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Four more Cybils

4 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

Of the four Cybils I read yesterday, there was only one that was a yawn. Fabulous Fishes, a nonfiction picture book, was just a wee bit boring – especially when you look at the other books in the category. It’s not a bad book, nice photos, nice rhymes but that’s just not enough in this category. I’m not a Nic Bishop fan but even his Frogs book was better. His photos just rock. I wouldn’t have chosen it to win the category but I do understand why others would have selected it.

Moving into middle grade fiction, I loved Shooting the Moon. Maybe it’s the military brat in me. Or the mom of military brats. But I just loved the book. If pushed, I’d say this was my favorite in that category.

Last, Sweethearts, from the YA fiction category. Another good book. A problem book that is just a little different from other problem books. A teen girl who recreates herself, never feels quite right in her new skin and then has to face the past. Really nicely written without a clear, clean, happy ending.

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The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

When someone from the BlogHer Book Club group mentioned The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, I looked it up on Amazon. The title was appealing and the cover even more so. I didn’t reserve it, just kept it in my head. About a week later, I happened to see it on the large print shelf so I grabbed it.

TW’s mom read it first and didn’t really like it but she said she thought we would like it.

TW read it and enjoyed it but didn’t really talk about it.

I read it and loved it.

I loved all of the characters. I loved the story. Loved the quilt (even though I figured out the quilt thing long before Truly did.)

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The Little Stranger

3 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Women /

I almost didn’t read The Little Stranger. I was going to boycott Sarah Waters’ latest book because I’d heard it didn’t have a lesbian theme or lesbian characters.

Hah.

It may not have had overt lesbian themes or characters but if Caroline wasn’t a lesbian… well, I think she probably was.

The Little Stranger was a good read, ten times better than Affinity. A good bit better than The Night Watch. It’s no Tipping the Velvet or Fingersmith but it’s pretty darn good.

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The London Eye Mystery

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

When I saw The London Eye Mystery on the Cybils list, I knew it would be good but I didn’t expect it to be quite this good. Even after reading the reviews and seeing it win. I just didn’t expect this.

Actually, I didn’t know what to expect.

I had no idea “Ted” had been diagnosed with a “syndrome” or that it would be a book about a kid who it appears has Asperger’s. It was a brilliant book, with brilliant characters… even if I knew almost immediately where Salim was.

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Two more Cybils

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I thought I’d finished with the picture books category but apparently not – I’ve still got some non-fiction books to go through and that’s good because the two I read yesterday are fantastic.

First, Wangari’s Trees of Peace – excellent drawings, simple story of a complex problem without overly frightening young children when speaking about the violence against Wangari.

Next, a book I will have to buy – several times over. My children are huge Wanda Gag fans. OK scratch that, they are huge Millions of Cats fans. The three older ones can probably tell the story word for word with just a wee bit of prompting. The three younger ones, probably can’t but have definitely heard “Hundreds of cats. Thousands of Cats. Millions and billions and trillions of cats.” over and over again.

Loved Wanda Gag: The Girl Who Lived to Draw. Loved the story, loved the art.

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Charlatan!

2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I reserved Charlatan at the library because @honeybeast told us about it in the BlogHer Book Club group and it sounded interesting.

Interesting does not even begin to describe the book or the life of JR Brinkley. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of him before. Crazy!

It made me a little queasy at first, all of that goat gonad surgery and stuff but once I settled in… it didn’t bother me at all. Actually, I think it was the goat ovary surgery that troubled me in the beginning, heh.

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Mighty Queens of Freeville

2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

I am not an Ann Landers fan, I much prefer Dear Abby, so when Landers died and Ask Amy took her place, I really didn’t pay any attention. What led me to read The Mighty Queens of Freeville is simply…. I liked the title. I don’t even think I realized it was about Ask Amy until I got it home and TW started to read it.

TW didn’t really like the book very much. So, I didn’t know what to expect. I really started reading it because it was short and I was trying to decide what I wanted to read and couldn’t make the decision.

By the second chapter, I was hooked and didn’t want to put it down. I don’t know why TW didn’t love it… I certainly did. I’m almost tempted to read the Trib just to read her column. Almost. I mean it arrives in the driveway, you’d think I could take two minutes to find her column, right?

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The Hunger Games

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

I’ve heard an awful lot about The Hunger Games. I’ve seen blogs recommend it. I’ve had people I know recommend it. Sassymonkey has been bugging me to read it for ages and she hasn’t even read it yet (though she’d better have started it by now.)

Finally – got it from the library. TW read it and found it “oddly compelling” and could not put it down. She even stopped reading the second book she was reading so she could focus just on it.

I picked it up right after she finished it and oddly compelling doesn’t even come close to describing it.

Kids. Horrible controlling government. Survivor but for reals. Crazyness.

Sequel in September and I cannot WAIT.

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Handle with Care

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I am a Jodi Picoult fan and every time I read one of her books I find myself wanting to throw the book across the room at some point (multiple points) in the story. Handle with Care caused that feeling at least six times. That probably means she did a good job with the story.

Jodi Picoult writes the adult version of the YA “problem” novel.

You know there’s going to be a serious problem with a kid (or several serious problems with several kids.) There’s going to be a law suit, or multiple law suits. There’s going to be a twist (or several twists) that you know is coming (but don’t really want to BELIEVE is coming.) That’s a Picoult novel.

Handle with Care had all of those Picoult elements.

I was worried this one was going to lose its way in the debate over abortion – it didn’t.

If you haven’t read this yet, but are planning on it – I recommend you not read the last entry by “Willow”. Just don’t bother. I liked the book until the ending. Picoult needs to stop going further than she needs to go – just leave it alone for goodness sakes before I stop reading your books.

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The last of the Cybil Graphic Novels

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

What a way to finish a set of books! Life Sucks and Kin: Good Neighbors were excellent.

Vampires and Fairies. Fabulous. Liz and RJ agree with me about Life Sucks and I’m betting they’ll both love Good Neighbors as well. Holly Black rocks fairy stories. Twiddling my thumbs til the library database comes back online tonight so I can work on reserving more graphic novels in these series’ – there are more available, right? Kin’s ending, in particular, leaves us begging for volume two.

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