Sea Glass
The second book in the series, Sea Glass, might have been even better than the first. More twists, more turns, more depth to characters. I’m off to read the last one in the series now – I hope it doesn’t let me down.
2012
Storm Glass
I had a little trouble settling into Storm Glass because I only barely remember enough about Poison/Air/Magic Study to figure out how Opal (the lead character in this series) was related to Yelena (the lead character in that series.) Thankfully, Snyder gave me enough info that I could find my way through the story without having to stop and go find some sort of synapses for the other series.
So basically, if you liked Snyder’s series about Yelena – then you’re definitely going to like this one. There’s a lot of magic. A lot of trying to figure out what magic does (and doesn’t do.) A lot of secret-y stuff. And just enough connection to that first series to make you feel like you know the places these characters visit.
If you haven’t read Poison/Air/Fire Study – I don’t think you absolutely have to read that series, but I think it’s useful.
Now I’m off to read the next book in this series.
Anna Dressed in Blood
I read almost NOTHING while I was in Hawaii. I had only a few non-fiction books with me and ebooks and none of the ebooks were holding my attention so I asked TW to bring me a book when she came – she did. She brought Anna Dressed in Blood and I was happy. However, I only read about 15 pages of it during that last week of our trip. I was just too tired to read at night and/or too focused on JMP to read.
But on the plane, I did read a bit and made it about 2/3 of the way through. I liked it but I wasn’t sure I loved it. We got home and I read a few more chapters and I really, really liked it a lot – but love? I wasn’t so sure. And then last night, I started reading and I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I was exhausted and not feeling great but I had to find out what happened so it was after midnight before I turned off the lights – satisfied, very satisfied and in love with this story.
For anyone who loved ghost stories as a kid and loves horror fiction now – you must read this. Ignore the fact that it’s YA, if you’re not generally a YA reader. Fabulous, fabulous story.
Poor, poor Anna.
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Visual Chronicles:
Jenn sent me Visual Chronicles several years ago – for Christmas? Or my birthday? Or something like that. I’ve picked it up a few times and just flipped through it but I’ve never read it all of the way through. I decided to bring it with me to Hawaii since it would be an easy book to read while having a grandbaby – well there’s no grandbaby, yet, but it was easy to read. And fun. And inspiring. So inspiring that I decided to start another new art journal – this one a tag journal, for Johnny Mac Pippin.
I made Jenn take me shopping for supplies. We stopped at a scrapbooking shop in Kailua but didn’t find what I needed. Then we went to Ben Franklin and hit pay dirt. I’ve got tags, I’ve got some embellishments. I’ve started a couple of tags and am pondering some others. Fun stuff.
This might be the best art journal book I’ve read. Lots of interesting ideas and good how-tos.
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Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars: Grandma’s Bag of Tricks
Remember when I was in search of a good book about grandparenting – and instead of finding a good book about grandparenting, I found myself stuck with Anne Lamott’s book about grandparenting? Right. We’re better off forgetting that ever happened. One good thing came of that search, some nice people offered to send me a copy of Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars: Grandma’s Bag of Tricks. I accepted and now that I’ve read it, I’m darn glad that I did.
Have you heard of the book Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots? Same author, which gives you some idea of what you’re going to find in Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars. No angst, just feel-good stories and ideas that make this soon-to-be grandmother extra excited about exploring the world with Johnny Mac Pippin (assuming he ever decides to arrive, doggone it.)
Camp Granny, here we come!
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Let’s Pretend This Never Happened
The Bloggess is FUNNY and I want to be her when I grow up because I NEED A GIANT METAL CHICKEN. I’ve been saying this for months and I still don’t have a GIANT METAL CHICKEN. Reading Let’s Pretend This Never Happened just reminded me that I still DO NOT HAVE A GIANT METAL CHICKEN and this is wrong. Very wrong.
Someday I will have a Beyonce’ of my own. As god as my witness, I will have that GIANT METAL CHICKEN.
Also, I find it interesting that TW and I and RJ and I found different pieces of this book funny. While they roared and guffawed in some places, I barely chuckled. When I was laughing out loud, they were not. Proof that not all of Jenny Lawson’s writing is meant for all people. Or that we’re all fucked up in completely different ways. Whatever. Funny stuff, (and I only got stabby a couple of times when the timing of events was shifted around in not the quite right way.)
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The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection
Man I love the Ladies #1 Detective Agency series. I particularly love it on audio. When we finish listening to a book, it’s just no fun to ride in the car and it takes ages ‘til we get used to NOT listening to the stories of the Botswana gang.
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection was exceptionally good – because a visitor arrives. A visitor from far away. FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC storyline.
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Magical Mischief
Magical Mischief was a cute middle grade fantasy – about a magic bookstore. Or actually, a bookstore where magic resided – and caused all sorts of problems. We’re left hanging at the end – how do you actually MOVE magic from one place to another, particularly if it does not want to go… and I suspect the magic will not want to go.
The Dreamer
I really liked The Dreamer. I liked the way the author inserted strong questions pulled from the story being told – very Neruda-like. Inclusion of some of Neruda’s poems at the end was a must – and greatly appreciated since I was wondering where I might find Neruda poetry on my shelf at 11pm when I finished this book, last night.
This is a very, very nice way to introduce young readers to Pablo Neruda.
Huntress
I really liked Huntress. The only problem was that I kept wondering what the heck Ash was about. I mean I remembered that it had lesbians in it. And that it was a Cinderella story. But other than that – I couldn’t remember a darn thing. TW kept saying, “just forget it’s a prequel” and I tried but it wasn’t easy.
And when I got to the end of Huntress, I looked up Ash and remembered it all. I should have looked up Ash before I started Huntress and saved myself the annoyance. Because this book was better than Ash. Much better. A whole lot happened at the end and that’s really the only thing I might have changed – I mean a visit to a unicorn really deserves its own book, or certainly more than just a few pages.