April 2009

2 books – I’m behind on blogging

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Non-Fiction /

I’m behind on everything. I’m also up at 10:30pm and have decided that I can’t do what I got up to do so I might as well catch up on the books before another three days go by and I’ve got to blog six books instead of two.

First, The Dead Beat. I saw this mentioned in a forum thread on the BlogHer Book Club group and reserved it at the library. I liked it but it wasn’t compelling. It wasn’t drop dead funny, either. So I kept putting it down rather than reading it straight through.

I’ll tell you what it did cause though – it caused me to spend a ton of time reading the obits of the little local paper. They were fabulous! It also has caused me to consider reading the Chicago Trib’s obits. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have no free time for obit fixations.

(By the way, you should definitely join the BlogHer Book Club group – it’s fun! Really.)

Next, I read Infinity in the palm of her hand because A) I got it for TW and she seemed to enjoy it B) I got it for me because it is a creation story and I am a sucker for a good creation story.

This one didn’t let me down. Nice Adam & Eve story. I liked it a lot.

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Poken Giveaway aka Who do YOU want to Poken at BlogHer 09?

4 Comments / Daily Dose /


I’m giving away two Pokens and I’ll make it easy for you to win… but first, what is a Poken? (I know some of you are wondering…)

A Poken is a cutie! (that’s what Liz, the 10 year old says) It’s a cutie that stores information on its cute little memory thingy so that when it touches another Poken cutie, the two Pokens can share that information like magic. This means that those of us with Pokens at a conference (or the Bump app for iPhone) don’t have to exchange business cards. Instead we can Poken each other and have all of the normal biz card information (and more!) available to us via our Pokens.

So, I have two to give away (they were not provided to me by the company as a give away, I bought a dozen and have two that aren’t spoken for so I’m just giving them away, rather than selling them.)

Panda
panda-poken.jpg
VooDoo
poken-voodoo.jpg

To be eligible to win one of these Pokens, you need to meet one criteria, you must be going to BlogHer 09. (In order for me to verify that you’re going to BlogHer 09 without driving Lori or Jeanne nuts, you’ll need to update your BlogHer profile to indicate you’re going to BlogHer 09 (log into BlogHer, click settings, click public profile, click My BlogHer Conferences, select BlogHer 09, submit) or you need to be visible on the I’m going! page for BlogHer 09.

If you meet that criteria, the next thing you need to do is blog about who you would most like to Poken at BlogHer 09 (ie who would you most like to exchange business cards with.) After you’ve written that post, insert your BlogHer user name with the link to that post into Mr Linky. That Mr Linky link will be your entry so make sure you’ve used your BlogHer username AND the link to the post on your blog. Inaccurate entries may be tossed out if it takes me too much time to figure out just who you are or where you meant to link me.

Mr Linky will close at Noon CT on May 6 and drawing will take place whenever Liz (the 10 year old) is available to video tape the drawing.

Questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

I am employed by BlogHer.com. This giveaway is entirely mine and in no way represents BlogHer, Inc or its employees.

Update: May 10, 2009: This is why I don’t do giveaways. Hah. I’m too busy to promote them. And I completely forget that I’m even doing them! We have two entries. We have two pokens. We have two winners. I’m emailing Megan and Liz right now – congrats, I look forward to Pokening you both at BlogHer 09. 😉

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Mighty Queens of Freeville

2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

I am not an Ann Landers fan, I much prefer Dear Abby, so when Landers died and Ask Amy took her place, I really didn’t pay any attention. What led me to read The Mighty Queens of Freeville is simply…. I liked the title. I don’t even think I realized it was about Ask Amy until I got it home and TW started to read it.

TW didn’t really like the book very much. So, I didn’t know what to expect. I really started reading it because it was short and I was trying to decide what I wanted to read and couldn’t make the decision.

By the second chapter, I was hooked and didn’t want to put it down. I don’t know why TW didn’t love it… I certainly did. I’m almost tempted to read the Trib just to read her column. Almost. I mean it arrives in the driveway, you’d think I could take two minutes to find her column, right?

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The Hunger Games

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

I’ve heard an awful lot about The Hunger Games. I’ve seen blogs recommend it. I’ve had people I know recommend it. Sassymonkey has been bugging me to read it for ages and she hasn’t even read it yet (though she’d better have started it by now.)

Finally – got it from the library. TW read it and found it “oddly compelling” and could not put it down. She even stopped reading the second book she was reading so she could focus just on it.

I picked it up right after she finished it and oddly compelling doesn’t even come close to describing it.

Kids. Horrible controlling government. Survivor but for reals. Crazyness.

Sequel in September and I cannot WAIT.

