2014

The Rithmatist

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

We really enjoyed listening to The Rithmatist on audio. Except… it took a chapter or so to get into (alternate realities often do) and at the beginning or end of each chapter, they describe a rithmatic defense. It would have been nice to be able to see those lines as they were described. Instead, we kept going online later and looking at the drawings.

I don’t usually do this but… it was very Harry Potter-like. A boy. His father died. He’s at a boarding school. There are professors, some of whom the boy suspects of wrong-doing. There’s magic. There’s even a “symbol” — it may not be a lightning bolt on a forehead but… see, very Harry Potter-like. Which possibly explains why we enjoyed it?

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Still Foolin’ ‘Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going and Where Are My Keys?

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

TW noticed Billy Crystal’s Still Foolin’ ‘Em was on some award or best of list, for the audio version and decided that she wanted to listen to the book.

So. I reserved it.

I’m not a huge Billy Crystal fan. He’s ok but I am just as likely to find him unfunny as I am to find him funny. I’ve only seen a few of his movies. I liked him on Soap. I’m not in his age demographic. I’m not Jewish. I’m not from New York (though I do love New York.) I’m not a big baseball fan. Or a boxing fan, (though I do love Ali.)

And that’s pretty much how I felt about this audio book. I laughed out loud in some parts. I rolled my eyes at others. I growled audibly in a few places. It was absolutely worth listening to and I’m betting others will like this book a lot more than I did — and I definitely didn’t hate it.

If you like this, you’ll probably like the book:

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The Daring Ladies of Lowell

2014, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

I hadn’t planned on reading The Daring Ladies of Lowell — too much on my TBR list and not nearly enough time. But, I kept seeing it mentioned on blogs and on reading lists and it’s in high demand at our library so I figured what the heck — if everyone wants to read it, maybe I should make time.

And, since my attention span is crap right now and I can’t seem to get much of anything except work (and housework) done, this seemed look a good read. Something light and easy but not middle grade fiction.

It was pretty darn good. Surprisngly so. I liked Lovey and I liked Alice. I even liked most of the Fiskes.

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Charm & Strange

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

Charm & Strange should be called Dark & Twisted because it totally is. It’s also very good, though very dark & twisted.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on, though I suppose for teens who read a lot of fantasy/paranormal it could have been confusing… it’s not really about werewolves. It’s about horrible horrible things people can do to kids and how kids find ways of coping with those horrible things.

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Three YA Non-Fiction from the Cybils Shortlist

2014, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

First, the one I liked the least — Breakfast on Mars. I actually liked it a lot, there are some great essays in this book. But, as examples of great essays for kids who have to write essays — I’m not so sure. They’re too good. Though as I type this, my problem might be that I really thought this book was focused at middle grade, not YA readers (because it’s middle grade kids that could really use the proper foundation for writing an essay.)

Next, The President Has Been Shot was good. Very cleanly written. No extraneous emotions for flowy words to try and push emotion. You either feel emotional while reading this book or you don’t. That’s a good thing. But, that also makes it a little dry and for kids a dry non-fiction book is very close to feeling like a text book. The photos were excellent. The diagrams were excellent. Very good book.

My favorite of the three, Imprisoned. There are not enough books about the Japanese internment during WW2 for people of any age but especially for kids. So — five stars! I loved the photos. I loved the clean writing. I did not love the complete absence of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. We just skipped right over that little fact and went straight to the release and aftermath. If you’re telling the hard, bad stuff then why skip that? Otherwise — excellent book. Everyone should read it (and more about this horrible period in our history.)

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Beauty Queens

1 Comment / 2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Young Adult /

We didn’t have any books on audio so I decided this was the perfect time to grab Beauty Queens. Nope, I’ve never read it — which is crazy because I’ve wanted to read it since it first came out. But, I also had a very strong desire to hear it on audio. I’m glad I held tight to that idea. It was SO MUCH FUN on audio. Seriously.

Loved, loved, loved it. We even listened to the acknowledgements and the author interview at the end because Libba Bray is funny as hell. And awesome. She is very awesome.

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Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga)

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Mermaids. I like mermaids. I should have liked Deep Blue more than I did.

I didn’t actually really start to enjoy it until it was almost over and then I was kind of grouchy because it ended and now I have to get book two in order to find out what happens next (all while hoping that I enjoy the beginning of book two more than I enjoyed the beginning of book one. Which I’m not all that inclined to do, right now. Maybe later.)

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