Books in Bed

Clearcut

2006, Books in Bed, GLBT /

I’m going to go on the record with this once more, because it’s been quite some time since I’ve needed to say it. Which is good because I use to have to say it everyday, back when that “curious” board still existed.

Threesomes are a bad idea

There, I said it. Again. Too bad Early, Zan and Reed did not ask my advice before the entered into that madness. But then again, if they had listened to me would Early have learned all of those great lessons? Not that those lessons did a whole lot of good for Zan or for Reed. But hey, one person came out of it bruised and battered but wiser than when he started, right? 1 out of 3, that’s not so bad, right?

I had trouble sticking with this one. Probably because I knew it was going to be a threesome thing and I knew that meant trouble. I wasn’t really in the mood for trouble. So, it took me a full week to read the first 133 pages. Then it took me a full day to read the last 150. Once I resigned myself to the trouble, it wasn’t a bad book. A little predictable (Threesomes are a bad idea, folks) but unusual in the setting and the characters. Though I suppose since we’ve got gay cowboys, gay logging guys shouldn’t feel that unusual should they. Oops, bisexual. Err ummm, polyamorous? Nah, if it had been polyamory it wouldn’t have ended as badly. Or maybe it would have. I don’t know. I don’t generally give advice about polyamorous relationships. Threesomes, I can advise on. Polyamory, not so much.

If you’re interested in a love triangle/sex triangle (M, M, F) with some interesting people (Though it would have been nice if Zan and Reed had been given more depth but what can you ask for in a book this short?) then Clearcut is your book. If you’re not into it, well I can’t blame you, because threesomes are trouble!

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Literary Life

2 Comments / Favorites /

Forgive the title, I like alliteration and I couldn’t come up with a single other title that felt right.  This post is so totally not about the literary life.  It is about how books, their plots and their characters, worm their way into our lives and the language of our family.

Do you know what I mean by that?  Does your family talk in code phrases and secret language that other people can’t comprehend?  Does that code and that language stem from having shared a book together?  Let me share some of the most common examples of how this happens in the Flamingo Family.

"Traditionally Built Women".  Do you know what that means? When was the last time you used the phrase?  Have you ever used it? Alexander McCall Smith’s #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency has br

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Breakfast With Michelle

5 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, GLBT, Non-Fiction /

Oops, sorry! That should be Breakfast With Tiffany but Tiffany is a mirror image of our Michelle and it very quickly became difficult to separate the two. Tiffany is very real and very honest. I don’t think Mr Winty exaggerated in the least when sharing her with us. I do wonder if he hasn’t just been spying on us and used Michelle as a model for Tiffany. I mean seriously folks, if you want to know what my almost 16 year old daughter is like and what we have lived with everyday since she hit pre-teenhood then this is the book for you.

This is probably the book for you even if you don’t care one iota about our lives and our Michelle because teen girls are everywhere! They aren’t all like Tiffany and Michelle but you would be surprised by how many ARE very much like this. Knowledge is power, ladies and gentlemen. The more you know about how these fascinating creatures think, the safer you are.

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Weddings are Bad

2006, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Mystery /

See I told you weddings were bad. You get married and bam someone poisons your champagne…. or was it your wife’s champagne? Either way, you’re wed and dead and buried! Wed and Buried was definitely not church-like (see my previous read about The Peabody Sisters) and it was definitely not great chick lit either.

Nice break from the Unitarians but I don’t want to read any more of that stuff! Moving along, and quickly!

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It felt like church to me…

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Religion /

The Peabody Sisters was one heck of a long church sermon! That’s how it felt to me, Unitarian Universalist that I am. Imagine sitting in church nonstop for a week… you non UU people will probably not understand it but the UUs will.

And then, once you UUs have imagined that – imagine not that you’re listening to a really great minister like Reverand Barbara (who is no longer with our congregation, unfortunately) or even Reverand Jack (also no longer with our congregation) but instead some really dry and might I say boring interim minister. That is what The Peabody Sisters felt like, to me.

Of course I did learn that the mighty Elizabeth Peabody is almost solely responsible for Unitarianism and Transcendentalism and all that is right with education. And if folks had only listened to her, folks like Hawthorne and Emerson and Channing and Mann and most especially Bronson Alcott, they would have done far better in their lives. To read this book, Elizabeth Peabody was the founder of it all – at least all that took place in the 1800’s.

