2015

Lowcountry Boneyard

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery, Women /

TW got Lowcountry Boneyard from Erica at Wild Iris when we were in Gainesville in February. It’s an advance review copy so I’m guessing she had just gotten it at the bookstore conference thing she’d been at right before we came to visit.

It’s the third book in a mystery series set in Charleston (and also in Greenville, oddly enough.) I often find myself picking apart books based in Charleston because they get things wrong and it bugs me. I thought that was going to happen with this one because the protagonist lives on a fake island and that should have bugged me. Turns out, it was a smart move. I can’t pick apart fake islands, heh. And, she got the important things right about Charleston and then made up some other stuff and it all worked for me.

Even the ghost part.

I liked it enough that I reserved the first book in the series and am looking forward to reading it during #readathon in a couple of weeks.

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Greenglass House

2015, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Greenglass House is from the Cybils shortlist and we listened to it on audio.

I had a little trouble settling into the story in the beginning because I didn’t particularly like Milo. Also all of the folks arriving at the Inn all at once made for a bit of confusion. Weird names, hard to keep people straight, but it all settled down and started making sense.

Even the ghost part. (Oddly, TW didn’t realize the ghost was a ghost until Milo did. I was surprised by that.)

I liked the mystery. I liked the role-playing game aspect. I liked the adoption storylines. I did not love the storyline that had Clem and Georgie trying to steal the guy’s heart. That bothered me. Which is probably the reason why I didn’t give the book 5 stars (TW asked me about that a couple of days ago and I couldn’t really tell her why… now I can. I really loved both of those characters until the reason they were both at Greenglass House came out. I didn’t like that. I didn’t think it was necessary. I don’t particularly want kids to read that and think that this is how young women behave. Or should behave. Or even consider behaving. That’s now how relationships work…)

Anyway. Good book. I enjoyed it.

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Reading In March

2015, Books in Bed, Reading /

Better month than I originally thought (particularly since I fell behind on blogging books… oh well, I’ll just add them to April and pad that month instead, hah.)

Total for the month: 18!

5 were from the Cybils shortlist
3 were graphic novels
2 were YA
1 was an audiobook
8 were non-fiction

I read some pretty good books in March. Huh. How’d that happen? (A couple of clunkers, too.)

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Going Postal

2015, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

So, I’m not a Terry Pratchett fan. And, I really really don’t like Discworld very much at all. I know. Some of you are confused by this. Some of you just cannot believe that can be true. Some of you would probably like to argue with me about why I MUST be a Terry Pratchett fan. Some of you are probably feeling physical pain at the idea that I just don’t like Discworld.

It’s ok. I understand why you love Pratchett and Discworld. I support your feelings, completely.

I have a lot of respect for you folks and even greater respect for Terry Pratchett (may he rest in peace.) That’s why I went ahead and grabbed Going Postal from the library display of his books the day he died. It was the least I could do. Really.

I picked this one because a) I’d never read it b) I liked the cover c) I knew there was some movie or TV series or something made from it and I figured I could watch a little to stem my boredom, should it occur, while reading the book.

Turns out, it’s not easy to watch Going Postal online without paying actual dollars (not stamps) for it. So when I got bogged down in all the words and all of the … Pratchetty Discworldness of it, I watched a trailer and was amused and went back to reading the book.

I didn’t hate it. I don’t hate Pratchett or Discworld, I just don’t love either of them. I didn’t love it. I was amused in places. Several places. I don’t feel compelled to find more Discworld books I’ve missed (which is most of them, probably) or re-read any that I’ve read in the past. I am also not sorry I spent a few nights reading it. I also kind of wish I still had my childhood stamp collection and am glad I never got into pins. Also, Golloms are cool.

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Two More Art Books

2015, Art, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I impulsed picked The Modern Flower Painter because it was pretty and I love watercolors. The book is super pretty and super detailed and if you want to learn how to paint flowers, this is your book.

Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces is fabulous if you want to improve your ability to draw and paint faces. Duh. Jane Davenport is fabulous, really. Great book (which explains why it’s constantly out of stock.)

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3 Graphic Novels

2015, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge /

Look at me finishing up a category from the Cybils shortlist. (Unfortunately it’s an easy category. Hah.)

The Dumbest Idea Ever was ok. A little long and I didn’t much like the kid. Or his friends. The illustrations were good, though.

Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust was very good. I liked it a lot. I can see a grandmother telling that story to her grandchild but not to her son.

Ballad was beautiful. Really beautiful. But, I did not love the story that went along with it. It was too choppy and I don’t think it needed to be. Definitely worth reading just for the illustrations.

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Alice + Freda Forever

2015, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Feminism, Non-Fiction, Queer, Women, Young Adult /

I impulsed selected Alice + Freda Forever because I liked the font on the cover. I was also interested in reading more about this case. I’ve heard about it in passing but knew very little about it, really.

It was interesting. A little dry considering the subject matter. There was a lot of crazy going on back in the late 1800s and it wasn’t all just the Alice kind of crazy. Just sayin’.

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