Books in Bed

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

Finally! The only problem with Willig is that I never get to read her books immediately after they come out. First, my library never had them and I had to wait months before I could request them via ILL. Then, when I bought one, I had to get through some of my “challenge books” before I could pick it up.

But finally, I finished Seduction of the Crimson Rose this morning. Excellent, as expected.

One interesting thing to note, when TW read it she complained that she didn’t remember what had happened in the other books or who the characters were. I assumed this was just a TW thing but I struggled to remember who was who and where we were in the storyline for the first 50 or so pages of the book. Why is that? This is not usually a problem for me, particularly in a series I really like.

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Breaking Dawn

3 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I did a pretty good job of avoiding spoilers for Breaking Dawn so I really did not know exactly what Meyer was going to do to resolve the problems with Bella (and the guys) leftover from Eclipse. I don’t think she really did resolve them but she did give Bella more strength and less wishy washyness than before. Too bad it took X to make Bella strong. (X = spoiler and while most people have already read spoilers or already read the book, I don’t want to risk it for those who haven’t.)

I wanted to throw the book about a hundred times. The patriarchy runs rampant! Geez.

And then, the Jacob storyline – how predictable. I figured the whole thing out before the first night on Esme Island. I think the only surprise for me was how the issue with the Volturi was handled – there at the end. I knew Alice was up to something but I didn’t quite know what or how.

When it all comes down to it, I liked Breaking Dawn a heck of a lot more than I liked Eclipse and I look forward to reading about errr the character named Nessie.

Oh, before I go… that racism thing? Just another reminder of why I have no respect for Alisa Valdez Rodriguez. Call out racism if it exists, I’m all for that and I’ll do it with you. But link baiting by falsely attacking someone else who has the spotlight is just wrong. (spoilers contained in the link.)

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Queenmaker

3 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, Women /

I have a love hate with Biiblical fiction. Nothing is as a good as The Red Tent, which is to be expected, but they all sound like they’re trying to be The Red Tent. Weird. I don’t compare vampire fiction to Anne Rice, how come I do that with Biblical fiction? Whatever.

Queenmaker wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad, either. King David = jerk. Queen Michal = awesome, mostly. No surprises.

Taking a break from the “FtS” Challenge – Breaking Dawn and The Seduction of the Crimson Rose are up next. Yay!

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Rosemary and Juliet

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, Queer, Women, Young Adult /

I should have known what I was getting into with a book called Rosemary and Juliet but I didn’t pay enough attention. Ah well, I’m a fan of YA and I don’t mind a YA problem book from time to time, either.

Regardless of what the title might lead you to believe this book is about – it isn’t that at all. It’s a basic YA lesbian problem book with more problems than most YA straight problem books.

Two kids die and neither were our star crossed lovers. (oops I guess that’s a spoiler, sorry.)
Electric shock therapy was tossed in there for good measure.
And of course, the predictable unhappy ending because in the end teens are required to do what their parents tell them to do – even if their parents are idiots.

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Things Fall Apart

6 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge /

The first question I have about Things Fall Apart is why was this on our shelf to start with? Who bought it and why? Or did we lift it from my mother’s bookshelf a long long time ago?

The next question I have is… why, why, why do we get so excited by books like this. And when I say we, I mean the people who decide what’s a classic, what’s a must read, what’s a prize winner, what should be in a high schooler’s curriculum? I don’t get it. OK so it was written in the late ’50s, before Nigerian independence. I can see why it might have received acclaim way back then – but now? I feel like there are better books, better stories and better characters.

It was interesting. But I don’t understand the rave reviews or why it’s on all sorts of great book lists.

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Hood

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, Queer, Women /

When I started reading Hood I felt like I’d read it before but quickly realized that all of Emma Donoghue’s books feel that way to me. Her characters seem familiar, like I’ve read more of their stories in some other book. I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or if it means she’s recycling characters and I should be annoyed.

I lean toward not being annoyed but that might be due to my willingness to give authors who write good lesbian fiction a break – there are so few good lesbian fiction writers, Donoghue is one of them.

Seems sort of kharmic or something that I finished Hood on the day Del Martin died, doesn’t it?

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The Magic Toyshop

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, Women, Young Adult /

There I was, happily enjoying The Magic Toyshop when suddenly, I wasn’t. That suddenly part happened in the last three pages of the damn book. I really hate that. I think I’d rather read a bad book all the way through than read a good book only to have it disappoint me in the end.

I just don’t think that ending was necessary. I didn’t need a happy ending, but I did need SOME kind of ending. Wait, there isn’t a sequel right? Surely not… I’ve read The Bloody Chamber and it is not related to this. Is there something else I’m missing? Nah. The author just wanted to annoy me at the end. Gee thanks. By looking at the Amazon reviews, I see that I am not alone. Someone should re-write the ending, 50 pages should do it. Get busy with that, and let me know when you’ve finished. Thanks!

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Murder Most Crafty

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, short stories /

Darn it. I enjoyed the Murder Most Crafty short stories quite a bit but I’m disappointed because I’m dumb.

When I put the book on my From the Stacks challenge list, for some reason I thought it was one of the Maggody Murder Mysteries. Boo! TW has been enjoying that series for ages and I’ve never read one – I was looking forward to FINALLY getting a crack at one of them. Oh well, another time maybe.

Anyway, about these short stories, most of them were pretty good. Some were dumb. Some were good but felt rushed but that’s what happens with some short stories, isn’t it? I had some weird dream about candles last night after finishing the book – probably related to the one about wax being poured down the chick’s nose and throat. Yuk, not a good way to die, ya know?

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First Among Sequels

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women /

Who knew it would take me so long to get around to reading Thursday Next: First Among Sequels? And who knew it would take me so long to finish, once I started.

I enjoyed it considerably more than the last one, but not as much as the first one and I can only barely remember the second one. Or maybe I’ve gotten them all confused, I think that probably happens – all of that time travel or time travel that wasn’t invented, all of those characters. It’s a bit muddled. Probably mindworms. Fun, but muddled.

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The Nasty Bits

5 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I’ve finally read The Nasty Bits, remember when a million bloggers got free copies? Hah. It only took two years (?) for me to read it, no thanks to TW who said I’d probably hate it. Except that it was crude…or maybe she said crass… so maybe I’d like it after all. Whatever.

I did like it. I like books written by foodies or about foodies. Reading the prologue, I wasn’t sure. All of that seal blubber stuff was a little much even for me (the woman who likes crude and crass stuff.) Thankfully Bourdain settled down and for the most part left the really disgusting raw meat descriptions in the trash bin.

Interesting book and I’m sorry I don’t really like food well enough to “get it”, also sorry that I’ve never read Kitchen Confidential, also sorry I’ve never seen him on TV and sorry I haven’t been to Vietnam yet.

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