That is the only thing that made the book worth sitting for – how often do we hear that a woman was responsible for all the great things (and yes some not so great things too). It got to be a little much, and I kept expecting Elizabeth to have invented the lighbulb and walked on the moon, but I still smiled everytime Elizabeth was the force behind the man or her ideas were used by some man to achieve great things. Oh and Mary and Sophia (the other women that make up the “sisters” weren’t so bad either. Not as great as Elizabeth of course but what can you expect). Woman Power! Go Girl! Hear Me Roar!

OK on to something that I am sure will sound nothing like a church sermon, boring or otherwise. Gosh I miss Reverand Barbara!

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Feminist Bookstores?

Bookstores, Feminism, GLBT /

Do we really need feminist bookstores anymore?

I saw this tiny little question linked to a tiny little article about a bookstore I’ve never been to.  I was immediately sorry to realize that even though we’ve been to Atlanta many, many times and we’ve been to quite a few bookstores, we have never been to this one.  When we go back again, which will be soon, we will seek this one out and enjoy it while we can – since it seems the end may be near. 

But beyond this particular bookstore, the question is what really stuck with me.  Do we?  Do we really still need these kinds of bookstores? 

Of course we do!  Ummm or do we?  I’ve gone back and forth with this, over and over again for two weeks and I still don’t know the answer.  Not for myself or for the collective "we". 

I didn’t grow up with a feminist bookstore.  I don’t think I visited my first one til I was in my late 20’s.  Until I moved to Gainesville in 2002 I did not live in a town that had one.  So do we really need them?  I did fine without one, right? 

One of the best things about this town is it’s tiny little women’s bookstore, Wild Iris.  We don’t go often, we can’t afford it!  Everytime we go in, we walk out with a ton of books and another $100 (or more!) on a credit card.  Just knowing it is there, though, makes me happy.  It makes me happy to hear my almost 16 year old say "Oh I bet they have that at Wild Iris".  It makes me happy to hear her say she went in to browse at Wild Iris while she was wandering around downtown.  When we had our mommy and me day last month, we enjoyed going in together and browsing and talking about the books and the women’s comic books and just being there.  In that female space. 

Last year (or was it the year before) we thought Wild Iris might close.  Luckily a new buyer was found and it survives.  And it appears to be the only surviving feminist bookstore in Florida.  Imagine that…

This still doesn’t answer the question – or maybe it’s the wrong question altogether.  Maybe it isn’t about need, it’s about want and the answer to that is a definite yes.  We still want feminist bookstores.  Definitely. 

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The Killing Art

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery /

TW picked up The Killing Art from the shelf while I was waiting for the librarian to retrieve our reserves. She didn’t think I’d like it, though I do not know why. It was fun. Nice to read a NYC cop, whodunit type thing about art. I don’t think we read enough books where art plays a large part.

Apparently there are a couple of other books about the lead character (who is a woman! another bonus!) and art murders/crime. I liked The Killing Art enough that I reserved the other two books for future reading.

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Sky Pirates

2006, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

The fifth book in The Edge Chronicles Series was better than the last couple have been. Possibly because Twig, hero of book one, is back – granted he’s and old dude now but he’s still back.

And while more Banderbears are killed in this book than in any others, I wasn’t quite as troubled as I have been in the other books. RJ bought the 6th book a few months ago so I don’t have to wait til my library list gets short before reading it. Which is good, because Rook returns in this one, as does Vox, and I think I’ll enjoy it.

Care to guess about the Banderbear death count in the next one? I’m guessing at least one but probably 2 will die. Sigh.

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Over Easy or Scrambled?

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

From the author of the Thursday Next series, Nursery Crimes! The first installment, The Big Over Easy, asks was he pushed? Did he get sloshed and fall off? Was it suicide? Just what really happened to Humpty Dumpty? Jack (the giant killer!) and Mary, Mary don’t stop til they find out!

TW read this months ago and I’ve started it two or three times, never quite getting past the first chapter or two. I was afraid I was going to hate it, or at least be disappointed, so I kept putting it off. I should have read it months ago, it was fun!

TW says not as good as the Thursday Next books but I think it might have been better. TW liked the really ridiculous inventions and stuff in Thursday Next more than I did. I really enjoyed the nusery rhyme character twists more than she did. Regardless, both series are fun. I can’t wait for the next Nursery Crime – The Fourth Bear. And of course more Thursday Next are always welcome.

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