Books in Bed

Tamburlaine Must Die

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I reserved Tamburlaine Must Die from the library because TW and I had been talking about The Cutting Room and I realized we had never read any of her other books, even though we really enjoyed that one.

This one – better than The Cutting Room. Louise Welsh’s fictional account of what happened to Christopher Marlowe (remember, he’s the one some people think wrote the better Shakespeare pieces). I liked it. It could have happened that way. And of course, Welsh handles gay sex better than most. There’s nothing worse than poorly written gay boy sex.

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The Crying of Lot 49

2006, Books in Bed, Classics, Don't Read This, Favorites /

Because I couldn’t make my way through Gravity’s Rainbow and because Gravity’s Rainbow was one of my Summer Reading Challenge books, I decided to take a recommendation from someone at “work” and read Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 instead. About the only thing I can say is I managed to make it through the whole book

Conspiracy theories, bah who cares. And can someone tell me why this guy insists on writing incredibly long sentences? He’s much worse than I am. Look, this is how it starts:

One summer afternoon Mrs Oedipa Maas came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had perhaps too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, Oedipa, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate of one Pierce Invararity, a California real estate mogul who had once lost two million dollars in his spare time but still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it all out more than honorary.

I mean really, was that necessary? The whole book is like that. The whole book is unnecessary. No more Pynchon for me, thank you.

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The Prophet of Yonwood

2006, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Don't Read This /

Well, I was disappointed. That pretty much covers it. Prophet of Yonwood is a prequel to the much loved by me People of Sparks and City of Ember. I don’t care much for prequels as a rule but I found this one particularly disappointing.

The story takes place long before people went “underground” so it isn’t much of a prequel. It’s also full of propaganda and while the message it sends regarding religious zealots and fear is an important one, it just comes off as condescending. I can’t imagine what kids would think about this book. Kids who’ve read Sparks and Ember will probably be more disappointed than those who haven’t read them.

Just skip this one, people. Read the other two and let’s hope Duprau gives us a better story next time.

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Some Pig!

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I never did want a pig. Not even during my Charlotte’s Web fixated childhood and certainly not after my childrens’ Charlotte’s Web fixated childhood. I have inquired into the health of the pot-bellied pig which belongs to friends of my children, and commiserated over a botched hoof surgery. But a pig, no, it isn’t a pet I’ve ever been interested in. When TW talks about having a cow, I’ve always been pleased that she didn’t toss a pig or two into her fantasies.

When Katie said she needed some folks to read The Good Good Pig with her, I started to refuse. But, she read The Moonstone with me so I owed her one. I think I got the better deal.

Christopher Hogwood’s story was a lot like Marley & Me, but from a pig point of view. I thought it was going to be a little to “back to the earth” for me but it wasn’t like that at all. Just a normal married couple who like animals and nature and wind up with a pig. It’s a terrific feel good story. Read it, you’ll feel good when you finish.

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The Girls

6 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I don’t seem to read many books about “elders” or “seniors”. Is that because there aren’t many? Or am I simply overlooking them? I should go talk to Ronni Bennett about this…

The Girls is a book I picked up at the Friends of the Library sale – I don’t know if it was in the spring or if it was last fall, I just know it’s been on the shelf for quite awhile. It probably would have stayed on the shelf for quite some time if Sassymonkey hadn’t put the “read 5 books you own but have never read” item on her summer reading challenge. That would have been a real disappointment.

I loved the whole Jewish/Miami/South Beach scene. I loved all four sisters. Flora reminds me a little of my grandmother, though even my grandmother wouldn’t have been that umm, interesting. Retirement villages, nursing homes, assisted living, assisted suicide with a little racial prejudice and religious stereotyping tossed in – all tough topics but the book, well, go read it and see what you think.

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The Effect of Living Backwards

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I got a Barnes & Noble giftcard awhile back, from some Judy’s Book promotional thing I participated in so I went in search of some inexpensive but unusual books – things I would probably never read otherwise. The Effect of Living Backwards is one of the books I bought (Mrs Shakespeare is another). Boy was it something I’d probably not have read otherwise.

Odd. Book.

What if your childhood was all a big misunderstanding? An elaborate ruse?

That is only the beginning. What if your whole life was like that. Events that happened, they were all set up, part of a big experiment. What if you were on a plane that was hijacked and lived through this whole ordeal only to find out it was a set-up, a game, an experiment? How would you ever know what was real and what wasn’t real? Particularly if you joined the terrorist academy – or anti-terroist academy (depends on your perspective as to which it is).

Weird, weird book. But I almost enjoyed it, particularly the last half of it – after I settled in and figured out what was going on, well what was going on and what might have been going on and what could have been going on.

Weird book.

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Booking Through Thursday

3 Comments / Meme /

Booking Through Thursday

  1. Do you plan ahead for your reading? Work off of a to-be-read pile? A reading list? Or do you wing it, chooe whatever you’re in the mood for? I planned ahead for the summer and I’ve really not enjoyed it – at all. Other than that, I only plan ahead if my to be read stack is huge and the deadline for library returns is looming.
  2. If you do plan ahead, how far ahead? Do you have two or three books waiting in queue? Or are you backed up by dozens of volumes waiting their turn? I generally pick up 10 books a week from the library, sometimes more if TW is on a serious role. I’m always behind, so there are 30 or so for me to choose from.
  3. If you do not plan ahead . . . well, never? What about if you’re reading a series? Or someone gives you a book for a present? I don’t understand how you can never do SOME planning. If you didn’t somehow plan, wouldn’t you run out of books and find yourself re-reading something or roaming around aimlessly because you don’t have a book to read?

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