Books in Bed

Reading In November

2013, Books in Bed, Reading Lists /

It was a rough month for reading — or for anything, really. Shouldn’t have been since I had a whole ass ton of time off of work (and mostly didn’t work) but there you go. I can’t read when my schedule is effed up. Hmph. Still, it wasn’t too bad. I stayed focused on getting the Cybils read, since I was so behind and really running out of time to finish that challenge.

Here’s how it panned out.

Total books read: 26

2 audio books
13 Middle Grade & YA fiction(12 were Cybil)
8 Non-fiction (6 were Cybil)
1 Graphic Novel (a Cybil book)
2 Fiction (adult)

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Three Cybil YA Fiction Books

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

I’m caught up with book blogging — and with reading the books from the Cybil short list. Thankfully since December is almost here giving me just a few very busy weeks to read three books. I can do this. Assuming those books are on my shelf… I should check, shouldn’t I?

Anyway, about these three. Some surprises, good surprises.

I expected to like The Theory of Everything. I like YA problem books and I’d seen some good reviews of this one. It was good. I liked the drawn journal type entries (the theories) — those were well done. Smart. I liked the happy ending where everyone cried. (And when I say happy I don’t really mean happy happy.)

The Storyteller. Oy. German. A lot of people die. And we’re supposed to maybe be confused by who was doing the killing. We’re also supposed to feel sympathy for the killer (which I did) and I think we’re also supposed to like Anna but I did not. Not one little bit. Which made it hard for me to really care about the rest of the characters as much as I should have.

Last but not least, the book I thought would be toward the bottom of my favorites list is now squarely in the top quarter – Endagndered. I didn’t expect to like Endangered nearly as much as I did. But I couldn’t help it. I liked Sophie and Otto (who is a bonobo). There were moments when I wanted to hate the book because NO WAY Sophie could have managed those things. NO WAY IN HELL. But I couldn’t help it — I liked her anyway and I cheered every time she made it past another obstacle.

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Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Women, Young Adult /

The last of the Cybils non-fiction about Temple Grandin. I was a little surprised since it seemed like Temple Grandin was every where a few years ago and I thought I’d probably be bored with this. I wasn’t. And, TW especially liked it, though that shouldn’t surprise anyone — Moo!

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Marie Antoinette, Serial KIller

2 Comments / 2013, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Another book I saw something about, in October, and since I was getting a little tired of Cybils, I decided I should go ahead and read Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer. It looked amusing and fast — and it was both of those. It also made me kind of glad to hear RJ’s French club isn’t going to France. When Marie Antoinette is pissed off, she’s really pissed off. Not that you can really blame her, right?

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We Have Always Lived In the Castle

2013, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Fiction /

A few weeks ago, I saw a blog post that had a list of creepy books (or maybe it was creepy book covers?) for Halloween. Oh, well. Maybe it was a month ago, not a few weeks ago? Whatever. Time flies and I still haven’t caught up with book blogging. Whatevs. I’ll get there. Eventually.

Anyway, on this list were a couple of books that I realized I had not read. One of them was Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived In the Castle. I like Shirley Jackson. This one was available on audio and we didn’t have any other audios to listen to so… I reserved it.

Weirdest book EVER.
Very creepy.

I think TW and I will always say “Silly Merricat” and “Lazy Merricat”, just out of the blue, forever and ever. It’s that kind of book.

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Two Cybils SciFi/Fantasy

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I’m kind of ODing on middle grade and YA books. This is what happens when I don’t read enough throughout the year… gah. The end of the tunnel, I can see it. I swear!

Planesrunner, the YA scifi I thought I wouldn’t enjoy, particularly since I had so much trouble getting past the first chapter, turned out to be a lot better than I expected. Physics is not my thing. Neither are books where ONE paragraph is more than a full damn page. Other than that — it turned out to be a pretty fun book. The airships made it great (and the solid female characters, in a boy story, too.)

Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities is Middle Grade scifi/fantasy and I had a hard time getting started with that too… what’s with all of the comic book superhero stuff lately? After about 30 pages, I was in and enjoying it. I particularly liked what happened with Polly, Captain Stupendous and Vincent’s mom. Super female characters in what’s mostly a boy story.

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Three Middle Grade Fiction

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction /

Still playing catch up on my Cybils blogging but the end is in sight!

Fourmile — I liked it a lot which is unusual since it’s a boy book and boy books don’t always work for me. Watt Key, the author, is excellent though so I shouldn’t be surprised to have liked it. It didn’t feel so much like middle grade but more like YA. The violence seemed awfully violent for middle graders.

Almost Home was very middle grade fiction sort of trouble book. Homeless kid finds herself with a community of awesome adults (and kids). And, she has a cute puppy who seems to not prevent her from landing in a shelter, a group home, or a foster home. (Which would never happen, sigh.) A very feel good book, even though there are places that made me almost cry.

The Adventures of Beanboy was so much fun. I loved it. The development of Beanboy as a character… fantastic.

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Three Middle Grade SciFi/Fantasy Books from the Cybils Shortlist

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Beswitched — I didn’t love it. In fact, for most of the book I strongly disliked it. I did not like Flora Fox at all. Not one little bit. Even as she “grew up” I didn’t find myself liking her much better than on page one. I didn’t like her grandmother either. I’m much more interested in the other Flora — the one who took her place and whose place she took. I’d probably like her better, I think.

The Peculiar is another one I didn’t love. I just didn’t care about any of the characters. Bartholomew – sure, but only a little. I’d have probably liked Hetty more if I’d gotten to know her. It wasn’t a bad book — just not great.

Finally, one I enjoyed — Cabinet of Earths. Pretty cool story. Solid characters. I even liked the ending, which is oh so rare, sometimes. Those three grains of “earth”… I’d be freaked out about that, too, if I were Maya.

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Vessel

2013, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I wasn’t expecting to like Vessel as much as I did — it sounded a lot like another book I read recently… the one where the girl had a gem in her navel and that marked her as… whatever it marked her as.

This book was sort of like that — but better, I think. I do have a little bit of the love/hate with the fables. They were good but sometimes a little mixed up and not quite right in places. But, overall, excellent fantasy.

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4 Middle Grade and YA Non-Fiction

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

More catch up book blogging — Cybil blogging, to be specific.

Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon was the book I didn’t expect to love because how many times can you read about this topic and learn something new or find it fresh and interesting. Or maybe that’s just me because chemistry and bombs are not my thing. However, this was better than I expected — not so much for the spy factor, but for the inclusion of the race toward the bomb that was happening in the USSR and in Germany. That made it more interesting than just a straight how we got the bomb (and used it) sort of thing.

I really enjoyed the Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War. I mean really enjoyed it. Those poor kids. I cannot imagine how confused they, particularly the older ones and not the babies, were.

I liked Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 well enough. It was a little long but Moonbird himself is awesome. Which reminds me, I meant to see if there had been any more sightings since this book was written.

I’m not a big fan of books about the Titanic but I liked Titanic: Voices From the Disaster more than I expected to. It, too, was a little long but not so boring that I didn’t read it straight through.

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