Books in Bed

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

TW read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry really quickly and when she finished she said “THIS WAS A HORRIBLE BAD BOOK.” which confused me because I’ve only heard good things about it. Comparisons to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry led me to believe it should be a very good book.

I almost didn’t read it because she seemed very serious about hating the book.

Turns out she hated it because it is a heart-breaker, emotion-pulling book and not because it is bad.

At page 64 I said, I should really just put this book down before it breaks my heart… but I didn’t. I read it straight through and loved it.

Read it — but at page 64 you still have time to change your mind.

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Reading In April

2014, Books in Bed, Reading /

Thank goodness for #readathon, without it my totals would have been less than great which doesn’t bode well for my goal for the year. Oops.

I read a total of 21 books this month. (I’ve got four still in progress, including an unpublished draft of a friend’s book that I started today and an audio book. That’s a lot of in progress books for me — I’ve usually only got two going at once, one audio and one not!)

Eight were from the Cybils shortlist.
Two were audio.
One was non-fiction.
Four were graphic novels.
One was from my stack.
Six were children’s/middle grade and six were YA.

Must do better in MAY! Seriously.

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Winter: Cricket and Grey

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I had hoped to finish Winter: Cricket and Grey during #readathon but I was just way too tired — particularly since Cricket’s dead mother started talking to her and I was all Huh? Good thing I put it down and picked it up fresh the next day. Things made so much more sense once I’d had a few hours of sleep.

I’m a post-apocalyptic fiction fan, and I especially liked this one. The world was different but not so different that it was unrecognizable (or unbelievable.) Health care… you think it’s a mess now, just wait til we run out of oil…

I’m not sure Hesse was quite creepy enough, when it all came down to it in the end. I expected to be a lot more creeped out than I was. I’m looking forward to the next book (so get busy, Angelina!)

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6 from the Cybils Shortlist

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Poetry, Young Adult /

3 Graphic Novels:

– Monster on the Hill — This is a middle grade book and I chuckled my way through the whole thing. VERY cute.
– Bad Machinery — I don’t know if I was tired or if I just plain didn’t like this one. It bored me.
– Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant — I love Delilah!

3 Poetry:

Follow Follow — Cute reverso poems. Very cute. I don’t think these are as good as those in Mirror Mirror, though. And unless you just love reverso poems you should skip this in favor of Mirror Mirror.
Forest Has a Song — Ho hum poems. Great illustrations.
Poems to Learn By Heart — Great compilation of poems. Really excellent. Nice intros to sections. Nice diversity of poetry. I’d buy this one for JMP.

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Patient Zero

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I need to go wander around the internet and try to find a character list for the Rot & Ruin series and compare it to the characters in Patient Zero. Some of these people are those people, right? Also, I found myself wondering whether there were discrepancies or I was not remembering Rot & Ruin correctly. I hate that, lol.

I very much enjoyed Patient Zero — and I’m super glad Texasebeth mentioned it a couple of months ago!

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Penny Dreadful

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction /

I saw Penny Dreadful mentioned on a blog — actually, several blogs (don’t ask me which ones!) and decided I should read it. Then I decided I should read it during the #readathon because children’s fiction(?)/middle grade fiction(?) is quick and easy to read.

It totally was. It was also really cute. I mean really really cute. It’s not a new book, I’m sorry I overlooked it years ago when it was first published.

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14 Hours — Second Wind

2014, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

I’ve finished 6 more books — 3 children’s poetry and 3 graphic novels (I think they’re all Cybils? Maybe? I don’t know, I’ll write them up tomorrow.

Pages read so far: 1690!

I also finished cheering for all of the blogs on the #teamwordsworth list. Go team!

Now I’m going to go eat some watermelon and start on my friend Angelina’s book. Wish me luck… I’m not sure how long my second wind will last. lol

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#readathon: 12 hours!

3 Comments / 2014, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

I finished Patient Zero… awesome. Took me longer because I kept stopping to think about which of these characters are in the YA Rot & Ruin series I’ve already read. I need to go back and read the last book again, I think. Lol

So — 962 pages, so far (I’ve been reading Bleak House off and on a bit, too.) Moving on to graphic novels and children’s non-fiction/poetry from the Cybils shortlist.

I’ve eaten all of the foods… more pimento cheese, some brie & fig wonton things. Some sort of mushroom phyllo things. ALL the foods.

Now I’m off to cheerlead a bit (and do a little work since I am working today.)

Read on!

Updated: I forgot about the mid-event survey so here are my answers:

1. What are you reading right now? — Still reading Bleak House, moving on to graphic novels, children’s poetry and non-fiction.
2. How many books have you read so far? — I’ve finished two.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? — If I have some energy, I’m going to read a book written by a friend. It’s called Winter: Cricket & Grey.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? I couldn’t free up the whole day, I’ve had to pull spam for work off and on all day.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Nothing big — a grouchy teen and the spam pulling. 15 minutes or so every couple of hours.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I’m more tired than in past years — I blame the puppies and the kids.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, it’s awesome.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Eat less, haha.
9. Are you getting tired yet? I’m very tired.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? It’s working great for me to have my home page set up to open Dewey, the cheerleading page, etc. I’m glad I thought to do that yesterday.

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