Books in Bed

Madame Tussaud

2011, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

It took me WEEKS to finish Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution and it really shouldn’t have. Not with all of the discussions we’ve had this year about this particular era. Or maybe that was part of the problem? I kept hearing Elly talking about Marat and Charlotte Corday and “Let them eat cake” and all of that nonsense, so I was too distracted to read Moran’s version of the events? Nah, that’s not it. That should have made it more fun. I think it was just timing. Timing can be everything with a book like this and I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I cannot read just prior, during, or immediately following a BlogHer conference. I’m going to just stop trying.

So – Madame Tussaud, kind of loved it. I think I’d like a sequel. Or I think I’d have liked to have had the book stop with the hanging of Robespierre and begin the sequel there. That would have been excellent. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and after the reign of terror, we’re just kind of dumped into the ending. Marie survives reign of terror. Marries asshole. Has three children. Leaves asshole. Goes to England. Does stuff. The end. All in one quick ending.

Poof. After all of that… I wanted more story and less wrapping up.  (Oh. I just looked at some reviews of Moran’s books and this is her pattern – and some people who aren’t me also find this troubling. Good, I thought it was just me.)

Otherwise – pretty darn good book, particularly if you have an interest in the Reign of Terror or Madame Tussauds.

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The Memory of Water

2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

After reading The Beach Trees for the BlogHer Book Club, I decided I needed to read some more books by Karen White – The Memory of Water was the only one I had a chance to read before TW took the others back and it was excellent.

I’m normally a little skittish about books set in Charleston or even around Charleston but this one, set in McClellenville was just right.  It made me homesick, as any book about the Lowcountry should. The ending made me a little sad but I think it was the right ending for such a traumatic story.  

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Cleaning Nabokov’s House

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction, Women /

TW said Cleaning Nabokov’s House wasn’t very good. I ignored her and started reading it anyway and immediately liked it – depressing though it was in the beginning.  I’d like a sequel but I guess that won’t happen. I’d like to know what happens to the kids – and the dogs.

I would also like to read a book about Babe Ruth written by Nabokov. What WOULD that be like?

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The Eve Tree

2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge /

It’s really hard to talk about The Eve Tree without talking about Journey Mama – even though they are not the same thing.

The book is not the blog. Molly is not Rae. The Eve Tree is not the albino tree, though I have to say when The Eve Tree first appeared in the book, I was confused – I remembered an albino tree from Rae’s blog – an albino redwood, not a black oak and I had to stop what I was doing and go look on the blog to make sure I hadn’t just misremembered.  And then I got distracted by reading some of the old posts on Journey Mama, which is really just what I needed right then because Molly had stressed me out. That wasn’t a bad thing. I think it was a good thing.

I want to read a book where the characters get under my skin – and Molly did. Oh boy, Molly did.

And then there was the fire.

I have fire issues.

I often smell fire just before I fall asleep – which means I have to get up and make sure there is no fire. (There isn’t.)

And I wake in the middle of the night from a dream where the bed is on fire. (It isn’t.)

Even with all of that anxiety, caused by Molly and the fire, underneath it all was that thing that has caused me to read Journey Mama – life, and peace, and spirit and love.

The Eve Tree is exactly the kind of novel you would expect Rae to write. Her characters are exactly right – honest and real but not perfect. They’re struggling with that imperfection and struggling with love and faith.

I breathed a sigh at the end – one of those sighs of relief and happiness and sadness all rolled up into one. You know the kind I mean, right – something like this?

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Little Bee

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

Way back at the very beginning of the year, Sassymonkey asked what everyone was reading. Someone mentioned Little Bee and since I’d been seeing a lot of buzz (hah!) about the book, I decided to go ahead and add it to my reserve list. 

The book arrived and I didn’t read it and I didn’t read it and I didn’t read it. It’s due back soon so I figured what the heck, I’d give it a try.

And I could not put it down.

It’s a hard book to talk about because I don’t want to give it away. You just need to read it for yourself.

A woman and a girl meet on a beach in Nigeria… and this is their story. Dual narrators – done beautifully.

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The Little Women Letters

2011, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

Sigh.

I didn’t hate it. Really, I didn’t.

The problem is that I didn’t love it. And I really, really wanted to love it.

The Little Women Letters had so many things going for it – I should have loved it. A feminist mom who does a good bit of patriarchy blaming. Interesting sisters. The “March girls’” letters.  I could go on, you get the point.