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Handle with Care

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I am a Jodi Picoult fan and every time I read one of her books I find myself wanting to throw the book across the room at some point (multiple points) in the story. Handle with Care caused that feeling at least six times. That probably means she did a good job with the story.

Jodi Picoult writes the adult version of the YA “problem” novel.

You know there’s going to be a serious problem with a kid (or several serious problems with several kids.) There’s going to be a law suit, or multiple law suits. There’s going to be a twist (or several twists) that you know is coming (but don’t really want to BELIEVE is coming.) That’s a Picoult novel.

Handle with Care had all of those Picoult elements.

I was worried this one was going to lose its way in the debate over abortion – it didn’t.

If you haven’t read this yet, but are planning on it – I recommend you not read the last entry by “Willow”. Just don’t bother. I liked the book until the ending. Picoult needs to stop going further than she needs to go – just leave it alone for goodness sakes before I stop reading your books.

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The Diary

2009, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

The Diary is another book I read just because it was sitting in the bedroom and meant I did not have to get up and go find a book in the dark office.

OK I also read it because TW read it the day before and went on and on about how good it was.

Well, it was ok but I wouldn’t rave about how good it was – even if I hadn’t been reading it when I punctured my foot on a ruler. It’s chick lit. It’s also very Nicholas Sparks-like, which probably means a lot of people would rave about how good it is.

I’m not one of those people.

Quick. Nice. Mushy love story. Done.

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2 non Cybils and I am behind on blogging

2009, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction, Mystery /

Ack. No idea how I could have read two adult novels without getting them blogged… oh wait, I know exactly how that happened. There was this, and that, and totally unexpected that, too. Life is getting a little too crazy if I can’t even get a couple of measly chick lits blogged! Must try harder? Or quit work earlier? Or start work later? Something.

Anyway – how come I’ve never read a Molly Murphy book before? Seems a little odd, doesn’t it? I mean TW is constantly picking up weird mysteries and chick lit series books and I usually end up reading a few here and there (which is how we ended up with In a Gilded Cage.)

I almost didn’t read it because I read it over TW’s shoulder a couple of nights when she wouldn’t turn out the light and there was an awful lot about marriage in there. But TW said I’d like it and it was about suffragettes and stuff. So, when I finished a graphic novel and that was the only interesting book on the library shelf… I gave it a go.

Amusing. Too much marriage but heck, it was set in NYC a long time ago. Molly’s a pretty progressive woman for that age.

After that, again I picked up a book TW had just finished. It just happened to be nearby and I couldn’t think of anything waiting on the shelf that sounded better. Also, any book that mentions Jestine’s and The Upstate must be read as soon as possible. Can’t Never Tell does both of those things. It’s also amusing and boring, all at the same time. Which normally isn’t something I’d look for in a book but based on the week I’ve had – it’s exactly the kind of book I needed to read. Something familiar, but easy. Perfect.

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The last of the Cybil Graphic Novels

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

What a way to finish a set of books! Life Sucks and Kin: Good Neighbors were excellent.

Vampires and Fairies. Fabulous. Liz and RJ agree with me about Life Sucks and I’m betting they’ll both love Good Neighbors as well. Holly Black rocks fairy stories. Twiddling my thumbs til the library database comes back online tonight so I can work on reserving more graphic novels in these series’ – there are more available, right? Kin’s ending, in particular, leaves us begging for volume two.

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Tender Morsels

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Tender Morsels scared me. Which might be why it took me so long to read a relatively short YA fantasy novel.

The first 50 pages were violent, ugly, depressing as anything I’ve ever read and not at all compelling. They just made me ill. Snow White and Rose Red my butt…

TW had really liked the book, even with the incest and the rapes and the forced abortions. So I kept reading… a few pages a night.

Until finally, the world shifted and everything was nice. Except when the world would shift just a little bit and the ugliness would wander in.

The ending… excellent. It wasn’t a happy ending at all, well not to me. But it was a satisfying ending. Unfortunately I finished it at 11pm last night and proceeded to have horrible nightmares about the book.

This is not YA fantasy for the faint of heart.

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Black Pearls (and The Woman in White)

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Kindle, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand was an impulse pick up from the YA shelf at the library. Liz and I were waiting for the Prince to find his way to the audio books and while she looked at graphic novels, I looked at the new arrivals. The cover caught my eye first. The faerie tales retold theme sold me.

Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my hopes. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great. But it’s hard to re-tell classic fairy tales in a way that pleases me, I like the originals and expect an awful lot from a fairy tale re-told.

I liked Hansel & Gretel the best. I really disliked Snow White. Rapunzel wasn’t bad. Jack & the Beanstalk pretty much put me to sleep.

Also, while I’m here… I finished The Woman in White on the Kindle. Still love it.

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