Books in Bed

She’s Such a Geek

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Non-Fiction, Women /

I’m not a geek, not really. Certainly not the type of geek found in She’s Such a Geek. My lack of geekness doesn’t prevent me from enjoying geeks or books about geeks or stories written by geeks. Thank goodness for that or else I’d have totally missed out on the pleasure derived from reading the stories of people like Analee, Violet Blue, Wendy and all of the other geek girls who shared their stories in this fabulous little book.


Being a BlogHer, I obviously enjoyed Wendy’s story about BlogHerCon vs DefCon. Loved it and am extra sorry that I missed the very first BlogHer Con and am extra grateful not to have missed BlogHerCon 6 and 7! If you’re a BlogHer and you’ve seen that little book ad on the left nav for She’s Such a Geek and wondered if it was worth reading – it totally is. If you have daughters, you should buy it and put it on their bookshelves – even if they aren’t geek girls. It’s not just a “geek positive” books, it’s a “woman positive” book. Read it and share it with everyone. You won’t be sorry.


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The Bestiary

2007, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Religion /

Yet another favorite to add to this year’s list of great reads. Who would have guessed The Bestiary would be that good? Not me. I flipped through Nicholas Christopher’s other novels and don’t think I’ve ever read any. Oh wait, did I read Veronica? I know it was on my list to read at some point but from the description, I’m guessing I never got around to it… anyway, who knew the guy could write a great story with pretty terrific characters?

Toward the end, I was worried I was going to begin to hate it. I began to dislike the story just a tiny bit when Xeno, Bruno and Lena re-connected. I’m still not sure I like the Lena portion, though I suppose I knew it was coming all along. I loved the ending completely. It couldn’t have been better and I was able to overlook “Lena” and still check this one off as a favorite.

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Booker already?

2007, Books in Bed /

Ack, it seems like I just finished last year’s Booker short list, oh – that’s because I did just finish it. Darn. This year I swear I’m going to do better – even though I haven’t read a single one of these books and none of them have been on my list of books to read. How about you?


Booker Short List courtesy of Reading Matters:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

Have I ever mentioned I am not an Ian McEwan fan? It’s an interesting list… am I going to love any of these?

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Fictional History of the United States….

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer, short stories /

I was avoiding Fictional History of the United States With Huge Chunks Missing because I errrr thought it was non-fiction. I didn’t really pay attention to the title, just knew something about US history was on the library shelf, getting closer and closer to the top of the pile, and I just wasn’t feeling like reading it.

I mentioned my hesitation to TW and she informed me that it was fiction and really good and funny. She was right. Very amusing. I’m sorry I waited so long to read it.

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Dragonwell Dead: A Tea Shop Mystery

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery, Women /

I’m a little surprised that Dragonwell Dead is the first Tea Shop Mystery that I’ve read. The series seems to be set in Charleston which means someone should have pointed it out to me – or I should have somehow stumbled upon the series. Weird. Extra weird because I think TW just plucked this off of the library shelves.

It wasn’t a great mystery. It wasn’t a great book. It was a nice easy read. And most important of all, it didn’t make me growl. I am very particular about books set in Charleston. I growl a lot about inaccurate descriptions of places and inaccurate portrayals of the city or Charlestonians. There were some fictional locations mentioned but that was fine, the “real” places mentioned were given accurate descriptions and that’s all I ask.

I’m not sure I’ll read another Tea Shop Mystery but I wouldn’t turn up my nose at one if it appeared on my bookshelf.

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Deer Hunting with Jesus

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Favorites, Health and Wellness, Money Talks, News and Politics, Non-Fiction, Religion /

And to think I almost skipped reading Deer Hunting with Jesus, that would have been a shame particularly since I’ve invoked the “C word” quite a bit over the last few months.

Liberals, (politicians and their supporters), should do themselves (and the country) a favor and read Deer Hunting with Jesus. Then, spend some time figuring out how to talk to the working class poor because the status quo is simply not cutting it. Millions of people in this country are under-educated, over-worked and under-paid and they do not have time, interest or knowledge to sort out the rhetoric and propaganda. They can’t relate to wealthy politicians of any political persuasion but they can relate to the conservative BS that scares them or inspires them and doesn’t make it necessary for them to do any thinking – all they have to do is believe in God, Country and Family … and they do. A little healthy fear of people who aren’t like them gets tossed in for good measure and the republican vote is all locked up.

As an aside, it was a pleasant surprise to skim through the Acknowledgments for the book and see one of my favorite blogs listed: Peacebang… Joe Bageant has great taste in religious bloggers.

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Going to hell?

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

TW laughed so hard while reading There’s a (slight) change I’m going to hell that she woke me up, twice. This is a sure sign that I’m either going to really LOVE a book or be really disappointed.

I was disappointed. But not as much as I feared.

It was amusing but not THAT amusing. TW has a weird sense of humor or maybe it’s the “faculty wife” thing I don’t get. Or the “pageant” thing? Or the making friends thing? Whatever. It was funny and TW laughed out loud over and over again. I just chuckled a few times.

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Forgive Me

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I can’t figure out if I liked Forgive Me or not. I read it quickly and at times really didn’t want to put it down. But at other times, I was a little bored. I read a review somewhere (Amazon probabaly) that used the word “contrived”. That’s a good word for it. But also “earnest” again a good word for this book.

I really disliked the diary entries from “Harry”. I also disliked most of the return to South Africa portion of the book. I don’t know, even as I type this part of me is saying “wait, it wasn’t that bad”. And it wasn’t. It just wasn’t great and it is possible that it could have been great.

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The Master of Secrets

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Religion /

Oh boy, another book about God and Jesus. How did that happen? The Master of Secrets wasn’t half bad. A “man behind the curtain”, anti-Christ character and a lost boy. Interesting and troubling and then redeeming. Which is sort of what Christianity is all about, isn’t it?

Not bad at all. But I am sooo done with religion at this point. Maybe TW will let me stay home from church on Sunday. Surely I’ve read enough about God this week to get time off for good behavior… (and how is it that I do not have a religion sub-category in the “books” topic area? weird, very weird.)

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