Books in Bed

All Fall Down

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction, Women /

I haven’t read a book written by Jennifer Weiener in… years. Maybe 10 years. I’m not even sure what led me to reserve All Fall Down when I saw it on the New Orders library list. Or maybe I figured I’d reserve it and TW would probably like it. I certainly never thought I’d read it — too many books on my TBR list and I am way behind for the year.

But, for some reason, I picked this one up a couple of days ago (instead of the books I had planned to read) and I’m glad I did.

I always like her Philly/Cherry Hill setting. Having lived in Burlington County and having a child living in Philly right now means I have a little soft spot for the book right off the bat.

And then I realized it was about a mommyblogger. A mommyblogger addicted to pills.

I’ve read those blog posts! I know those women!

It was a very familiar story. The characters likeable enough for me to want to keep reading. Except Dave. I did not like Dave. Still do not like Dave. Would like Dave to disappear off the face of the earth with his work-wife or something.

If I was going to jump back on the Jennifer Weiner bandwagon, this was the book to get me back on. It’s still chicklit, whether Weiner wants to embrace the label or not — albeit chicklit tackling a serious subject.

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The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard St

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

I really liked The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard St, the book and the character. TW liked the book but not the character. I guess that makes sense. Lillian could be a little unlikeable. Maybe. I just saw her as a flawed human being — flawed in so many ways because of her childhood. I loved the businesswoman Lil — she was awesome. No she wasn’t a nice boss, or a nice woman — so what, sue her (lol), she wasn’t any worse than her male counterparts was she?

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Reading In June

2014, Books in Bed, Reading Lists /

15 total for June. That’s actually better than I thought. Oh, 16 if you count reading my friend RE’s book (and I do!) so yay for me. I’m way behind on my goals for the year. I need a full day of reading or three full days of reading. Or something.

Here’s the breakdown (and no, the total in these categories won’t add up to 15! Some audio books are also YA or non-fiction, etc… this is only for me to keep track of the TYPES of books I read and mini-challenge goals.)

3 Audio books
4 from the Cybils shortlist
3 were YA
1 graphic novel
5 non-fiction

I’m also still working on Bleak House but it’s so bleak that I only read a few pages a week. I might finish it by this time next year… maybe.

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The Rithmatist

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

We really enjoyed listening to The Rithmatist on audio. Except… it took a chapter or so to get into (alternate realities often do) and at the beginning or end of each chapter, they describe a rithmatic defense. It would have been nice to be able to see those lines as they were described. Instead, we kept going online later and looking at the drawings.

I don’t usually do this but… it was very Harry Potter-like. A boy. His father died. He’s at a boarding school. There are professors, some of whom the boy suspects of wrong-doing. There’s magic. There’s even a “symbol” — it may not be a lightning bolt on a forehead but… see, very Harry Potter-like. Which possibly explains why we enjoyed it?

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Still Foolin’ ‘Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going and Where Are My Keys?

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

TW noticed Billy Crystal’s Still Foolin’ ‘Em was on some award or best of list, for the audio version and decided that she wanted to listen to the book.

So. I reserved it.

I’m not a huge Billy Crystal fan. He’s ok but I am just as likely to find him unfunny as I am to find him funny. I’ve only seen a few of his movies. I liked him on Soap. I’m not in his age demographic. I’m not Jewish. I’m not from New York (though I do love New York.) I’m not a big baseball fan. Or a boxing fan, (though I do love Ali.)

And that’s pretty much how I felt about this audio book. I laughed out loud in some parts. I rolled my eyes at others. I growled audibly in a few places. It was absolutely worth listening to and I’m betting others will like this book a lot more than I did — and I definitely didn’t hate it.

If you like this, you’ll probably like the book:

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The Daring Ladies of Lowell

2014, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

I hadn’t planned on reading The Daring Ladies of Lowell — too much on my TBR list and not nearly enough time. But, I kept seeing it mentioned on blogs and on reading lists and it’s in high demand at our library so I figured what the heck — if everyone wants to read it, maybe I should make time.

And, since my attention span is crap right now and I can’t seem to get much of anything except work (and housework) done, this seemed look a good read. Something light and easy but not middle grade fiction.

It was pretty darn good. Surprisngly so. I liked Lovey and I liked Alice. I even liked most of the Fiskes.

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Charm & Strange

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

Charm & Strange should be called Dark & Twisted because it totally is. It’s also very good, though very dark & twisted.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on, though I suppose for teens who read a lot of fantasy/paranormal it could have been confusing… it’s not really about werewolves. It’s about horrible horrible things people can do to kids and how kids find ways of coping with those horrible things.

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