We listened to Liar & Spy on audio, and it’s on the Cybils shortlist. It was a lot of fun — nice little twist.
I was confused by why Georges never saw his mom… even working long, horrible hours, most moms I know would have seen their kids for even just a minute… so I knew something was up but I didn’t know THAT’s what it was. Interesting.
Fun book. We enjoyed it.
I’ve never seen Woman, by Richard Matheson, before. Didn’t know it existed. So, I was kind of excited by it when TW put it in the library bag. I liked I Am Legend and Hell House. (TW is a Somewhere in Time fan.)
But… I didn’t particularly like Woman.
I didn’t hate it but I definitely did not love it. It’s a mean book, I think that’s what bugged me. A cautionary tale for men that’s completely irrational because it’s about women. I don’t know. It bugged me.
The irony. Amazing.
Vaginas. Fistulas.
It’s just.
Overwhelming.
In the Body of the World: A Memoir … it’s… the best of Ensler, I think.
It is turning pain into power.
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I’ve been waiting for this sequel to Born Wicked since … forever. At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like Star Cursed. I started feeling like it was going to be another second book in the series let down. Turns out, it wasn’t cursed that way at all.
Once Cate’s sisters made it to New London, the book really picked up. I think Tess helps a lot. Maura, on the otherhand, oh boy. Maura.
I liked the ending. Good stopping place. Very good stopping place. Now we need book three because I really want to know what happens next. Poor Finn. Poor Cate. Poor Tess. Poor everyone, pretty much. Except Maura. With a sister like that, who needs The Brotherhood? Sheesh.
I hate to say it, because I normally enjoy Jodi Picoult’s books but… Between the Lines is one you can probably skip.
I liked the idea of Picoult writing a YA book with her teen daughter but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It took me three days to read the first three chapters. TW said it gets better… and it did. But not a lot better.
It’s not truly horrid but it’s just not great, either.
I really, really disliked the ending. Maybe it works for kids but for me, a mom, it did not work AT ALL. Not even a little bit.
I’m not big on animal stories — particularly those that are fiction but based on a true story and extra particularly those written for kids. They’re just … too much.
So I didn’t expect to love The One and Only Ivan. The only thing it had going for it, in my early opinion, was that it was written by Katherina Applegate (who I really like.)
Turns out, I’m a sucker for books about gorillas and elephants and stray dogs and such. I’m awfully sad that I didn’t go to the Atlanta zoo and see Ivan in person before he passed away. That would have been cool. It also would have been cool if Ivan had really done all of those things to get himself and Ruby to the zoo…
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Chris is a Neil Gaiman fan so I pre-ordered the new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and let Prince J and TW read it. Then I figured what the hell, I’ll read it too — it’s short.
I’m not a huge Gaiman fan (don’t stone me, or anything.) I like him well enough but I’m not a diehard and generally don’t care whether I read his new books or not (though I often do read them — eventually.)
This one, I really really liked. I mean really, REALLY liked. Enough that I could add it to my list of books I wouldn’t mind reading again (that list is very short.)
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After seeing a lot of glowing reviews for Out of the Easy, I moved this one up higher on my TBR list. TW read it first (of course) and said it was good so I had high hopes, especially since I’m not getting a lot of reading done right now and I needed something to suck me in.
Boy did it. After just a half dozen pages, I was hooked — and I didn’t really put it down until I was finished.
Oddly enough, I was surprised to realize the book was written by the other of Between Shades of Grey (a book we listened to last year, on audio — for the Cybils Challenge.) All too often, YA authors write books that sound just a little too much like the last book (even when the books aren’t sequel) — not this one.
My mother’s a prostitute. Not the filthy, streetwalking kind.
See, you’re hooked, aren’t you?
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TW kind of made fun of me when she saw I was checking The Midwest Gardener’s Book of Lists out of the library. I shushed her and told her I’d explain later.
She made fun of me again when I picked it up to read, a couple of days ago.
I explained that the AWESOME Stacy Morrison is moving into a new house (which, TW knew) and said that Stacy saw this book and thought of me… because I am the queen of lists, at BlogHer.
It amused me. And, I thought it was interesting. Stacy bought (?) the version for her part of the world and I expect to hear awesome things about her gardening in the weeks/months/years ahead… (Also, go read her post: Eight Days ‘Til Takeoff.) I’m also kind of interested in getting the version for the region I’ll be living after we move away from this godforsaken place. Because, no — gardening isn’t really happening here.
We have my grafted gardenia. We have Elly’s lemon tree. We usually have a tomato plant in the spring, but so far none has shown up this year. Every now and then TW plants some other sort of vegetable in the porch’s built in containers. The yard has … stuff in it, that was here when we arrived. And, that’s all we’re doing.
So this book wasn’t super useful for me. It also became very clear that I know shit about gardening. The lists were fascinating (and you central Ohio people… how’s your deer problem? Seems like it was pretty bad when this book was written… almost an emergency situation or something. sheesh) but overwhelming. I needed more photos. A lot more photos. Or I needed the time and energy to look up every single thing on each of those lists because I literally could not picture about 90% of those plants/shrubs/treets/green things.
I know, I’m hopeless. Cool book, though.
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When I spotted Jake and Lily in the “new” carousel on my library’s website, I decided I wanted to read it. It’s been a zillion years since I read any Jerry Spinelli so it seemed like a good idea. And then I let it sit on my library cart for a good two months before I decided it was now or never (because it’s due back to the library this weekend, lol.)
Super fast read (and I stayed up til midnight to finish it) — while it’s no Maniac Magee, I liked it. I particularly liked Jake and Lily’s grandfather. I also liked that Lily is the twin who gets into trouble while Jake is more laid back and sensible. At least he was until he started hanging out with a gang of boys…
It all works out well and as it should. I liked that, though it seems like odds are slim that Jake’s storyline would have ended quite as well as it did for Ernie… but hey, it was nice.