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Six Children’s Books From the Cybils Shortlist

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Don't Read This, Favorites, Fiction, Poetry /

Let’s see…

JMP loved Joe and Sparky Go to School. The book was in the back seat of my car and he read it many times all by himself. I didn’t read it until last night and it’s very cute.

I read most of Sophie’s Squash to JMP and while he was not impressed, I was. It’s a very cute story. I’m going to read it to him again next year, I think he just wasn’t in the mood to read the night we tried it.

When Thunder Comes was excellent. Very well done with a wide range of civil rights leaders represented.

What the Heart Knows is a beautiful book. The illustrations. The charms, chants and blessings. The little red ribbon. I might have to buy this one.

Pug and Other Animal Poems was ok. The illustrations were better than the poetry. I was fascinated by the poem about the mouse. That’s not something you see very often in children’s poetry. What? Go read it for yourself.

The Meanest Birthday Girl was my least favorite. In fact, I hated it. Which is too bad because there’s a big white elephant in the book. There’s enough meanness in the world that we really don’t need it in a children’s book — not like this.

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Again with the Perennials

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

More books about perennials and perennial vegetables — leftover from when TW and I were talking about gardens and perennials and well, umm, vegetables.

I really liked both of these books — much better than the others I read last month (or was it July?) Perennial Companions was supper pretty and had lots of interesting ideas for garden designs. All the pretty gardens. And, How to Grow Perennial Vegetables was awesome because it had a lot of ideas for plants that would grow well together, tons of charts about the types of root systems and the plants that are good for the soil or good for bees etc. I liked those charts a lot.

I think I’m done reading about perennials now.

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4 Children’s Books

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites /

Here are four books we read while JMP was here. All four were winners.

My Big Truck Book is a very big board book with a lot of trucks. Which means it was obviously a hit with JMP. Rough & Tough Tractors is a cute little book in the shape of a tractor wheel. Jenn ad-libbed when she read this one which means you always have to talk about the poop and the shovel and the bugs on the grill when you read it. Heh.

Because ThatGrandma’s dance party was such a big hit, I decided we needed some books about grandmas dancing — I ordered Dancing with Grandma and
Let’s Dance, Grandma. He liked them both.

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Mambo In Chinatown

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

Please don’t let the fact that it took me six weeks to read Mambo In Chinatown scare you off from reading it. Jean Kwok is wonderful and this book was terrific — the slowness of my reading was related entirely to JMP’s visit + this stupid cold that won’t go away.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book and I found myself wanting to watch ballroom dancing videos.

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The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

We waited a long time for The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla and it was totally worth it. Best book since book one. Really. It was the vampires. Everything is better with vampires. Also, it was two excellent characters who had a lot of fun dialogue without too many other characters getting in the way and slowing things down.

Well done.

And I can’t wait for the next book. This is going to be GOOD, isn’t it?

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Three Non-Fiction

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

First… The WORN Archive — shocking I know, but I really enjoyed this. It’s the kind of writing about fashion that I like. And, the photos were fabulous.

Second… Next Generation Real Estate because duh, moving in one year and 10 months and 2 weeks, lol. Mostly really it was an impulse pick up from the non-fiction new arrivals. TW read it first and that pleased me, though she now has her heart set on buying a house with modern electricity, lol.

Third… and horribly scary… All I Want Is a Job. Anyone who cares about poverty, the jobs crisis, and social services in the US should read this. It’s not pretty but it’s important to really think about and I really like how the material was presented. Yes, it’s dry reading. And depressing. But important. Really important. Could we pay our damn minimum wage people a LIVING DAMN WAGE, PLEASE? Not doing so is killing us. All of us. Really.

Now I’m moving on to some fiction. Heh.

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2 Non-Fiction (cooking and gardening?)

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

Did I mention the the non-fiction new arrivals are back downstairs where they belong? Heh. This means I’ve got all the fun non-fiction, just picked up because it looked interesting and because I love non-fiction.

First up, a cookbook. A cookbook I loved but TW made bad faces over. Heh. Stuffed: The Ultimate Comfort Food Cookbook. My kind of cookbook. Stuff all the yummy things with more yummy things! I’ve added The Food In My Beard to my feedreader (he wrote this book.)

Next, a book I want to buy but TW kind of rolled her eyes over. LOL. 5 Plant Gardens. I want all the gardens, with all of the plants (well with just five plants in each garden, of course. duh.)

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The Care and Management of Lies

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

Well it’s no Maisie Dobbs, but we enjoyed The Care and Management of Lies (on audio.) I kept wondering if any of these people were crossovers from the Maisie Dobbs series — even minor characters but TW looked it up and said no. I’m not convinced. If I had more free time, I’d go look a little bit and see if she is right.

War is hell. The ending was hell. Hell hell hell. I saw it coming but didn’t want to BELIEVE it was coming. Sigh.

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