Favorites

The Chicken Keeper’s Problem Solver

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

I’ve been talking a lot about having chickens someday… like next year, when we leave Chicagoland. During one of these periods when I was talking about chickens, my mom sent me a link to The Chicken Keeper’s Problem Solver and I said I’d have to check it out later since it was only available for pre-order.

Time passes and my mom texts me to tell me she sent me a present and it will arrive on Sunday. It did and it was that book!

I read it straight through and was reminded again of how little I know about chickens. Hah. Because I know so little about chickens, I’m not really sure if this is a good and useful book or not. It felt like a good and useful book, so I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

It also was a little bit scary of a scary book– because all the bad things can happen! Gah. I guess if bad things do happen, I’ll have this book to help me figure out how to solve the problem, right? Assuming this is a good and helpful book, which I think it probably is. I’ll let you know in a year or two.

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Hell on Wheels

1 Comment / 2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Mystery, Women /

I would very much like to know how I found Hell on Wheels, since it’s like the 9th book in the series, it seems somewhat unlikely that I reserved it based on a series recommendation. Maybe I just picked it up from the new arrivals shelf? I don’t know but I loved it.

I really like Odelia Grey. I like the body positive female sleuth. I like her paraplegic husband. I like pretty much everything about it and will have to go back and read the whole series.

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Four Graphic Novels

2015, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Don't Read This, Favorites /

I’m only about a month late but I’ve started the whole Cybils shortlist thing and am slowly making a dent in the list. Graphic novels were a good way to dive in.

El Deafo was excellent. Really. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it — so much hype around it! But, it was well deserved hype.

Bad Machinery: The Case of the Good Boy, sigh. I just don’t like Bad Machinery. I don’t get why everyone else does. This one was better than the last one I read (or tried to read) but I had to force myself to get through this one, too. If it makes the Cybils next year, I’m just not going to read it. Blah.

Gaijin: American Prisoner of War — I liked it. The art was excellent.

Bird & Squirrel on Ice was super cute. I particularly like Sakari and her role in the story.

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Two Awesome Audiobooks

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

Thank goodness for audiobooks! Without them, my books read this month count would be horrid. Oh wait, it will still be horrid but at least the audiobooks helped. Also, they were great books.

Sarah Addison Allen’s First Frost was terrific. It took me awhile to remember who all of the Waverlys were and how they were connected and what their magics were but I very much enjoyed it. Great book for a road trip.

Next, Anita Diamond’s Boston Girl (read by Linda Lavin!) was excellent and an even better book for a road trip. I wish it had been a little longer, with a few more stories about Addy as wife/mother but I’m not really complaining.

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When I Found You

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

We finished our audiobook and didn’t have any waiting for us at the library so I surfed Amazon for free audio books and decided When I Found You looked like the best of the bunch. Turns out it was better than expected. One of those books that you keep thinking about after you’ve stopped listening for awhile. One of those books that makes you sad but also makes you feel good at the same time.

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Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them

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

I grabbed Pen & Ink from the new arrivals shelf just as an impulse pick — because I knew RJ would be at our house and I thought she might be interested in it. I think she read it. I’m not sure. But I very much loved it. The stories behind the tattoos were fabulous. Really good stuff (and a quick read, which was important after some very long work days.)

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Handmade Nation

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

I have no idea why Handmade Nation was on the new arrivals shelf at the library. It’s old, old, old, old. But there you have it. It was there. I was amused. I checked it out.

I was even more amused when I started reading it. Everyone was so young! All of those sites were so new! Things have really grown and changed!

I kept stopping to see if featured artists/crafters/makers were still doing the type of work that was featured in the book, (sometimes yes, sometimes no.)

I found myself watching old Craft Lab videos with Jennifer Perkins and giggling like crazy.

I enjoyed the stroll down memory lane. 😉

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