So many things I should have loved but I just didn’t.

Yes, I did chuckle in places – which TW took as a good sign.

I did smile on numerous occasions. And I did even sigh at the end, cheesy as it was.

But no, I did not love it. Something was missing. I don’t know what it was but something. Something important.

Have you read it? Did you love it or did it let you down?

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More Than Half Way — Less Than Half Way

2 Comments / 2011, Books in Bed /

I’m mad at Sassymonkey. She was mean and wrote a post asking about our reading goal progress. See – that’s really mean of her, isn’t it?  

So here I am dutifully looking at my progress – which is hard since I only barely remember what my goals were. It’s been that kind of year.

Two are easy – Nancy Drew Challenge that I started on last year…  I’ve read 10 of those, so that’s not TOO bad. I wish I’d read 12 but such is life. I’m getting close to the end of the ones I own and will have to begin to buy them so I’m not in a huge rush right now. 

The Cybils Short List Challenge is the same challenge for me every year but this year, I’m not doing so well. Quite a few books on the short list weren’t available in my library system and that was a pain so I stopped trying to reserve them. I’m trying to get back into the swing now but it’s slow going. I think there are 76 on the list and I’ve read… 32. Ugh. This is not going to end well, is it?

I joined the Queer Reading Challenge and… um… I’ve read a good number of queer books, I just haven’t shared them with the Queer Reading Challenge people. Oops.

Same with the Adoption Challenge. I’m not even sure how many of those I’ve ready (Sorry Jenna! I’ll go through this weekend and figure it out and update the challenge thread. Really.)  I know I read two – and I think I shared both over there. Maybe? *Hanging my head in shame*

I wanted to listen to more books on audio this year and though we started out well, we’ve kind of dropped the ball a bit – ok a lot. We’ve only listened to SIX books on audio. That’s just appalling. A book I wasn’t really into. A couple of books that were all “skippy”. I’m renewing my pledge to listen to more audio books. Really. I just reserved a couple more.

And then there was the whole Christmas in July idea. What the hell was I thinking? Whatever. Not happening, obviously. I think I can still read three Christmas-y books this year. Maybe.

And then there’s the really big problem – the From the Stacks by Color Challenge. Do the Penguin books floating in here for the BlogHer Book Club count? Or not so much? Because if they count – I’m doing really well. If they don’t, I’m screwed – it looks like I’ve only read THREE books from my stacks. Three. Plus the Penguins. Aye yi yi.

How many books have I read, so far, this year? 108. Sigh.

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The Dead Boys

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

Oops. I had it in my head that The Dead Boys was a Cybils Shortlist middle grade graphic novel. Imagine my surprise when I picked it up last night and discovered it wasn’t. Hah. It’s definitely a Cybils short list middle grade fiction but it’s so not a graphic novel, (though it would make a truly excellent one if the right someone drew it.)

This was one hell of a creepy story and I think a whole lot of kids will love it – I’m really surprised at the ending. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a book like this, end this way…

**spoiler – do not read this part if you think you might read the book!!!**

Every 10 years, one 12 year old boy disappears. The bodies are never found… flash forward and a new 12 year old boy moves into town and something wants him to disappear now.

But he figures out what’s happening and finds those missing boys. They’re still 12 year old boys… and in the end, the boys are brought back… as 12 year olds.

I want to know how that goes over with their families… that’s just weird, and creepy!

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Three Graphic Novels – One Great, Two Not Horrible

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

From the Cybils short list middle grade graphic novels list, Guinea Pig Pet Shop Private Eye: Hamster and Cheese was my least favorite. It was cute but I was annoyed by the pet store owner who knows nothing about animals. I don’t believe that was really necessary. I did, however, really like the part at the end with interesting information about animals. That was the best part of the book.

Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess was what you’d expect. The Fates spin us stories about Athena. I didn’t love the drawings but I didn’t hate them either. The stories were fine. Nothing to write home about, really.

My favorite of these will not surprise you. Mercury, written by the author of Chiggers. This one is better than Chiggers and as all good graphic novels should, it left me anxious to find out what happens next! (Which is good because at the beginning, I wasn’t sure I liked the jumping between times. It was jarring until I got comfortable with the characters.

I can’t wait til Elly gets home so she can read these three and tell me what she thinks.

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