2013

Rebel Heart

2013, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

We listened to the first book on audio and the spelling/grammar was a little troubling but we got used to it. Reading the print version of Rebel Heart, well, it was jarring every time I picked the book up. I understand its purpose but still jarring. I think we’re going to have to listen to the third book on audio, it seems easier (though it sure took longer to listen to than this one took to read.)

I also can’t decide whether I liked this one better or worse than the first one. I think maybe… both?

Too much Saba. Not enough character development of the other characters. And Lugh? Well I didn’t like him in the first book – I pretty much hated him in this one.

I’m gonna be all sad about the next book, I know that much right now. Poor Tommo.

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Making an Exit

2013, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I had second thoughts about starting Making an Exit right before Jenn and JMP arrived – it seemed like maybe not the right book to be reading since Jenn and Teddy had just escorted a friend’s body back to the mainland and attended the funeral. Then again, it seemed like the perfect book to be reading because I had been thinking so much about death and funerals and such.

Turns out, it didn’t matter much since I read less than 25 pages while they were here. Hah.

The book was interesting, lots of different traditions and practices were covered – I really want a cool coffin from Ghana. I mean really….  But there were some things about the book that bugged me, like the author’s constant restating that her atheist father had a change of heart about his “organic matter” (though she doesn’t really know that for sure, she’s making the assumption since he did leave a request to have his ashes spread in the cemetery where his friends were buried.)  By the middle of the book, I was saying “Yea yea, change of heart, we know. Sheesh.”)

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Mr. Churchill’s Secretary

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Queer /

The first few pages of Mr. Churchill’s Secretary made me nervous because I wasn’t feeling the instant love. I kept plodding along because EVERYONE I know really liked it. By the time I was 75 pages in, I was hooked  and I must find  out what happens to Maggie Hope next! (I sure wish Aunt Edith wasn’t stuck in the USA, because I’d like more of her. I’m not so taken with Edmund, but maybe he will grow on me?)

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Girl of Nightmares

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I did that thing that I always do at the beginning of the year – I went through my reading list from last year and reserved a few books from series or sequels to books that we’ve read, to try and keep up/catch up. Girl of Nightmares was one of those – the sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood (one of the best kids horror books I’ve read.)

Girl of Nightmares wasn’t as creepy as Anna  Dressed in Blood – not enough scary stuff, too much talking about scary stuff that might or might not happen. And I guess watching an already dead and gone to hell ghost die over and over again, in horrible ways, is not as creepy, scary as reading about very scary ghosties attacking people.  The suicide forest wasn’t even as creepy as I thought it would be – maybe I’ve always pictured the suicide forest differently?

So while it wasn’t nearly as creepy, it was still good. I really liked the addition of Jestine and how it all played out at the end – Anna went where she was supposed to go, I think … now we just have to see what happens with the Order and its asthame…

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The Salt God’s Daughter

2013, Books in Bed, Fiction, Women /

I gave The Salt God’s Daughter four stars on GoodReads, I probably should have given it three… there were some parts that I loved and some that bored me and I felt a little let down by the ending (not because I wanted a different ending but because I don’t think it was as well-told as the majority of the book.

I loved the beginning. I hated the beginning of part 2. Part 3, I enjoyed – until the end.

I’m doing that deep sighing thing right now – yep, I probably should have given it a three.  Three and a half would really be ideal.

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The Clockwork Three

2013, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Young Adult /

I reserved The Clockwork Three, on audio, last year – after we finished listening to the author’s book, Icefall. Two completely different books, both very good – I really enjoyed every single character in The Clockwork Three. The kids, the adults (even the bad adults) – fabulously done. (I’m sorry he doesn’t have another book for me to reserve because I’m pretty darn sure we’d enjoy it, whatever it was about.)

(The epilogue and the reading of the news stories, from the late 1800s, that inspired him to write this book was interesting, too.)

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The White Forest

2013, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

TW said The White Forest wasn’t very good but I didn’t believe her. I got sucked in by the author blurbs on the jacket and on Amazon and decided to read it anyway.

It wasn’t very good. It wasn’t horrible, either. It just wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. The idea, Jane’s talent, very interesting to consider. But, there was too much back and forth so there was never any suspense. It wasn’t creepy and the ending wasn’t very compelling or fulfilling.  Darn it.

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When It Happens to You

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Fiction, short stories /

I didn’t expect much from Molly Ringwald’s When It Happens to You. Interlinked short stories … that could have meant anything and I was  expected to be all ho hum about it. Turns out, it was pretty darn good.

Each story was linked and the connections were strong enough so that you weren’t jarred (too badly) when moving from one to another. It was a little hard not to feel like this was all about Greta and Phillip – since they (along with Charlotte) featured so prominently in most of the stories. In that way, the stories might have been a little TOO interlinked. But, the writing was good and I liked most of the characters. I’d definitely read another novel by Ringwald.

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The Books They Gave Me

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, From the Stacks Challenge, Non-Fiction /

TW impulse purchased The Books They Gave Me when we went to an Indie bookstore right before Christmas. I was a little skeptical – group submission blogs don’t always work as well as books as they do as blogs, (The Books They Gave Me Tumblr), but it was good. The selections were interesting, though I got a little tired of the break up stories – I shouldn’t have read the book straight through, lol.

I find the story from the person who has never received a book as a gift to be the saddest story ever. 

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The Chaperone

2013, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer, Women /

I finally found time to read The Chaperone, FINALLY. It’s been on my TBR list for ages. Sheesh.

I really enjoyed it – the Louise Brooks aspect and the story of Cora. I would have liked it more if there wasn’t quite so much time packed into the book, or if it was another 100 pages. Time passed so quickly without any real character growth once Cora came back to Kansas.

(And now I want to watch some Louise Brooks movies, lol.)

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