Books in Bed

Fiddlehead

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

I love Cherie Priest and I really like the Clockwork Century series — Fiddlehead might be my favorite in the series mostly because I love what she did with Lincoln (he doesn’t die) and with Grant (he’s awesome, even in is often inebriated state.) I love Belle and how so many of the characters from the series came together to end the war AND get to work on the saffron aka necrotic leprosy problem.

Loved Mary Todd Lincoln. Loved, loved, loved and I stayed up way to late to see how it all ended (perfectly.)

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Productive, I Was!

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

Another day, another half dozen “to dos” scratched off of my Filofax list. Yay me.

I did manage to clean the house, it took FOREVER but I did it. I even managed to get a load of laundry done and put away so yay me for keeping up with the laundry for all of 2014. Hah.

I worked on JMP’s stocking for a very long time — while watching four or five episodes of Dawson’s Creek. (Oh Jack, Oh Pacey, Oh Andie. lol)

I only managed to finish one book, It’s Complicated (which I’ll blog in depth on BlogHer later this week.) I used an entire package of giraffe post-its while reading danah’s book!

And better yet, I managed to do absolutely no work, other than to answer a couple of Sassymonkey’s emails. Look at me, taking an entire holiday OFF of work. Crazy, right? Re-entry tomorrow might be a problem though — my inbox is flooded with unanswered email. Gah.

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A Lesson In Secrets

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

We finished listening to Maisie Dobbs: A Lesson In Secrets last night… another excellent book.

I kept wanting to yell LISTEN TO MAISIE because the men are dumb for not worrying about that whole Hitler, Nazi, fascist thing. Gah.

Also, I’m surprised she never figured out where Sandra went… maybe because she didn’t have time to really think about it? It was obvious to me.

I’m anxious to find out what happens next but we’re taking a little Maisie break to listen to a YA novel instead… then we’ll be back to Maisie again. I think.

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The Last Original Wife

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

Oy.

TW picked up The Last Original Wife at the same time that she picked up the Fannie Flagg novel. If we’re going to be on a novels about Charleston kick, we might as well go all out, right?

Except, I’m not really a very big fan of Dorothea Benton Frank. I don’t HATE her books but I don’t generally love them, either. She does write well about Sullivan’s Island, and I appreciate that but… no. I just don’t love her books. And, anything called The Last Original Wife should have been a clue that I was not going to be in love, right?

Right. I wasn’t in love.

I appreciated that Leslie finally figured out that her marriage was crap. Her husband was an ass. And Atlanta wasn’t where she belonged. I laughed out loud twice — once when she bought the red Benz and I can’t actually remember the other time (probably something about the damn dog or the interesting gay brother) but hell. I just didn’t love the book.

I appreciated the Josephine Pinckney story thread but that was about it. I’d have been happier with a book about the gay guy in Charleston than I was about this one. Ho hum.

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Flesh & Bone

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

#3 in the Rot & Ruin series (what I often call one of the BEST zombie series ever written), Flesh & Bone, was excellent. I really want a set of trading cards. I also wish library jackets weren’t taped down to prevent me from properly seeing the darn cards. And, it turns out Texasebeth is reading another zombie series by Jonathan Mayberry for adults that has one of the characters from Flesh & Bone as the lead. I’m gonna have to read that series … once I find out what happens to Benny, Nix, Chong (OMG, CHONG!), and Lilah.

Sanctuary seems really really creepy. And also, I will never look at dog whistles the same way again. DOG WHISTLES. Jonathan Mayberry is genius.

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Curtsies & Conspiracies

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

I sent Michelle a copy of Curtsies & Conspiracies for her birthday so I decided to read it in celebration of her birthday. Seemed fitting, right?

I enjoyed it — still not as much as I liked the Parasol Protectorate but I definitely enjoyed it. Like Michelle, I really like Vieve and wish she had more of a primary role. I’m kind of hoping we see a third series spin off for her… or something… Not that I don’t like Sophronia and the other girls, I just like Vieve more. I also wish Carriger wrote faster, darn it.

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The Strangers on Montagu Street

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

I’m on a Karen White roll and finished The Strangers on Montagu Street last night. I liked it. I really liked the dollhouse story line, that was excellent. But I’m dreading the next book because I accidentally saw a spoiler. Not a spoiler I wanted to know about (or wanted to happen.) Gah.

NOT happy about what comes next at all. So not happy that I’m considering not reading the next book… that’s crazy, right? Yea, it’s crazy so I’ll probably just go ahead and reserve the book and get it over with. Maybe I’ll end up liking it more than I think I will?

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The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Women /

Oddly enough, I haven’t read a lot of books by Fannie Flagg. I have no idea why — I like her ok. Certainly as much as any other southern chick lit writer. I never think to reserve her books. I rarely notice them on the shelf. The last one I read was back in Gainesville, I think… Welcome to the World, Baby Girl.

TW was all proud of herself for getting The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion for me. I had no idea why she was pleased with herself but I definitely appreciated having it on the shelf when I ran out of books (again) a couple of days ago.

It was cute. A little jarring at first to move between the southern women in Alabama and the Polish women in Wisconsin but after a couple of chapters I was ok with that and laughed quite a lot at Suki’s attempts to see a therapist without the whole small town finding out.

The WASP, (Women Airforce Service Pilots) storyline was nice, too. I saw the final twist coming a mile away but that’s ok, it was a fun read and I might even consider reserving another Fannie Flagg book later this year.

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Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton

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

I wasn’t really expecting much from Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton. I’m not a big Buster Keaton fan. Turns out, I really enjoyed this book.

It was well drawn/colored and the story was cute. It even made me kind of want to watch The General again. I’m not sure whether this is a really appealing book for kids. Most of them probably won’t have a clue as to who Buster Keaton is… will they?

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