Books in Bed

I finished a book! Son of a ….

2005, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I’m not sure how long it’s been since I finished a book but today I am happy to report I FINISHED! Son of a Witch, by Gregory Maguire. Yea Me! Even bigger Yea Me ’cause TW didn’t finish it. She said it bored her to death. I don’t know why it bored her, except that she didn’t really like any of Maguire’s books very much. I liked all of them except Lost. This one was long, and rambling and not nearly as compelling as the other Maguire books we’ve read. I didn’t love it but…

Son of Ephaba, dragons, gay boy sex it just doesn’t get better than that, does it? I don’t think it does. I wonder if there will be a sequel to this sequel. Or maybe a prequel?

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No Vindication for Me, Magic Instead

2005, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery, Non-Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, short stories /

You might have noticed a new book, well two actually, appeared on my reading list and that means I’ve given up on Wollstonecroft and Vindication I just couldn’t do it. Maybe another day, another time, but right now I’m having trouble enough reading. So, I gave up. The first part of it wasn’t bad, it was just a little bit too slow for me to stay focused on.

Instead, I turned to Magic for Beginners. A book of “magical” short stories that were, indeed, about magical topics. But like a lot of short stories, I hated the endings of almost all of them. The stories were terrific and then the ending just went really WEIRD in what felt like an attempt to just finish and finish quickly. I’m ok with weirdness in a story about magic, zombies, witches, etc… but the weirdness has to make SOME sense based on what has happened in the first 10-20 pages of the story.

I loved the faery purse story. Loved the canon story. Enjoyed the catskin story. The endings worked for these. Was really enjoying the zombie/painting story when the ending poofed out on me. The stone rabbits story was really terrific but again, what was with that ending????

Now, I’ve picked up Jasper Fforde’s The Big Over Easy, which TW said was good but not up to par with the Thursday Next series, which is too bad…

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Brilliant Women Redux

4 Comments / Bookcrossing, Favorites, Reading Lists /

I was chastised.  By the owner of the book I was telling you all about last month.. umm in August (time flies)   Sniff, Sniff.  No, I still haven’t finished my entry which means I still haven’t sent it on its way to the next person in the ring.  I’ve thought about it a lot.  I even bought some cool things to decorate my pages with.  I’ve come up with some Brilliant Women I want to write about and I’ve jotted some ideas about said Brilliant Women.  But no, I have not actually WRITTEN anything in the doggone journal.

I’m bad.  I know.  I’m sorry.  Sort of.  Brilliance is hard to write about.  I feel like I need to write brilliantly about these brilliant women and I’ve been just a little too "off" to come close to writing anything brilliant.  Heck, I can’t even manage to successfully log into my email account half the time because I can’t seem to type my own name!  See?  How can I be expected to write about brilliant women under this type of cloud?

Yes, I’m just making excuses.  I’m good at making excuses.  When it comes to excuse making, I’m a brilliant woman. 

So here’s the list of women I’m going to write about, in no particular order, I think…

  • Audre Lorde
  • Jodi Piccoult
  • Virginia Woolf
  • Jeanette Winterson
  • Sylvia Plath
  • Jane Austen

Making the list is the hardest part, right?

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The Warrior Poet Adoption

3 Comments / Favorites, GLBT, Poetry /

In the beginning, when we were still disovering similar interests and different ideas in each other, TW and I found ourselves in the midst of what I like to call a poetry dance.  The "music" we were dancing to was the poetry of Audre Lorde.  On a message board, in a community of women, there were few who recognized Lorde’s words and even fewer who understood what Lorde’s words meant to us.  Typical and disappointing.  Finding TW in that place and finding that she not only knew of Audre Lorde but appreciated her was neither typical or disappointing.  It was pretty darn amazing.

I’ve mentioned my birthday gifts on the other blog; iRiver and clean sweep but now I’m going to tell you about the best gift of all!  (I know, how could it get better than that?)

TW adopted Audre Lorde for me!  It’s true, she did!  You can go right to this Audre Lorde page of the Poets.org site and look way down there on the right.  My name is there (along with some other obvoiusly cool woman in NYC).

A lot of time has passed since then and we’ve shared a lot of poetry since then but Audre Lorde will always be special to us both.  For who she was, what she said and the poetry dance the two of us shared. 

