from the inside looking out. And as Jason was almost thirty-three, we were almost the same. And anyway, a few decades after your first kiss and your first cigarette, I don't care if you're rich or poor, life leaves the same number of bruises on you.

~~Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland.

As of right now - what do you think the best website for organizing your book collection is? It seems the big players are Librarything, Goodreads, and LivingSocial (which has a section for books).

For the longest time I used librarything mainly because of their early reviewer program, but I have a few friends who swear by Goodreads. And then I also have a few friends who use the LivingSocial app via facebook. It's so confusing.

I consume my books in a variety of ways. I read them as a good-old paperback. I read them digitally via my ebook reader. I also listen to them via audiobook. And sometimes, it's a combination of all three!

I was wondering what site people use. I also have an iPhone, so if a site has integration with that, that's also helpful. I noticed LivingSocial has an app, but I couldn't seem to find one for LT or GR.

This may have been asked before, but when I did some google searching, a lot of the results that came up were outdated. That's why I'm asking "as of right now".

Weepy and anxious. not much to say about it. Life sucks.

Came home and read trigun fic recomended by The Kid.

Gratitude List:

1. The Kid.

2. Trigun and happier days when we watched it.

3. Bedtime now.

4.The day passed quickly.

5. People on the Ship who are praying for me.

6. Vacation coming soon.

( in which State Senator Diaz blathers on to Juan Manuel Benitez, anchor of the NY1 Noticias' show Pura Politica that he believes that homosexual relations are akin to bestiality and that there is no such thing as separation between church and state )

yes, please DO X-Post

140 summer themed icons
no fish, no cotton, but lots of fun

cross posted from my icon journal: "dakinicons"

steal freely, comment liberally, enjoy!

( and the living is easy )

News
unspoken_zibbs, a new community for Gibbs/Ziva, has been opened

Challenges
The first femslash kink meme at passion_perfect (Closing tonight at midnight)
Happyfest III, a multifandom happy-ending challenge, is open for prompts at bringthehappy (Prompting closes Wednesday, July 22nd)

Fiction
Sound the Bugle and Tougher than the Rest written by spae (Gibbs/DiNozzo)
Bang, Not Whimper written by taylorgibbs (Gibbs/DiNozzo, Mac/Danny; crossover with CSI: NY and The West Wing)
High School Reunion (Chapter 4/4) written by skittellgirl (Gibbs/Abby)
After You've Gone (Chapter 30/?) written by ncis_love (Gibbs/Abby) - WARNING: Spoilers through 6x04 Heartland

Artwork
35 icons created by vamp926 (Multifandom, 55 icons total)
15 icons from 6x25 Aliyah created by sleifa - WARNING: Spoilers for 6x25 Aliyah
19 icons created by bubbles001 (Multifandom, 28 banners/icons total)

Vids
A clip of Cote de Pablo from 6x01 Last Man Standing was posted by sara_f_black - WARNING: Spoilers for 6x01 Last Man Standing

Pictures/Screencaps
24 public appearance pictures of Michael Weatherly posted by montana_rosalie

Editor’s Choice
Today's newsletter was put together by probie jjsgatlantis. Hi! Thanks to both my fellow editors and the readers for the warm welcome.


Did we miss something? Let us know. You can either comment here or e-mail us: ncis.newsletter@gmail.com

Denis paused for dramatic effect. Somebody coughed. Denis extended the pause to rebuild his dramatic effect.
He blinked the sweat off his eyelashes.
Then he said:
"I love you, Beth Cooper."

--I Love You, Beth Cooper
Larry Doyle

Book #25
The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
YA fiction; fantasy; series
377 pages


At the outset of this fast-paced tale by Rick Riordan, it would seem that Percy Jackson is just another New York kid diagnosed with ADHD, who has good intentions, a nasty stepfather, and a long line of schools that have rejected him. The revelation of his status as half-blood offspring of one of the Greek gods is nicely packaged, and it's easy to believe that Mount Olympus, in modern times, has migrated to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building (the center of Western civilization) while the door to Hades can be found at DOA Recording Studio, somewhere in LA. With his new friends, a disguised satyr, and the half-blood daughter of Athena, Percy sets out across the country to rectify a feud between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. Along the way they must cope with the Furies, Medusa, motorcycle thug Aires, and various other immortals. Although some of Jesse Bernstein's accents fail (the monster from Georgia, for instance, has no Southern trace in her voice), he does a fine job of keeping the main characters' tones and accents distinguishable. He convincingly portrays Percy, voicing just the right amount of prepubescent confusion, ironic wit, and the ebbing and waning of concern for himself and those around him. Mythology fans will love this take and kids who haven't been inculcated with the Classical canon will learn aspects of it here while having no trouble following a rollicking good–and modern–adventure.

I thought that this was a great book! Greek mythology has always fascinated me and I love to read those kinds of stories and books. This book made me realize that I do not know a lot about mythology, but I'd love to read more books about it. The characters were all intriguing and I cannot wait to learn more them and the many other adventures that they have in this series. I also cannot wait to see the movie.

Books read this year: 25/50.
Pages read this year: 9402/15000

Book #25
The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
YA fiction; fantasy; series
377 pages


At the outset of this fast-paced tale by Rick Riordan, it would seem that Percy Jackson is just another New York kid diagnosed with ADHD, who has good intentions, a nasty stepfather, and a long line of schools that have rejected him. The revelation of his status as half-blood offspring of one of the Greek gods is nicely packaged, and it's easy to believe that Mount Olympus, in modern times, has migrated to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building (the center of Western civilization) while the door to Hades can be found at DOA Recording Studio, somewhere in LA. With his new friends, a disguised satyr, and the half-blood daughter of Athena, Percy sets out across the country to rectify a feud between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. Along the way they must cope with the Furies, Medusa, motorcycle thug Aires, and various other immortals. Although some of Jesse Bernstein's accents fail (the monster from Georgia, for instance, has no Southern trace in her voice), he does a fine job of keeping the main characters' tones and accents distinguishable. He convincingly portrays Percy, voicing just the right amount of prepubescent confusion, ironic wit, and the ebbing and waning of concern for himself and those around him. Mythology fans will love this take and kids who haven't been inculcated with the Classical canon will learn aspects of it here while having no trouble following a rollicking good–and modern–adventure.

I thought that this was a great book! Greek mythology has always fascinated me and I love to read those kinds of stories and books. This book made me realize that I do not know a lot about mythology, but I'd love to read more books about it. The characters were all intriguing and I cannot wait to learn more them and the many other adventures that they have in this series. I also cannot wait to see the movie.

Books read this year: 25/50.
Pages read this year: 9402/15000

If this post isn't okay here, the maintainers can feel free to delete it. :) This is technically a books-related question, the physical objects specifically.

I was at a used bookstore a while back that had a lot of beautiful fantasy hardcovers with pristine dust jackets. These were all protected by plastic sleeves. After buying a copy of The Two Swords by R.A. Salvatore, it occured to me that it was similar to the protective sleeves libraries use. I realized that if this bookstore could get them, I could probably get them as well.

Is there anyone who has tried protecting their own hardback dust jackets this way? Do you know any sources for the plastic book covers? I tried looking around online but I could only find a few places, and most of them sell in bulk (which might be okay, I have quite a few hardbacks). Also, do any of you know a similar solution for protecting paperbacks? Those stick-on plastic covers they use at libraries for paperbacks sure seem to get beat up over time. . . .

Anyway, I'd just like to get some ideas about how to protect dust jackets and book covers. I love buying hardbacks, but it's disappointing when the dust jacket gets damaged.