Favorites

Lillian Gilbreth: Redefining Domesticity

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Non-Fiction, Women /

OK so I’m biased, I’ll just say that right up front. I’m a big fan of the Des Jardins family and this book was written by Julie Des Jardins. Also, I love Lillian Gilbreth. Not the Cheaper By the Dozen version — the real one. Yep, I’m biased. Whatever.

I loved Lillian Gilbreth: Redefining Domesticity and am just annoyed that it took me so long to read it.

The darn thing has been sitting on my desk for years!

She was a pretty amazing woman and her husband was pretty OK, himself. For a dude. 😉 Also, reading it made me spend a little time reminiscing about the Charleston News & Courier… I’d really forgotten that Frank Jr was the guy who wrote the “Doing the Charleston” column for all of my childhood.

And, I spent a good amount of time watching motion study videos and cursing the flow chart (which actually made sense at some point in life, just not now, lol.)

I can’t imagine what “work” would look like today if we hadn’t had the Gilbreth’s — Lillian in particular.

Lillian Gilbreth: Redefining Domesticity Read More »

Prudence (The Custard Protocol)

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Steampunk /

Yippee! Another Gail Carriger book!

I loved Prudence and am definitely going to love this series more than The Finishing School series. (TW on the other hand likes that series better than this one. Weird.)

I like Prudence and Prim even better than I liked their moms and I liked their moms a lot. These girls are not Alexis and Ivy clones — they feel very much like daughters rather than clones, that’s important.

I’m also super-interested to see what happens in the next book. Prudence seems to know less about her mother and father (not the vampire father) than I’d have expected. That’s interesting. I get that her vampire father really did become her father but still… interesting to get an idea of just how that whole situation worked out for Prudence. Very interesting. Bring on the next book!

Prudence (The Custard Protocol) Read More »

Sisters of Heart and Snow

2015, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

I’m a Margaret Dilloway fan, which you know if you spend any time at all with me (in real life or in the virtual world) so you’re not surprised to know that Sisters of Heart and Snow was the book I most looked forward to reading during #readathon.

It did not let me down. Not one little bit.

I don’t always love books that weave the past into the present but Margaret Dilloway did it beautifully with this book. I enjoyed the story of Rachel and Drew just as much as I enjoyed the one of Tomoe and Yamabuki.

Sisters of Heart and Snow Read More »

The Dragon Factory

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I kind of love Joe Ledger but I’m having trouble separating the series from the Rot & Ruin series. I want to know if any of the people cross-over and it’s frustrating to not be able to figure that out. lol. I’m going to have to read the Rot & Ruin books and create a master character list or something before I read the next book in the series.

But anyway, The Dragon Factory — fabulous in the Joe Ledger sort of way. I had nightmares about people killing the Loch Ness Monster but I’m going to blame that on the cold meds I took right before I finished the book.

The Dragon Factory Read More »

The Just City

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I loved, loved, loved The Just City. I loved it a lot more than I ever loved Plato. TW says I prefer Plato fan-fiction over the real deal — I guess she’s right.

What I hated was the ending. Gah. It’s like the cliffhanger at the end of your favorite tv show and you have to wait months until the next season starts to find out who killed JR or something. Luckily, the next book is due in a couple of months. lol

The Just City Read More »

Lowcountry Boneyard

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery, Women /

TW got Lowcountry Boneyard from Erica at Wild Iris when we were in Gainesville in February. It’s an advance review copy so I’m guessing she had just gotten it at the bookstore conference thing she’d been at right before we came to visit.

It’s the third book in a mystery series set in Charleston (and also in Greenville, oddly enough.) I often find myself picking apart books based in Charleston because they get things wrong and it bugs me. I thought that was going to happen with this one because the protagonist lives on a fake island and that should have bugged me. Turns out, it was a smart move. I can’t pick apart fake islands, heh. And, she got the important things right about Charleston and then made up some other stuff and it all worked for me.

Even the ghost part.

I liked it enough that I reserved the first book in the series and am looking forward to reading it during #readathon in a couple of weeks.

Lowcountry Boneyard Read More »

Two More Art Books

2015, Art, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I impulsed picked The Modern Flower Painter because it was pretty and I love watercolors. The book is super pretty and super detailed and if you want to learn how to paint flowers, this is your book.

Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces is fabulous if you want to improve your ability to draw and paint faces. Duh. Jane Davenport is fabulous, really. Great book (which explains why it’s constantly out of stock.)

Two More Art Books Read More »

The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Cafe

2015, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

One of our favorite series to listen to on audio is The #1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. We absolutely love them and The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Cafe was excellent.

I particularly enjoyed that Charlie plays a prominent role in this story and I think maybe he grows up just a wee bit more in the process. I think Mma Makutsi might have grown up a little bit, too…

The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Cafe Read More »