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Soul Kitchen

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

Soul Kitchen, the latest installment in the story of Rickey and Gman, by Poppy Z Brite… What to say, what to say? It was good, better than Prime but not as good as Liquor. I was afraid there would be too much “politics” in there particularly early in the book when I saw this, “MR CONGRESSMAN. MR PRESIDENT. PEOPLE OF THE USA. HERE R YOUR SHRIMP WHERE R OUR LEVEES”. But nope, if Poppy went back and edited after the hurricane, she didn’t destroy the book in doing so because that was the only mention of levees and there was no heavy political (or social) message going on. (She finished it right before the hurricane, by the way.)

If she keeps this up, she’s going to have a whole generation of readers who don’t know she was a horror writer. I’m not sure that’s completely good but it does say something positive about her as a writer, doesn’t it?

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The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

3 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery /

I can’t for the life of me figure out why our library does not have a copy of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I’ve been checking once a month for at least a year. I finally got tired of checking and requested it via interlibrary loan. Two days later, I had the book in my hand. Why I waited so long to go that route is beyond me. The moment I finished it, I went to the ILL form and requested the sequel.
The Pink Carnation was a fun read, quick and compelling read, and definitely chick lit. But really excellent chick lit. Good characters, good dialogue, good sex scenes. Heh. Happy ending, too. Excellent in every way.

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The Edge Chronicles – Freeglader

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites /

I finished a book and almost forgot to blog it, that’s how tired I still am. Geez. OK the book, I finished it. The seventh in The Edge Chronicles series, Freeglader. If you haven’t picked this series up, and you have children 7-12 or an affinity for children’s literature, then you should give the series a try.

We’ve all agreed that the first book was the best, the second was pretty good, the others sort of ho hum but only in comparison to the first two. This last one, much better. It tied up all of the loose ends from the other books. Gave a lineage, so to speak, showed us what happened to the missing sky pirates and librarian knights. It was a good way to tie things up. Which makes me wonder if this is the last in the series. I think it probably should be. Not because I’ve not enjoyed reading the books, I have. It just felt like an ending to me, tying up the loose ends, explaining all of the missing pieces – the end, happily ever after and all that stuff.

Oh darn, I just read a review on Amazon and it appears there are more books, though they seem to fit into some of the other segments we have already read. Interesting. Weird. I’m not sure I want to backpedal my way through those. I hate reading a series out of order and I’m afraid that is what this is going to feel like… ah well, they are quick and easy reads, I’ll probably give them a try if they become available at our library.

Oh what the heck, let’s have a little Edge Chronicles fun while we’re here….Looks like I’m Twig, that’s a bit of a surprise actually. I thought maybe Cloud Wolf.

#1 Twig

#2 Cloud Wolf

#3 Maugin

#4 Slyvo Spleethe

#5 Cowlquape

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Books to Buy!

3 Comments / Favorites /

I find it hard to read in hospitals so I’m a little bit behind on book reviews at the moment. Surely I’ll finish a book today, now that we are home and I’ve taken the day off to rest and regroup. But since there are no guarantees in life, I thought I’d post some book recommendations for you to hold you over.


First up – Selected Days: 2005. Woolgathering! is one of my favorite blogs. Elizabeth Perry is fantastic! It’s hard to believe she wasn’t really an “artist” all of her life, her work is just that good.


A Life Less Convenient: Letters to My Ex is written by Jen Burke of A Life Less Convenient and Transcending Gender. The first time I went to her A Life Less Convenient blog I read every post. Every single one. And, I often go back and re-read some of her posts. The book, it’s a must have for me. It should be a must have for you too, Go buy it.

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The Dark Lady of DNA

1 Comment / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

As a rule, I don’t like biographies about scientists. As a rule, I don’t even like a lot of science themed non-fiction. Based on those two rules, I shouldn’t have liked Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, but I did.

Actually, I really liked it. It wasn’t the writing. It wasn’t because the race for DNA was compelling. I just plain liked Rosalind Franklin. Possibly because she reminds me of TW’s doctor (who I now call The Dark Lady of Digestion) and I like TW’s doctor a lot.

Whatever. I’m glad I finally made time to read this. I’m glad sassymonkey suggested it when I was looking for biographies for Michelle to read. Rosalind Franklin was cool.

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Louise Welsh

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery /

The Bullet Trick has clinched it. Louise Welsh is awesome. I’ve now read all of her books and loved every single one of them.

This one is about a magician or a conjurer, if you prefer. How about an illusionist, I like that better. He’s also got a way of landing himself into difficult situations.

The Bullet Trick had a wee bit less sex but the book was still sexy. Rather than primary gay characters there were secondary gay characters and some gay jokes.

Loved the book. Love Louise Welsh.

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A Pony For Linda

1 Comment / Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites /

When Michelle was little, little, little she fell in love with a book at the school library. The book was called A Pony For Linda and it looked just like this.

She would check it out from the library and pretend to “lose it” so she wouldn’t have to take it back to the library. When that didn’t work because I would always “find it”, she started just renewing it every week.

At the end of the school year, the librarian called me upstairs and asked me if Michelle would like to keep A Pony For Linda and just bring us a brand new book to take its place on the shelf. Michelle was thrilled. The librarian was also thrilled since she was getting a brand new book and Michelle always had that old book checked out so nobody could read it if they wanted to. I can’t remember which book Michelle picked out to exchange for her much loved green covered pony book.

We still have A Pony for Linda. And it still makes Michelle smile.

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The Stolen Child

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I really thought I had reserved The Stolen Child on audio but apparently not. I wonder what it is like on audio. Has anyone listened to this one, rather than read it?

Not that I didn’t enjoy reading it. I did enjoy it. I had heard so many good reviews about it, I was worried. Particularly in the first few chapters when I found it just a little slow and it wasn’t holding my attention very well. I think by the 4th chapter (which really isn’t very far into the book) I was hooked.

Changelings. Hobgoblins. Faeries. Humans. I think I prefer the changelings, how about you?

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The Sculptress!

4 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery /

I love book blogs. Without book blogs I would not have been introduced to tons of great books. Books like The Sculptress! Awesome. If only I could remember, or easy find, the book blog where I heard about The Sculptress. But it’s hard and I’m tired so I have given up for awhile. Whoever you are, if you are reading this and you blogged about Minette Walters sometime in the last six months – THANK YOU.

Did Olive do it or didn’t she? Does it matter?

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Tamburlaine Must Die

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I reserved Tamburlaine Must Die from the library because TW and I had been talking about The Cutting Room and I realized we had never read any of her other books, even though we really enjoyed that one.

This one – better than The Cutting Room. Louise Welsh’s fictional account of what happened to Christopher Marlowe (remember, he’s the one some people think wrote the better Shakespeare pieces). I liked it. It could have happened that way. And of course, Welsh handles gay sex better than most. There’s nothing worse than poorly written gay boy sex.

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