Best book from the Cybils shortlist so far this year! I loved Escape From Mr Lemoncello’s Library and I’m extra glad we listened to it on audio.
We chuckled our way through it and were sad when it ended. Equally sad that Nickelodeon optioned it for a TV movie. Sure wish Pixar would have grabbed it. It would make a great movie — and a great theme park attraction.
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I wonder how The Bintel Brief made its way into my library bag. I don’t think it’s been on the shelf long enough to be an impulse choice, since the damn non-fictions are still upstairs… except, hmm. Now that I think about it, maybe that is where I got it. I wonder how that happened… in the past, graphic novels have always been in a section of the non-fiction (whether they were non-fiction or not… and this is assuredly non-fiction. I bet it was miss-shelved.) Whatevs.
I really enjoyed it.
The art was good. The stories selected were good. I liked everything about this. I am also tempted to track down some more about The Bintel Brief advice column. It’s super-interesting to me.
Sassymonkey talked about One Skillet, Two Plates so I checked it out. It’s a nice cookbook. A lot of good recipes, nothing super hard or weird. I wish there were more photos. I like photos.
Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable, Nesting Skills was mentioned on a blog I read so I thought I’d grab it. Totally loved it. Very zine-like. I can see a few of my kids really liking this book, (She recommends looking for help/info at Punk Houses, hahaha.) There wasn’t anything new or unusual about the ideas (tinctures, teas, infusions, cleaning, beauty products, first aid) I just liked the voice of the writer.
I reserved Hoosier Mama Book of Pie months ago (like September of last year). And I do mean MONTHS ago. It finally arrived at which point I decided I must have all the pie. Immediately. I don’t even really like pie all that much (except pumpkin) because I don’t really like pie crust. I also finally realized that when RJ talks about the pie shop her father has been going to, she’s been talking about the Hoosier Mama pie shop. (For some reason she says “Who’s Your Mama” not “Hoosier Mama”. lol) Must have all the pie. Seriously. Also… mmmm, Chess Pie. I don’t, however, want to make pie — no matter how interesting or good the recipes sounded.
I’m so glad I stuck through this series. After a couple of lackluster books that had me saying “I hope this series ends soon because I’m getting tired of this…” the last book in the series, Beautiful Redemption paid off. This is my favorite book in the series. By far.
I’m still angsty over the “outside of Summerville” and “Summerville water tower” setting but all was forgiven once everything was sorted out and all of the creatures functioning as they should. The Far Keep scene at the end was fabulous and Sarafina did exactly what she should have done. Perfect.
I’m glad it’s over and I’m glad it ended this way.
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I love Christopher Moore. I don’t love these Shakespearean novels as much as the older books but I definitely still enjoy them a lot. The Serpent of Venice made me chuckle all the way through. I like Pocket. Smart guy, for a Fool.
I also keep hearing “Marco!” “Polo!” in my head. I hope that goes away soon, it’s worse than an #earworm.
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TW read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry really quickly and when she finished she said “THIS WAS A HORRIBLE BAD BOOK.” which confused me because I’ve only heard good things about it. Comparisons to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry led me to believe it should be a very good book.
I almost didn’t read it because she seemed very serious about hating the book.
Turns out she hated it because it is a heart-breaker, emotion-pulling book and not because it is bad.
At page 64 I said, I should really just put this book down before it breaks my heart… but I didn’t. I read it straight through and loved it.
Read it — but at page 64 you still have time to change your mind.
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3 Graphic Novels:
– Monster on the Hill — This is a middle grade book and I chuckled my way through the whole thing. VERY cute.
– Bad Machinery — I don’t know if I was tired or if I just plain didn’t like this one. It bored me.
– Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant — I love Delilah!
3 Poetry:
Follow Follow — Cute reverso poems. Very cute. I don’t think these are as good as those in Mirror Mirror, though. And unless you just love reverso poems you should skip this in favor of Mirror Mirror.
Forest Has a Song — Ho hum poems. Great illustrations.
Poems to Learn By Heart — Great compilation of poems. Really excellent. Nice intros to sections. Nice diversity of poetry. I’d buy this one for JMP.
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I need to go wander around the internet and try to find a character list for the Rot & Ruin series and compare it to the characters in Patient Zero. Some of these people are those people, right? Also, I found myself wondering whether there were discrepancies or I was not remembering Rot & Ruin correctly. I hate that, lol.
I very much enjoyed Patient Zero — and I’m super glad Texasebeth mentioned it a couple of months ago!
I saw Penny Dreadful mentioned on a blog — actually, several blogs (don’t ask me which ones!) and decided I should read it. Then I decided I should read it during the #readathon because children’s fiction(?)/middle grade fiction(?) is quick and easy to read.
It totally was. It was also really cute. I mean really really cute. It’s not a new book, I’m sorry I overlooked it years ago when it was first published.
Wah. We’ve officially caught up with all of the Maisie Dobbs books. Leaving Everything Most Loved was TOUGH.
All of the leaving and moving on to new things. Billy and Sandra. Gah!
Yay for Frankie and Brenda.
Can’t decide whether I like James or hate him. Pretty sad when I start to think Maisie should hook up with Caldwell…
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