Books in Bed

Again with the Traveling Pants

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

The fourth, and what I assume, the final summer of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was good. Better than summer three, certainly. But – it was troubling. Not only have the girls really grown up, they really had issues. How can all four girls have SO MANY ISSUES? I mean, really, couldn’t just one of them have her stuff together? Wouldn’t that have been a nice thing to show to young girls? A girl who goes to college and doesn’t fear pregnancy? Who doesn’t find herself gaining a gazillion pounds and losing her confidence? A girl who isn’t having a fling with an older professor or pining away for a lost love? Just a girl who gets the job done and isn’t in trouble?

Oh well, that’s what happens in young adult novels. Problems, problems and more problems. Even the traveling pants couldn’t save these girls. Other than that, good ending to the series.

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Talking to Addison

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit /

I had high hopes for Talking to Addison.  TW laughed out loud all the way through it.  I didn’t laugh out loud, I barely smiled.  It was just a little bit boring.  I didn’t really like any of the characters very much.  The computer geek recluse bit was dumb.  The other three flatmates, also dumb.  People just aren’t that dumb.  Or if they are, then they shouldn’t be and I don’t really want to read about them.

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My Lurid Past….

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit /

No I’m not about to fill you in on any of the details of MY lurid past.  I’m talking about a chick lit novel I read a few days ago and forgot to blog in the madness that was our last few days in London.

My Lurid Past was very lurid and didn’t resemble my lurid past in any way.  It was, oddly enough, set in London.  Full of sex and drugs and PR.   Not a bad book, as far as brit chick lit goes.  If you don’t mind gratuitous sex and drugs.  Which I don’t.

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Yankee Doodle Dead

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

I had a tough time getting interested in Yankee Doodle Dead – a Death on Demand mystery.  I think maybe I’m not a big enough mystery fan to really enjoy all of the mystery book references, which really slowed the story down for me.  About halfway through it – when the murder occurred, I was more interested and sat down and finished it right away.  But the first 100 pages, slow going.   Not a bad book for a vacation, though.  Light mystery.  Great female characters.  Nice lowcountry setting.

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Books, Books and Surrealism

1 Comment / Bookstores, cookbooks, Family Funk, Kid Talk, Travel Log /

First stop, after Cafe Nero for breakfast, was Foyles on Charing Cross.  OMG – better than the Tattered Cover in Denver because it’s well lit and modern and the books are new – except of course for the antiquities which I missed but TW saw – and bought… We spent a very long time there and could have spent a full day if we had left Master J at home.  E asked to go back at 5:30pm – even after a full day out.  It was that good.

Then we went back across town and walked down Portobello Road, without getting pickpocketed though someone else did while we were there, and got to Books for Cooks just in time to get a table for lunch.  I enjoyed the shop, and the lunch, so much that I PURCHASED COOKBOOKS.  TW also purchased cookbooks.  And, I bought one for RJ too but I don’t think she knows that I did.

We went home and dropped off our books and took a 15 minute breather and then headed across town in the other direction for a walk past Big Ben and a visit to Dali Universe.  Not enough paintings, a lot of sketches and watercolors but the sculptures… fabulous.  If we could combine Dali Universe in London with the Dali Museum in St Pete… now that would be a Dali museum! The kids enjoyed the trip more than I thought they would.  Surrealism is always interesting and at the end of the musuem they have a gallery with Dalis (and Picassos and Chagalls) for sale.  We all picked out one or six that we would like to buy.  Ah to own a Dali.

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Harry Potter Day

4 Comments / Family Funk, Harry Potter, Kid Talk, Travel Log /

The little children are huge Harry Potter fans so we had to visit Kings Cross aka Saint Pancras to see Platform 9 3/4 both the plaque and the platform where the scenes were filmed. Not only did we see these and take pictures there, the children insisted on acting out some of the scenes. And STICK TO YOUR TICKET became the phrase of the day.

From there, we went to Diagon Alley aka Leadenhall Market which was gorgeous. We arrived early and there were very few people there, which was nice. In London it can be hard to find tourist stops that are not crowded, heh. We had some very good hot chocolate and some really excellent orangy gingery biscuits there.

Then hours and hours at the British Museum. The Reading Room was a hit. The girls would have stayed there all day, Prince J was not as enthralled by it. We didn’t manage to see it all but we did see everything on the ground floor and about 1/3 of the upper level, maybe still a good bit. Unfortunately two of the rooms we really wanted to see were closed. Pout.

Another good, full, day – and an incredibly crowded subway ride home, which was good because we all should experience the madness of a London rush hour home.

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The Deception of the Emerald Ring

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

The third in this little series was not quite as good as the first two. Something was missing from The Deception of the Emerald Ring. Maybe it was the lack of interaction between Elise and Colin? I’m not sure what the problem was because I certainly liked Letty better than I did Amy. And I loved Miss Gwen in this one.

It was rather amusing to read this while in London.  That in itself added a little twist of interest that I didn’t have when I read the first two.

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Getting Rid of Bradley

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit /

Do you remember when I blogged about “Anyone But You”?  It was last year, about women and men and dogs.  It was a good read.  That’s why TW picked out “Getting Rid of Bradley” when we wandered around the Hospice thrift shop in search of throway books to take on our trip to London.  Jennifer Crusie writes a good throw away, beach, vacation read.

Getting Rid of Bradley might have been even better than Anyone But You.  Man. Woman. Weird love story. Dogs – lots of dogs.  Better presentation than last time, I think.  Better sex scenes too.  Great beach read or airplane read.

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Choke

2 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I finally finished Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk. Finally. For such a short book, it sure took me a long time to finish. That’s not a reflection of the story or the writing – it’s a reflection of my crazy life!

It was a good book, as expected, but it was uhhh sort of disgusting at times. Sex addicts are a little scary and a lot messy. And the fact that the “hero” makes his money “choking” in restaurants just adds more queasiness to the mix. I loved the entire “Jesus Christ” storyline, that was fabulous.

I’ve decided that I need a Palahniuk break so don’t expect to see anymore of his books appear on the blog for awhile. As genius as he is, a girl can only take so much.

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