2014

The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy

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

It took me awhile to get into The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy — I was having trouble with the setting. This happens sometimes when real people are in fiction or, worse yet, steam punk fiction. Everything is so … far-fetched that it takes me awhile to suspend disbelief and just go with it.

Once I did that — I was good. It was a fun story. Interesting. I wish I’d known more about damn Nellie Taft but am certainly glad to know more now. Cool woman.

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The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t…

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, short stories, Steampunk /

After I finished Waistcoats & Weoponry, I was surfing Gail Carriger’s author page on Amazon and noticed a novella that I’d never read… a prequel to the Parasol Protectorate series so I downloaded The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar — that’s a mouthful and the title is almost longer than the short story.

Which is exactly what was wrong with this… it wasn’t so much a novella as a short story and it was too short. Way too short. There was some bouncing around that only barely made sense. Horrible transitions. I didn’t hate it and I’m glad I read it — it just wasn’t enough.

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Reading In November

2014, Books in Bed, Reading, Reading Lists /

It wasn’t a bad month, all things considering — and boy there were a lot of things to consider. I read a lot of really awesome books and a few clunkers. Maybe more than a few — I’m trying not to remember those.

Total for the month was 17.

7 were YA
6 were from the Cybils shortlist (I quit one of those after five minutes of audio. ugh)
4 were audio
4 were non-fiction
2 were lesbian fiction

Yep, pretty darn good month all things considered. I’ll take it.

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2 Awesome Non-Cybil YA Books

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Steampunk, Women /

Since I can see the end of my Cybils shortlist challenge tunnel, it seemed like a good idea to reserve some of the new books in YA series I’ve started but hadn’t quite kept up with.

First, the third book in the Cahill Witch series, Sisters’ Fate turned out to be better than I expected. After a rough few pages when I barely remembered what the series was about, I settled in and really enjoyed it. I’m not a big fan of Cate, which is too bad since she’s the narrator — but I love all of the other characters and eventually found myself appreciating Cate, too.

And, the third book in the Finishing School series, Waistcoats & Weaponry was possibly the best book in the series. I need some sort of family tree thingy though to see where all of the tie-ins to the Soulless series are. Some are obvious, some are less so (particularly since I read the Soulless books so long ago.) I also need another book in the series — quickly. This one was so much fun.

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A Couple of Sketchbooks for Doodlers

2014, Art, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

20 Ways to Draw a Cat and 44 Other Awesome Animals and 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and 44 Other Nifty Things From Nature are fun books. I just wish I’d had more time to play with them before they had to go back to the library. The whole series looks pretty cool. I might have to check one out every month and really make myself take time to doodle. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?

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Joyland

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery /

I finally found some time to read Joyland and I really enjoyed it. I liked the setting and the characters. I even liked the way it ended. Since this is a “crime” novel and not a horror novel, we didn’t get the really creepy Stephen King and that’s cool. Nice change from scary clowns with just enough creepyness to make it a fun read.

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Two Audio Books — Sort Of

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

We listened to Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time on our trip to/from Oberlin and finally finished it up a couple of days ago. This book was a hot mess, which you would expect because it’s a Jodi Picoult book. But, it might be the biggest hot mess of all of her hot messes. I figured out the big issue long before it actually happened and… oh boy. The look on TW’s face when it happened. Hahahahaha. She might kill me if I ever force her to listen to another Jodi Picoult novel. hahaha. And that’s all I’m gonna say about this one because I don’t want to ruin it (hahaha) for Picoult fans.

When we headed to Oberlin, I made sure another audiobook was in the car, in case Leaving Time was short and we needed another audio book… TW took one look at that and said, “You’re kidding me. Are you trying to punish me? First Picoult, then this?” I laughed and said “What? It’s a Cybils book. It sounds like fun!” And then she put the first disc in and my head almost exploded. I couldn’t handle more than the intro before I told her to turn it off. I returned it.

I don’t think I’ve ever NOT finished a book from the Cybils shortlist before. So this is a first for me. I feel a little bad about that — but not bad enough to sit through William Shakespear’s Star Wars. I’m sure it’s fabulous, if you like that sort of thing. I absolutely do not and I am NOT even gonna pretend.

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