Books in Bed

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse

2011, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I finished Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse several days ago but just haven’t had the time or energy to tell you about it. I still don’t but heck, if I don’t do it soon – I’ll forget. And it isn’t that I didn’t enjoy the book – I did… picture Christopher Moore, Mario Acevedo, and that guy who wrote Sandman Slim… once you’ve got that in your head, strip out the demons, vampires, zombies, talking fruit bats and whaley boys. Oh wait, keep the whaley boys, just picture them as Prius’s and not fish like guys who drive the blue whales, (my Prius’s name is Whaley Boy, in case you’re really confused.) Also, hang onto the sequined love nun. Got that? Now picture a spaghetti western set in a post-apocalyptic United States. Make that the southeastern United States.

That’s Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse.

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Two More Nancy Drews

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Nancy Drew Challenge /

It’s been a rough week. Pretty much the only thing I had the energy to read was Nancy Drew. Long live Nancy Drew – even though I’ve pretty much decided it’s Nancy Drew that’s to blame for disordered eating and not Barbie. I mean the friendly teasing of Bess is one thing but the downright meanness in the last book, well… it’s a little too much for me. This is one of those situations where Nancy and her friends just don’t stand up to re-reading 35-40 years later.

Even when Bess is the one who’s doing great things in the story – she’s still fat. Not chubby or pleasingly plump – she’s fat. Boo, hiss!

The Phantom of Pine Hill wasn’t as bad about this as The Clue in the Crossword Cipher.

Oh – almost forgot. When I opened The Clue in the Crossword Cipher, a little piece of notepaper popped out with the name and address of someone I don’t remember from my childhood. That seems weird. I need to ask my mom about Kristy (or is it Krissy) Holder. I’m sure I should know who this is… or maybe the notepaper was left over from my sister who may have read some of my Nancy Drews after I moved out? I don’t know. There’s some niggling thing in my head that says I should know who this is. Huh. I just don’t know.

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Delirium

2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

Last fall, Diane from Teen Book Fanatics raved and raved about new YA author, Lauren Oliver. She told me I had to read Before I Fall… and I did, eventually. Diane was right – it was a great book.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago and Carmen from Mom to the Screaming Masses tweeted to recommend a YA book called Delirium. I looked it up and saw that it was written by Lauren Oliver. Well that was enough for me – I reserved the book right away.

And it was awesome.

Post apocalyptic fiction where all of the world’s problems were solved by finding a cure for a horrible horrible disease – Love. AKA Amor Deliria Nervosa.  When kids reach the age of 18, they’re given the cure (surgical removal of part of the brain), paired with a mate, given a job (and/or a place in a college) and life goes on, without love.

What I really like about Oliver’s books is that there are no happy endings – the right things happen, but that doesn’t mean people are happy and all of the problems are solved in the end. It’s usually just the opposite but it feels real and right.

I would really like a sequel to this book. I’d like to see what happens next – to Lena. Maybe to Alex, if he survived. Or to Hana. Or Grace. Anyone from the story, really. They’re all interesting and I think they all have things to say that they didn’t have a chance to say in Delirium.

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Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly

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

A few weeks ago, Sassymonkey mentioned the Piggly Wiggly series to me – it sounded vaguely familiar but I’ve never read them. Seemed like a good series for TW’s mom, so I grabbed the first one, Waltzing in the Piggly Wiggly, in large print… sure enough, she read it and loved it. Chuckled her way through it.  I read it next and it was certainly amusing but boy was there a lot of sex for a book about small town 50/60/70 year old widows in rural Mississippi! Sheesh.

I miss the Piggly Wiggly. No idea why, since my mother didn’t really shop there when I was a kid.

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Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Fire Dragon

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Nancy Drew Challenge /

Several nights ago, I finished the book I was reading at about 10pm and didn’t feel like that was a good time to start another really long novel, so I grabbed The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (which was still in the bedroom from the readathon last weekend) – Nancy Drews are excellent books to (re) read when it’s too late at night to start another book – or when life is really hectic. Simple, amusing, flashbacks to childhood.

It’s always funny to read about Nancy and her friends getting a passport in an hour. (Always travel with your birth certificate – you never know when you’ll need it to get that passport!) So funny.

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Because of Mr Terupt

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction /

What a deceptive little book. The cover is boring. The title is boring. The concept seems boring too. How many books have you read about 4th or 5th grade teachers who have an awesome teacher? A lot, right? Ho hum.

Well there’s something special about Because of Mr Terupt, besides Mr Terupt being a special teacher. The book just works. Even when it shouldn’t. Even when you know exactly what’s going to happen and you should be bored stiff. You aren’t bored AT ALL.

What happens next? I must know.

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Sister Outsider

2011, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon, Favorites, Feminism, From the Stacks Challenge, Non-Fiction, Women /

I decided to re-read Sister Outsider during the #Readathon and as part of my From the Stacks (by color) challenge for this year… there’s nobody better than Audre Lorde to get me riled up and pointing out the patriarchy at every turn. There’s also nobody better to read when you’re also reading Joan Walsh and Angry Black Lady… in fact, I’d recommend Joan Walsh spend some time reading Sister Outsider before she opens her mouth or puts her fingers to her keyboard again.

Hell. Maybe if we all read a Lorde essay every day for the rest of our lives, we might just be able to have these discussions and figure out how to work together.

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Goodnight #readathon

2011, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

Alrighty – I’m done. Wiped out. Can’t go on. 100 pages left in Sister Outsider, I just can’t finish tonight. My eyes are way too tired and I don’t want to read Audre Lorde that way – even if I have read all of these essays before.

Total pages read: 1,386

Five and a half books finished.

It was fun and I cannot wait til the next #readathon.

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Nancy Drew keeps me going #readathon

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Dewey's Readathon, Favorites, Fiction, Nancy Drew Challenge /

So sad, my copy of The Clue in the Old Stagecoach is in bad shape. The binding is a mess and I was terrified I was going to lose the last 75 pages with each turn of the page. Also… gah, the girls dating different boys always throws me, does it throw you?  Thankfully, Ned and gang showed up in the end.  😉

180 pages – good late readathon book.

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Five Books Down #Readathon

2 Comments / 2011, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon, From the Stacks Challenge, Non-Fiction, Reading /

Ruined By Reading has been on our bookshelves for ages (it’s red… a note to myself for my From the Stacks by Color Challenge) and I decided it might be a nice book to read during the readathon. Since, it’s about books – and more importantly about reading them.

It’s a combination of literary theory and memoir and led me to wonder about my own reading habits – and to think of the books I loved and didn’t love, to remember books fondly or not so fondly.

How do you read? Why do you read? Are you doing it wrong? Are others doing it wrong? Is there a wrong way – or a right way?

Interesting stuff lurking here.

*119 pages*

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