2014

Hatching Twitter

2014, Books in Bed, From the Stacks Challenge, Kindle, Non-Fiction /

Elisa sent me a copy of Hatching Twitter at the end of last year and when I needed to download a book for all of the waiting rooms I was going to be sitting in, it seemed like this was a good choice.

I was kind of hoping it would inspire me to go back to Twitter and figure out how to enjoy it again. But no. It didn’t. It might have done exactly the opposite. What. A. Mess.

No wonder we all got so familiar with the fail whale… geez.

Also, am I the only one who wants to track down @Noah and tell him that he did a good thing and he’s better off where he is, than to be in that mess? Long live @Noah! And @jack just makes me roll my eyes. Over and over and over again. Which is what generally happens any time I spend more than 5 minutes on Twitter. Coincidence?

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Two Graphic Novels

2014, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

One Cybil, one not. The Lost Boy is from the Cybils shortlist and it was good. Though if creepy talking dolls scare you, then maybe this is not the graphic novel for you. I got a little confused at the end so I think I’m going to go back and re-read it to see if I can sort out the confusion. Though it might just be confusing as a set up for future books and not me reading while I was tired.

A Matter of Life is not a Cybils book and is also not YA and it’s not fiction. I just got tired of looking at it on the library shelf and decided to check it out so it would quit staring at me when I was looking for something new on the graphic novel shelves. It was… ok. The jumping around bugged me. Jeff as adult, Jeff as a young boy, Jeff as adult, Jeff as teen. All very confusing. In some cases the panels flowed well, in others the jumps were too jarring and I was left saying, “huh?” a lot.

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The Best Flea, Antique, Vintage and New-Style Markets in America

2014, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Impulse pick-up from the library, The Best Flea, Antique, Vintage and New-Style Markets in America — that’s a lot of words for a tiny little book. It was fun to flip through and think about taking a lot of little road trips to buy all of the funky, weird, things. We should really see about the National Road Yard Sale one of these years, before we leave this godforsaken part of the country — it’s not that far to US 40 and it would be a fun road trip, right?

And, we should head back to Philadelphia and visit some of their markets, too.

Also, go back to Austin and and and… yea, I want to take all the road trips.

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While Beauty Slept

2 Comments / 2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

When Sassymonkey says “you should reserve XXXX for TW” I usually do. I don’t always read these books but I often do. And I almost didn’t read While Beauty Slept because I don’t love Sleeping Beauty. It’s my least favorite fairy tale. But, TW said it was really good and I should read it.

So I did.

And she was right. And Millicent was hella creepy. Shudder. Excellent re-telling. I liked it. (I hope I don’t have nightmares.)

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The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I waited a long time to get the new Flavia deLuce book and then I kind of took my time reading it. The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches was kind of freaking me out.

Flavia was kind of freaking me out.

This book was good but it was really just a tying up of loose ends (Harriet and others) as well as setting Flavia up for the future. I don’t usually do spoilers when I write about books but here comes one…

So Flavia’s mother’s coffin is in her bedroom. Flavia gets the idea to bring her back to life and tracks down all the necessary chemicals with which to attempt this. She’s foiled, after going so far as opening the coffin and finding the will, by a pathology team who arrived to do an autopsy.

Flavia doesn’t freak out thinking SHE COULD HAVE SAVED HER MOTHER, she just lets it go? If she really thought she could bring her mother back to life, wouldn’t she have at least tried to get in there to postpone the autopsy? Wouldn’t she have shown a little despair at having been prevented from saving her mother? I know Flavia is an unusual person but… that was weird and freaky.

Also, here’s another spoiler… so Harriet has been missing for 10 years but when Flavia opened the coffin her mother hadn’t really deteriorated 10 years’ worth, at least it doesn’t sound that way… so that means for 10 years she’s been… where? And was only recently killed? That… is confusing, particularly as we begin to realize who it is the finger points to as her killer.

And one more… “Harriet, it was I.” = wah? Is that a red herring that Flavia’s going to eventually have to sort out or is that for reals?

So many questions and far too long to wait for the next book. There will be a next book, right? sheesh.

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Reading in February

2014, Books in Bed, Reading /

I read 20 books in February, which isn’t a bad number for a short, hectic month. I’ve got three in progress, (one print, one audio, one on my Kindle.)

The breakdown looks like this:

2 Audio
7 Cybils
11 were books in a series that I was keeping up with/catching up with.
1 Non-fiction
4 Graphic Novels
14 were YA/Children’s/Middle Grad books.

None from my stacks, though the Kindle book in progress is so I’ll have at least one for that category next month.

Good month, with a lot of very good books.

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2 Graphic Novels

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

Both of these are from the Cybils Shortlist — and both are good. One is exceptional.

First, Nathan Hale is back with the story of the Donner Dinner Party. Just like the other Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales — this is long, long, long. But I’m not sure how it could be much shorter because that’s a lot of story to tell via graphic novel. I particularly like the last pages — the list of people who died and how, the mythbusting at the end. I’m a fan of this series, in general, and this one was just as good as the others.

March — the first volume. This series is one nobody should miss. Congressman Lewis is telling his story, via graphic novel, and it’s one hell of a good story and a really great idea. I couldn’t put this first volume down and suspect the next two books in the trilogy will be just as good. Must read — for everyone.

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Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets

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

Yawp!

From the Cybils shortlist, Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets was awesome. I loved it. Didn’t want to put it down and I’m not even a very big Walt Whitman fan.

What I loved is that it’s just different enough from every other book about kids and depression/anxiety but familiar enough and true enough to keep me nodding my head.

Excellent. Really. I’d like to read it again (and maybe Yawp a little.)

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Be My Enemy

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Remember when I said Planesrunner was really not my favorite kind of scifi? Yea, I should have remembered that when I reserved the second book in the series, Be My Enemy. It was so hard to get into. So confusing. Even after I settled into the two Everetts, I struggled and skimmed a lot of the confusing science mumbo jumbo. I need my science to feel at least a little like magic and not so much like impossible science.

But, I did like it. Really. I just didn’t love it. And I do want to know what happens next so I’ll probably slog through book three at some point.

Oddly enough, TW is struggling with it too. I told her it gets easier once you sort out the alters but still she’s struggling.

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