2011

Guardian of the Dead

2011, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

We finally finished listening to Guardian of the Dead (from the Cybils shortlist) – there was a lot to like about this book but Ellie Spencer drove us a bit crazy. It’s one thing for a teenage girl to be self-deprecating and have body issues but Elly’s issues were excessive. It was tough to listen to and I think it was a little much.

The Maori mythology was cool. I love a good creation story, after all. The magic was interesting.

This book also has something that no other book has… it has THE most disgusting scene ever. (It has several really disgusting scenes actually but one of them, involving geckos… that will live on as being the worst scene ever. EWWWWW.)

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The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Non-Fiction, Women /

A couple of months ago, I was flipping through Michelle’s Bitch magazine and you won’t be surprised to hear that there were several book reviews that caught my eye. The book I had to reserve right then was The Blue Tattoo. The cover, with a picture of Olive Oatman is fabulous. And, since captivity stories have never been my thing, I didn’t know anything about Olive – the Oatman massacre only barely registered as being one of those covered wagons traveling west things gone very, very wrong.

I’m glad I read this. It was super interesting – I just Olive had told us more and had been able to tell us more of her story, without being influenced by men (and society?)  Fascinating. I cannot imagine what that would have been like – not just the massacre or even living with the Mohave for five years, but the re-entry. That… that might have been worse than all of it put together.

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State of Wonder

2011, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Why does Ann Patchett have to let me down every darn time? I fall in love with her books (well most of them: see Lucy Grealy) and then bam – she screws it up in the last five pages. Every single time.

State of Wonder was awesome. Until the end.

I don’t even want to talk about the end. I’d like to forget it happened. I’d like to pretend we’re still in the Amazon with our Martins and our Lapps. That’s it. That’s how I’m going to remember this book from now on. Don’t anyone talk to me about anything else.

Geez.

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Three More Cybils

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Poetry /

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat is a children’s non-fiction book about Ella Fitzgerald. Great photos. Nice storytelling. Ella as a homeless teen is kind of dark, if you have really young kids – but I liked that her difficult early years weren’t glossed over. Nicely done.

Mirror Mirror is a children’s poetry book and it was pretty good. Each duo of poems is based on a fairy tale. The poem is told top to bottom and then bottom to top. Smartly done.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee was not my kind of story. Amos gets up everyday and takes the bus to work at the zoo. He does things with the animals like play chess with the elephant and tell bedtime stories to the owl, who is afraid of the dark. One morning Amos wakes up with a cold and doesn’t go to work – so the animals take the bus to his house and do all of the things for him that he always does for them. It was nice enough and I’m betting my kids would have asked for it to be read to them over and over again while I yawned a lot.

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Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star (#readathon)

2011, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Dewey's Readathon, Fiction /

Finally – finished another book for the #readathon – who knew it would take so darn long to finish 428 pages Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star? If I’d known, I probably would have NOT read it for the readathon for goodness sakes.

It was amusing – very amusing. Darcy & Elizabeth. Charles & Jane. Charlotte & Richard. Lots of fun and confusion – just like a re-write of Austen should be.

And now – 18 hours after I started the #readathon – I’m calling it a night.

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Re-reading Mini-Challenge (#readathon)

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

I don’t re-read many books – there just aren’t enough hours in the darn day. But – there are a few that I do re-read, quite regularly. Or I re-read bits and pieces of them. They’re all loaded on the Kindle app for my iPhone and iPad so I flip them open when I’m without a book or just in the mood to re-read one of them.

The three I re-read are:

The Woman in White

Fluke

The Red Tent

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Redemption (Finished a book – finally. #readathon)

2011, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon, Kindle, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I finally finished Redemption. Finally. Lord that was long – and really, it’s the only complaint I have about this book. It was just a wee bit too long the beginning should have been edited a bit. I think the lead was just a little to long. Otherwise – interesting story – demons, angels, wiccans, gargoyles. Who doesn’t love that?

I will be interested to see what happens after the flying carpet and the ring of Solomon.  See – how awesome is that?

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#Readathon Mid-Event Survey

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

1.)    I’m still reading the same darn books I started with. Gah. Redemption and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star. These are taking forever – and I really am reading and not playing around.

2.)    2. I’ve finished four children’s non-fiction books – and that’s it, darn it.

3.)    I’m looking forward to The Blue Tattoo. It looks like that’s probably all I’m going to get to dig into.

4.)    Well I would have liked to have been able to make arrangements to free up my whole day but my life doesn’t work like that. So I’ve freed up most of my day and will catch up on the stuff I didn’t do today – tomorrow.

5.)    The only surprise interruption I had was a run to Five Guys after picking my daughter up from work. But that was ok since I listened to a book on audio while in the car and I read a book on the iPhone while I was there waiting for my order. Fewer interruptions this readathon than ever before.

6.)    How little I’ve actually finished. What the heck. This book is LONG.

7.)    I think the readathon is fabulous as it is – and I really don’t have a single recommendation to make to improve it.

8.)    I’d choose different darn books, that’s for sure.

9.)    I was tired mid-day and then I was tired right after that Five Guys burger. I’m good now, though. Ask me again at 10pm!

10.)  I always get up and walk around, and visit Twitter/blogs every hour. A five/ten minute break every hour seems to work well for me.

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