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Manners & Mutiny

2017, Books in Bed, Favorites, Steampunk, Young Adult /

When I laughed at TW for picking up Manners & Mutiny, I was very sure we’d already read it. I have no idea how we hadn’t read it. SO WEIRD, I used to be obsessive about watching for new books in some key series. Weird. I’m glad she picked it up!

The Finishing School series has not been my favorite of Carriger’s books so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. Last book in the series, it played it as it should have. I particularly loved Mademoiselle Geraldine’s role in the story.

Now I’m off to the library website to see if I’ve missed any other books in the other series… maybe in the Custard Protocol. It’s been awhile since we’ve read one of those.

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Two YA

2017, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

First, a Cybil, Still Life With Tornado was a book about a teen who has a breakdown triggered by some stuff that happened at school but also by stuff that’s happened at home. It was an interesting book, A.S. King does a good job with teens and dysfunctional families. I wasn’t all that thrilled about the art teacher and the student… I’m not sure that was necessary to the story line. Otherwise, I liked it and recommend it.

Next, Goodbye Rebel Blue. I liked it a whole lot more than I expected to. Misfit kid finds herself drawn to complete the bucket list of a dead schoolmate — a girl she didn’t really know at all. Good read, really.

Related: After I finished it, TW asked me what I thought of it. I told her I liked it and asked her what was on her bucket list. She said nothing. I said NOTHING? She said no, nothing really matters. I replied… are you reading Still Life in Tornado right now? (She was.) The juxtaposition between the two books was interesting, to say the least.

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Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and Retreat from Racial Equity

2017, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

Welp. I finally read Colorblind and it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Smart, well-written, and anger/sadness/frustration/anger inducing.

You are not colorblind. I am not colorblind. Nobody is or should be colorblind.

Post-racial politics is stupid. Stop it. There’s no such thing as post-racial any-damn-thing.

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#FakeReadathon: 7 Books

2017, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Don't Read This, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Sharon and Chris joined us on Sunday for #FakeReadathon and it was fun. I also managed to finish seven books, which was also fun.

Happily Ever After: short stories about characters from The Selection series. It wasn’t bad, a lot of repeat of what happened in earlier books so the stories could be read as a stand-alone.

The Crown: The final book in the selection series. I’m glad it turned out the way I thought it would turn out.

There Is No Darkness: I finally finished this ebook that I started months (a year?) ago? I generally just read a chapter or two every time I traveled, while waiting for inflight wifi to kick in. Yesterday, I decided I was doing to finish it and I did. I don’t really love Science Fiction but I definitely enjoyed it. An interesting coming of age story. (Someone in an Amazon review said the Haldeman brothers wrote this in 1955, almost 20 years before Joe wrote The Forever War. I’m all… Wait, what!?! Goodness… Lorena wasn’t even born? Wait, what?!!! Is this true. Someone remind me to ask Lore about this.)

I checked four children’s picture books out of the library, two picture books and two board books (both Cybils), because I thought I might have a chance to read some new books to Pippin and Squshy when they were hear a couple of weeks ago. I also thought even if that didn’t happen, these might be books I would want to buy them for Christmas. Turns out… it was a mixed bag.

– Dinosaur Dance was boring. Unless your child really LOVES dinosaurs, in which case it’s still boring but your kid will still love it because dinosaurs.
– Look, Look Again was cute and interesting. It’s a fold out style book. The first page shows one… something (a mushroom, a strawberry, an apple, etc.) but when you fold out the connecting page, you see more than one something (and it’s actually a counting book.) Pretty cute. I liked it. I’d buy that.
– A Hungry Lion, or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals. This book is troubling… if you buy it or check it out of the library, read it before you share it with your child. It might be fine, it might not be. Great illustrations but the “hungry lion” eats the cute animals… after the story tricks you into thinking that’s not what is going to happen, it wants you to believe the little animals have just created a surprise party for the hungry lion. Jokes on you because, yea, the hungry lion at the cute animals after all. Very troubling.
– Strictly No Elephants was a good story. Again, great illustrations and nobody gets eaten. The beginning is sad because the child with the pet elephant isn’t allowed to go to the club or party or whatever that the other kids with pets go to. But the child with the elephant meets a child with a skunk who also doesn’t have anyone to play with. They build their own club and make sure EVERYONE is welcome. Really nice story. I’d buy this.

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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

2017, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction /

I can’t believe how good Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus was. I picked it up because the cover was interesting and fun but I almost didn’t read it because I have a huge stack of Cybils that I knew I’d want to get through. TW read it first and said she really liked it, I see why.

A girl with no arms. A boy with Tourette. A fat boy. And, an old wild west style amusement park. Win win win win!

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Raymie Nightingale

2017, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction /

Raymie Nightingale is on the Cybils shortlist in the audiobook category — so we listened to it on audio and I loved every single thing about it. I chuckled at the 70s southern characters. Little Miss Central Florida Tire… baton twirling… hahaha.

But it wasn’t all amusing, either. The three girls had a lot to deal with and they did it together. LOVED IT.

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