2015

Two Awesome Audiobooks

2015, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

Thank goodness for audiobooks! Without them, my books read this month count would be horrid. Oh wait, it will still be horrid but at least the audiobooks helped. Also, they were great books.

Sarah Addison Allen’s First Frost was terrific. It took me awhile to remember who all of the Waverlys were and how they were connected and what their magics were but I very much enjoyed it. Great book for a road trip.

Next, Anita Diamond’s Boston Girl (read by Linda Lavin!) was excellent and an even better book for a road trip. I wish it had been a little longer, with a few more stories about Addy as wife/mother but I’m not really complaining.

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When I Found You

2015, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

We finished our audiobook and didn’t have any waiting for us at the library so I surfed Amazon for free audio books and decided When I Found You looked like the best of the bunch. Turns out it was better than expected. One of those books that you keep thinking about after you’ve stopped listening for awhile. One of those books that makes you sad but also makes you feel good at the same time.

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Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them

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

I grabbed Pen & Ink from the new arrivals shelf just as an impulse pick — because I knew RJ would be at our house and I thought she might be interested in it. I think she read it. I’m not sure. But I very much loved it. The stories behind the tattoos were fabulous. Really good stuff (and a quick read, which was important after some very long work days.)

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Evil Librarian

2015, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Who can resist a book called Evil Librarian? Not me, that’s for sure.

It was cute. YA cute. It was also a little slow for me. The first half of the book just slogged along, which it shouldn’t have since a lot did happen. It just wasn’t compelling. Or maybe I was just tired from a really hectic work week? I dunno. It was good. I didn’t hate it. Not sure whether I’ll read the next two books (there have to be two more because, well — I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be because of the deal with the demon…)

Oh, the book also made me want to see Sweeney Todd so there’s that. lol

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Handmade Nation

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

I have no idea why Handmade Nation was on the new arrivals shelf at the library. It’s old, old, old, old. But there you have it. It was there. I was amused. I checked it out.

I was even more amused when I started reading it. Everyone was so young! All of those sites were so new! Things have really grown and changed!

I kept stopping to see if featured artists/crafters/makers were still doing the type of work that was featured in the book, (sometimes yes, sometimes no.)

I found myself watching old Craft Lab videos with Jennifer Perkins and giggling like crazy.

I enjoyed the stroll down memory lane. 😉

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Flavia de Luce (x1 1/2)

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, short stories /

I’m a big Flavia fan and I loved As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust. Excellent. Most excellent. I was a little worried, since Flavia was all by herself (I mean not with her family and the regulars from Bishop Lacey) in Canada but I needn’t have worried. It went well. Flavia did well. It all turned out as it should have. Every bit.

While reading it, I discovered there was a short story published last year for Kindle, so I grabbed The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse and read it right after I finished Chimney Sweepeers. It was good — cool death (lol) but I don’t love short stories. I wanted more Flavia, darn it.

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Here and Again

2015, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

There was a lot to like about Here and Again but there was just enough to NOT like that I finished it kind of wished I hadn’t read it.

I liked all of the characters. Every single one of them. I liked the setting. I didn’t mind the whole ghost factor either. What bugged me was the connection between Samuel and Virginia Moon. That whole she was there then, Oliver was there then… that just… too much for me. Blah. We could have done without all of that, really.

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St. Nick (x2)

2015, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Do you find yourself reading books that are completely unrelated but have odd connections between them? It doesn’t just happen to us, does it?

Like the audio book, St. Nick, that I grabbed from Amazon just because I didn’t have any other audio books and it seemed like it would be a fun listen in the car (even though Christmas just ended) and the Sandman Slim #6, The Getaway God, with the very evil Saint Nick character. Never in a million years would have expected a connection between those two books but there you go. It was also a little disconcerting to be reading them both at the same time. One St Nick was super good and the other so very not good. Very weird.

Anyway, I loved both books…

St Nick — a depressed and struggling cop turned mall Santa is just as you’d expect. The magic of Christmas etc. etc. etc. It was awesome.

The Getaway God, #6 in the Sandman Slim series, was just as awesome (maybe more awesome than some of the other books in the middle of the series) as you’d expect. Stark saves the world (again) and sorts out all of the broken Gods (and Lucifers, for that matter.) The only downside for me with a Sandman Slim novel is the lack of chapters. I need chapters. Why does Kadrey hate chapters? Hmph.

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