2014

The Boy Who Sees Demons

2014, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Books about schizophrenia are always freaky and odd and twisty turny and The Boy Who Sees Demons was all of those things. I was pretty sure this wasn’t quite as straight forward as it seemed to be in the beginning and once Anya started considering the whole demon thing, I knew what was going to happen.

And sure enough — that’s what happened.

The end felt rushed, to me. We go all that way and then the twist comes and it’s over just like that. Seems like we could have had another chapter or two in there? I dunno.

It was a pretty good book, if you like that sort of psychological confusing schizophrenia story.

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The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

Pure chicklit, that’s what The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe is. It was a fun and quick read. I enjoyed the trips to The Antler the most. It was a little hard to believe that neither Ellen or her mother knew anything about Ruth’s history with art. I can’t imagine how she’d have kept that kind of thing a secret — why her husband wouldn’t have encouraged her to paint. It doesn’t make much sense, really. So odd.

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Kill The Dead

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I’m a stickler for reading books in a series in the proper order. So how is it possible that I skipped books in the Sandman Slim series and didn’t realize it til I started looking for sequels and prequels to read. I didn’t just skip one, I skipped TWO.

That’s weird.

So I’m playing catch up — finished Kill the Dead today. Awesome, as always. Sandman Slim is THE BEST and now some of the holes in the story that I just thought I’d forgotten are starting to make more sense. Funny how that happens when you read the books you missed. Sheesh.

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Doll Bones

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

Next, middle grade fiction by Holly Black, Doll Bones.

I discovered this one when I started thinking about doing a prequel/sequel challenge. I was looking up authors, of series we’ve read and noticed that I had not read this one… though it’s not in a series (yet?), I do generally like Holly Black so I reserved it.

And it was good.

Three middle schoolers, all with somewhat troubling home lives find themselves going on a real quest. With a bone china doll — a very creepy bone china doll, which is kind of obvious since bone china dolls are by their very nature — creepy.

I enjoyed it and was kind of sorry to see it end so soon.

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Making Love to the Minor Poets of Chicago

2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer /

I finished my first book of 2014 five days into the year. This does not bode well for my 300 book goal, does it?

I’ve been trying to read Making Love to the Minor Poets of Chicago since before Christmas. I have no idea why I stuck with it — probably because of the Chicago setting. And because I actually liked some of the characters.

But lord there were a lot of characters and the story line… gah. It left a lot to be desired. And the ending, blah.

I liked bits of it — some of the characters. I hated bits of it, the plodding OMG just get on with it. Ho hum. Not a great start to the year but I finished it.

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Cybils Shortlist (2013)

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Reading Lists, Young Adult /

Yippee! It’s here! The list! The Cybils shortlist. You’ll notice SciFi/Fantasy is now called Speculative Fiction. Which is fine but I’m not going to change my category on the sidebar. I’ll probably end up jumping and back and forth between calling it scifi or fantasy or specfic. Oh so complicated but you know it when you see it, right?

Elementary and Middle Grade

Fiction Picture Books
– Count the Monkeys
– If You Want to See a Whale
– Journey
– Mr Tiger Goes Wild
– Open This Little Book
– Sophie’s Squash
– The Bear’s Song

Nonfiction
– Anubis Speaks!
– Barbed Wire Baseball
– How Big Were Dinosaurs?
– Locomotive
– Look Up! Bird-Watching In Your Own Backyard
– The Boy Who Loved Math
– Volcano Rising

Easy Readers
– A Big Guy Took My Ball
– Joe and Sparky Go to School
– Love Is In the Air
– Penny and Her Marble
– The Meanest Birthday Girl
– Urgency Emergency: Big Bad Wolf!

Early Chapter Books
– Dragonbreath #9
– Home Sweet Horror
– Kelsey Green, Reading Queen
– Lulu and the Dog from the Sea
– The Life of Ty: Penguin Problems
– Violet Mackerel’s Natural Habitat

Poetry
– Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems
– Forest Has a Song: Poems
– Poems to Learn By Heart
– Pug and Other Animal Poems
– The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses
– What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms and Blessings
– When Thunder Comes

Graphic Novels
– Bluffton: My Summers With Buster Keaton
– Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite
– March Book 1
– Monster on the Hill
– Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Donner Dinner Party
– Squish #5
– The Lost Boy

Speculative Fiction
– Jinx
– Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase
– Rose
– Sidekicked
– The Rithmatist
– The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
– The Water Castle

Middle Grade Fiction
– Escape From Mr Lemoncello’s Library
– Prisoner B-3087
– Serafina’s Promise
– The 14 Fibs of Gregory K
– Ultra

Young Adult

Graphic Novels
– Bad Machinery
– Boxers & Saints Boxes Set
– Captain Marvel #1: In Pursuit of Flight
– Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
– Templar
– Uzumaki: Deluxe Edition
– War Brothers: Graphic Novel

Nonfiction
– Breakfast on Mars
– Imprisoned
– The Boy on the Wooden Box
– The Bronte Sisters
– The President Has Been Shot

Speculative Fiction
– Conjured
– Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin)
– Pantomime
– Shadows
– The Summer Prince
– The Waking Dark
– William Shakespeare’s Star Wars I didn’t read it.

YA Fiction
– Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets
– Eleanor & Park
– Out of the Easy
– Rose Under Fire
– Sex & Violence
– Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

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Reading Challenges for 2014

2 Comments / 2014, Books in Bed, Reading Lists /

You might have already read about this on BlogHer, since I wrote about challenges over there yesterday… whatevs. I’ve got to have it here, too, since I’ll end up referring to it a zillion times over the next few years.

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