Books in Bed

All The Graphic Novels — OK Not All Of Them, Just Seven

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Young Adult /

I didn’t manage to read all of the graphic novels from the Cybils shortlist on Sunday like I’d planned but I did finish a bunch of them on Monday and Tuesday. Here’s what I thought about seven of them:

Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller — I liked it. I wasn’t sure at the beginning. The first couple of pages were dark and confusing but once I settled into the art, and the jumping between Annie’s life and Annie’s life with Helen, it was good. Very good.

Hilda and the Midnight Giant was cute. I like Hilda and her mom.

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad was pretty good. I grew up with a history nut for a dad so I have a fondness for these kinds of stories. Humor was nicely added to help make the story less dry than history often is made to be.

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China was super interesting. I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did.

Friends with Boys was probably my favorite of this round of graphic novels. (What’s with all of the memoirs on the list this time?) Homeschool to High School, teen angst, a ghost. It’s all pretty excellent. The drawings were good, too.

Marathon should have been good. Instead, I couldn’t even finish (I tried though. I tried hard.) The drawings should haven’t helped the difficult to follow story but they just made things worse.

Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White was my second favorite of the batch. I liked the art. I liked the story. Hispanic family in Alabama during the 60s? Not white but also not black? Tough situation and super interesting.

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Dexter’s Final Cut

1 Comment / 2013, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Fiction /

Sigh. I’m disappointed in Dexter’s Final Cut. So disappointed. I get that Dexter wasn’t a good guy, even though most of us grew to really love him. But… this. This was too much. It’s ok to kill off the Dexter series, it’s not ok to fuck with the people who’ve read your books for all of these years and have come to appreciate the characters and the storytelling.

It’s not OK at all. If you’ve ready all of the other books, don’t read this one. 🙁

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The Endangered Species Road Trip

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

The Brookfield Zoo has some great books in their gift shops. TW spotted The Endangered Species Road Trip in one of them and I reserved it at the library. It was excellent. I read the entire thing yesterday.

Environmentalist books can be… preachy. And sometimes dry. And also a little boring. This one was none of those things. It was interesting and amusing and it made me think about what I’d like to see on my own endangered species road trip, someday.

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Backtracking Book Reviews

2013, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery, Non-Fiction, Queer, short stories, Women /

I didn’t do a very good job of talking about most of the books I read during the #readathon, so I’m backtracking a bit.

Astronaut Wives Club — I liked it but it wasn’t nearly as interesting as I’d hoped. I see now why someone (Julie?) said she didn’t really like it very much. It was vague where I wanted more detail. I’m glad I read it but I wish it had been better.

Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate was really good — witchery popery popery witchery, it’s really much the same when you think about it, right?

Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives — a book of short stories, very good short stories. That’s saying something since I’m not really a fan of short story compilations.

Lake Geneva: Life At the Water’s Edge was a really nice coffee table type book. Great photos. Interesting. Makes me a little sad that we cancelled our mini vacation in November. We’ll do it in the spring, instead, and I’m looking forward to it now more than ever.

Day Trips From Chicago was nothing special. I didn’t find anything unusual or extra interesting. Not a bad book of day trips it was just a little vanilla.

A Short History of Myth, I think I did write about this one a little yesterday. It was ok. Dry, as you’d expect. Something to think about (or to try not to think about?) as I read the other books in the Myth series in the months ahead.

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11 Cybils and My #Readathon Totals

2 Comments / 2013, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Dewey's Readathon /

I made it through my 11 books from the Cybils shortlist….

Pinch and Dash Make Soup — it was cute but I felt like I’ve read it before. (48 pages)
Kenvin Henkes, Penny and Her Doll and Penny and Her Song. Typical Henkes, no complaints (32 pages each)
I loved loved loved Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot. LOVED (103 pages)
I also loved loved loved Ivy + Bean Make the Rules. I’d like to go to Camp Flaming Arrow. (125 pages)
A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse — It was ok, not my favorite. (32 pages)
Eggs 1, 2, 3 — cute fold outs, nice illustrations. I liked it. (32 pages)
Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover. Cute but typical Rabbit & Robot (50 pages)
Bing & Gollie Two For One. Kind of cute. I liked the illustrations a lot. (96 pages)
Sadie & Ratz. I’m not a fan. (60 pages)
Marty McGuire Digs Worms — yay for saving the world in 3rd grade. And interesting people at school assemblies. (176 pages)

Final #Readathon count — 17 hours.
17 books (and the end of another.)
An hour of an audio book.
1,980 Pages.

Good night!

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#readathon update

2013, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

I just finished A Short History of Myth – a very dry and dense 149 pages. I… am not sure how I felt about this one. Parts of it made sense, parts of it I don’t buy, parts of it — I’ll have to think more about, probably while I’m reading the other books in the Canongate Myths series, in the weeks ahead.

Which leads me to the final stretches … I’m tired. My eyes are really tired. So, I’m turning to my stack of children’s fiction, non-fiction and poetry from the Cybils shortlist. I’ve got 11 of them here and I plan to finish them all before I call my fall 2013 #readathon — done.

I think I’d better grab some chocolate and another cup of coffee to get me through the final stretch.

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#Readathon Update: 14 Hours

2013, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

I just hit the 14 hour mark and I’ve finished a bunch of books now.

– Astronauts Wives Club (just the last 83 pages)
– The Daylight Gate (224 pages)
– Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives (376 pages)
– Lake Genava: Life At the Water’s Edge (187 pages)
– Day Trips From Chicago (207 pages)
– An hour of Dexter’s Final Cut on audio.

I’m starting on The History of Myth now. Not a bad day, so far — considering I had an hour nap and got a late start!

Time for some chips and salsa, I think.

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