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Zipporah

2005, Books in Bed, Fiction, Religion /

Zipporah

OK, it’s not The Red Tent. Let’s get that straight right up front. Zipporah is also not as good as whatever the other book I read at some point in the last two years about Moses & Zipporah. (It was really about Moses but the Zipporah character was better written than in this book). Now if I could only remember what the name of that book was… maybe it will come to me at some point in the next few days.

I did enjoy it. TW seems to have liked it more than I did because when I said “It’s ok.” She got sort of bent out of shape and said “I liked it more than just ok.” I also have to say that of all of the Marek Halter books we’ve read, this has been my least favorite. The story of Moses and Zipporah is an interesting one and I found myself skimming an awful lot. That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?

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Ghost Town

1 Comment / 2005, Books in Bed, Fiction, short stories /

Somehow I found myself reading three books at once, I never do that and it was pretty troubling to find myself in that position. I settled down and finished About My Sisters and then finished Ghost Town, a book of short stories about NYC.

Three short stories that were just long enough that I couldn’t finish a complete story during a 15 minute work break. HMPH. I prefer my short stories a little shorter. The stories were, uh, weird. To put it mildly. The first set in the revolutionary war period, the second about the time of the civil war and the third – you guessed it, 9/11. Weird stuff.

I thought they were going to be “ghost stories” but they weren’t. They were stories about weirdness, bad things happening, people just a little short of a full deck. Weird stuff, did I mention that? Now, back to Zipporah…no weirdness there at all, lol.

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Sisters

1 Comment / 2005, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I finally finished a book, yea me! About My Sisters by Debra Ginsberg and it was a pleasure to read, as I suspected. What an odd family. I’d like to see them in action at a family gathering.

I only have one sister and when I was a teenager I spent an awful lot of time taking care of her, like Debra and Deja, but we definitely don’t have the type of relationship that the two of them have. Maybe we would have if I hadn’t moved so darn far away and stayed away for all of those years? Who knows but it was interesting to think about.

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I Need Penguins

Favorites, Reading Lists /

TW and I spent some time daydreaming about the complete set of Penguin Classics but as of yet, we haven’t won the lottery so the 25 boxes that they are shipped in (and take 12 hours to unpack) aren’t clogging up ur already clogged office. (not that 77 linear feet would fit in this office…but that would motivate me to clean it) I am afraid that ownership of these will always be an unfulfilled dream, just like having my very own library. Sigh.

Penguinpock
But this little set is totally doable, don’t you think??? Free delivery in the UK. I don’t live in the UK. What do you think delivery would be to the US????

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Weetzie Bat

1 Comment / Homeschool, Meme /

TW tracked down the Weetzie Bat quiz for Michelle.  I think I really need to catch up and read more of these books.  Maybe in my spare time?


You’re the Lanka. You’re dark and mysterious, mainly because it helps keep others from seeing just how much pain you feel.  You try to create ways to escape from the torment, but it ultimately all catches up to you in the end.

Which Weetzie Bat character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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I love banned books

6 Comments / Banned Books, Favorites, GLBT, Reading Lists /

I don’t really want to ban that stupid Modesty book because then that will just make it more beloved to the masses. We all know that’s what happens when a book is banned or challenged. It’s certainly happened for me. If we’re just talking about books and someone mentions Ordinary People, I’m likely to say “It was ok but no big deal” but as soon as I see it on the Banned/Challenged List I get all sentimental about it. Absence or the potential for absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

I’m thrilled that three of the most challenged books last year had gay themes or undertones. (Yippee! Next year let’s get four!) Not because I’m all that thrilled with the books themselves, (though The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a favorite around here), but because those gay and not really all that great books are getting more attention than if folks had just kept their mouths shut about them. I mean really, “King & King”? Who would have given that a second look if folks hadn’t made such a stink. It certainly wasn’t going to replace Grimm’s Fairy Tales in the classic Prince and Princess love story genre, was it?

And since I’m on the topic of Banned and Challenged Books, can someone explain to me how Song of Solomon is porn? Because I don’t get it. At all. It’s not even erotica. If I handed Song of Solomon to Michelle and told her it was porn, she’d laugh her rear end off. And I’m glad.

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