March 2010

This Book is Overdue

2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Library, Non-Fiction /

I loved This Book is Overdue. I loved it more than her book about obituaries, which I liked quite a bit. I’m a fan of obituaries. And librarians. But I like librarians more. A lot more.   Anyway, this is a nice look at what libraries and librarians have to offer – it isn’t JUST old fashioned books, it’s info of all kinds and all types.

I loved her looks at some of my favorite librarian bloggers, especially the Happyville Library blog. I miss it so much… but I love If I Ran the Universe, too. It was nice to see a writer feature my favorite bloggers – and really get it, get them, get what it’s all about.

Thank you Marilyn Johnson. And thank you librarians.

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The Last of the Cybils Graphic Novels

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Young Adult /

Nothing to write home about, really.

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom doesn’t even feel like a graphic novel to me. It’s more children’s chapter book and add some comic style dryings every now and then. And I really didn’t enjoy the story very much either.

The other two are YA graphic novels, not children’s graphic novels. Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood was pretty darn good if you like Robin Hood but boy was it dark. And there were a few attempts to update the language that I thought were kind of lame. But, it wasn’t horrid. I guess I have a similar reaction to Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Death and Dementia. I like Poe but I felt the like the graphics softened it up, lightened it up – it wasn’t nearly as dark as it should have been. I don’t want to laugh at the end of The Telltale Heart, do you?

I’m sad to be finished with the graphic novels. I think last year’s nominees were better. This year … I’d like to see the Secret Science Alliance and Gunnerkrigg Court win.

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More Graphic Novels – One great, two not so much

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Young Adult /

OK It’s not that two of them were bad, they weren’t bad. They just were not great. And with the number of really great graphic novels on the market right now – they have to be great or I’m easily bored.

First, Crogan’s Vengeance. I didn’t like the story very much. The drawings bored me. Ho hum. Liz said she thought it was kind of boring too but I suspect she liked it more than I did – possibly because some of her sister’s pirate fixation rubbed off on her so she kind of thinks anything pirate is cool. (The only reason not to get this for younger kids would be violence – it’s all black & white so there’s no gore – but pirates do kill each other….)

Next, Dreamer. Ugh. It’s nicely drawn – really nicely drawn. But I truly hate the story. I hate the flighty girl. I hate her bouncing around between her own time and the Revolutionary War. I hate the way the guys treat her and I hate the way she treats the guys. If you’ve got a boy crazy, romantic 14 year old in your life – maybe this is her kind of graphic novel.  Blech.

Thank goodness for the Secret Science Alliance! I didn’t expect to like this one. I don’t really like science and I tend to not like books about geeky nerdy kids who don’t fit in and are mistreated by the cool kids. This book – excellent. All of the normal things happen to the nerdy kid but the book doesn’t stop there. The storyline gets a twist – and the SSA is born. The drawings are fabulous. Liz kept stealing the book from me so she could look at the pictures.  At first, I didn’t understand WHY she was doing this but once I sat down with the book – I got it. I didn’t want to stop looking either. But, as soon as I finished it – the kid grabbed the book from me and took it up to her room to look at it all over again. (This is another graphic novel without a single hint of sex or drugs.)

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Two more Cybils graphic novels

2 Comments / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Young Adult /

I’m finally making time to read some graphic novels from the Cybils list and I’m enjoying them quite a bit.

I didn’t expect to like Adventures in Cartooning but it was amusing. Cute easy drawings that did make it seem like cartoons and graphic novels could be created by anyone. And, descriptions and explanations about cartooning told in story fashion. Really quite nice.

I was grouchy about The Stonekeeper’s Curse: Amulet because it’s the second book in a series and I hadn’t noticed it. Why was the mom sick, (yea yea, bit by a spider but how, why?), why does the girl have that stone? Now I need to go back and read the first book. Hmph.

I don’t think either of these will win … but I could be wrong. The Adventures in Cartooning book might appeal to the judges.

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Fire

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Women, Young Adult /

I was a little worried about Fire. A second book is often not great. Also, when talking to people who had read Fire, they seemed ambivalent. Or at least less gushy than they had when they talked about Graceling.

Sure enough, I had a hard time getting into Fire. It started slowly. In those first 100 pages or so, I was just waiting for them to connect the dots between the graceling who started the story and the people in Fire’s world. Once I let go of that, and once Fire made her way to King City, I settled into the story and ended up liking it BETTER than Graceling.  I think I like monsters better than the gracelings. Or maybe I just liked Fire more than I liked Katsa.

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Gunnerkrigg Court

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

Love, love, LOVE Gunnerkrigg Court.  Liz also loves it and is anxious for the next book, (wait til I tell her she can read all the Antimony and friends that she likes online…) Brilliant story. Brilliant characters (I’m a fan of Kat, myself.) Brilliant graphics. Great Cybils selection, I  can see this winning. In fact I hope it does win. I’m tempted to buy these, that’s how much I love the first book.

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Shades of Grey

1 Comment / 2010, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

Jasper Fforde is a wee bit crazy. But it’s a good kind of crazy. The Thursday Next books are a lot of fun. The Nursery Crimes are amusing, too. But with Shades of Grey, Fforde has carried is own brand of crazy to a new level.

We listened to this one on audio, and at first we thought it was just a wee bit convoluted for us. We turned it off after the first 15 minutes because we just couldn’t follow it – we had no clue what was going on and we didn’t feel like we’d ever figure it out. We turned it on again, a few days later, and within a few minutes we were chuckling. There are moments when it’s difficult to follow but that’s ok, it’s just part of the crazy, brilliant, funny. It’s ok to be confused, Fforde’s characters often are and that is part of their charm.

I hope this is going to be a series – I think it will be an even better series than Thursday Next.

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Joey Fly, Private Eye: Creepy Crawly Crime

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites /

The first graphic novel from the Cybil’s list and it was a fun one. Joey Fly Private Eye is everything you’d want in a private eye – if you wanted a private eye who is an insect. His assistant is pretty annoying though. Scorpions are like that, I guess. Joey Fly will be a great graphic novel series for the younger crowd.  Not a teen sex/drug scene in the whole book. Kind of refreshing.

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The Practice Room

2010, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Debbie B discovered I have a thing for YA fiction and mentioned of hers from high school had just written a YA book. I asked her the title, discovered it was a self published book so it wouldn’t be available at my library. I waited about 30 seconds and said what the hell, I’ll just buy it. And I did.

The Practice Room arrived shortly before my trip to California. I figured it would be an easy airport (and hotel room) read so I took it with me. Unfortunately, I also took Joe Hill with me – and I was super busy while I was there and pretty much just slept when I wasn’t working. So… I didn’t even pick the darn thing up until this week and I read it pretty quickly – not as quickly as I expected because it wasn’t super compelling.

It was kind of cute and was an interesting way to teach kids about music. In fact, with some polishing, it could be a really good way to teach kids about music. “Music-morphing” into another world is a good concept for a YA book, though I think this is really more middle grade fiction than YA. It just needs a wee bit more personality and a good editor to boost it along.

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