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The Lightning Thief

2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

TW, Michelle and I really enjoyed listening to The Lightning Thief on the way to Charleston and back again this weekend. Michelle seemed highly disappointed when it was over. She’ll be glad to hear the next book in the series is coming soon – though April seems a long time to wait, at least it’s not like waiting for the next HP book.

Percy Jackson is a troubled 12 year old who finally discovers just WHY he’s troubled – he’s a half-God, son of …. I won’t tell you whose son he is because that would ruin a good part of the book for you. Imagine being half mortal and half God… and having monsters sniffing around after you to try and kill you for being half-God. Troublin, troubling, troubling!

A quest, lots of monsters, lots of Greek mythology presented in a fun way.

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Cats are King!

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites /

Yes, I admit it, I spent yesterday evening and a wee bit of this morning reading Carbonel: The King of Cats instead of some other “real” book. Sue me. I like children’s fiction and I don’t read enough of it (let’s not count Harry Potter, ok?).

What’s weird is that I really enjoy children’s fiction that has cats in it – talking cats, flying cats, magical cats. Cats here, Cats there, Cats and Kittens Everywhere! Hundreds of Cats! Thousands of Cats! Millions and Billions and Trillions of Cats! Oops, sorry, I got carried away.

The weird part is that I really no longer like the real thing, cats I mean. When I no longer have a single cat living in my house I will be one supremely happy woman. So why do I enjoy cats in literature? Millions of Cats is my favorite! Catwings and all of the sequels is awesome! And Carbonel is one cool cat!

Besides being a cool cat, this little version was a really nicely bound piece of reading. Nice, quality, old fashioned cover and binding. Paper that felt good to the hand. It even ummm smelled good!

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Prime is also not spooky!

3 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery /

So Poppy Z Brite doesn’t want to be called horror writer. That’s fine with me. It’s more than fine with me because I’ve liked her last two NON HORROR books better than I ever liked her horror writing.

First Liquor and then Prime, both quite enjoyable. Surprisingly enjoyable. I’m anxiously awaiting the next installment of the Rickey and G-man saga (there is going to be another, isn’t there???).

I suppose though the real test would be to hand these over to my son, the huge Poppy Z Brite – horror writer – fan. Maybe for some people “once a horror writer, always a horror writer”? I would encourage those folks to expand their horizons a bit. They will be pleasantly surprised.

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Awwwwe – Pandas!

1 Comment / 2005, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I’m not sure why “The Lady and the Panda” appeared on my library pick up list but I’m really glad that it did.

I don’t have a thing for pandas the way some people do. They’re ok as far as animals go. Jenn (my oldest child) liked them for a few years but she gave them up in favor of Garfield pretty quickly. I have seen the Pandas at the National Zoo. They’re ok. No big deal really.

I’ve never thought a lot about the zoos. How they came to be. What it must have been like a hundred or more years ago to have some new creature discovered and appear in zoos. Maybe because it’s a hunting thing and I’m anti-hunter? I’ve never really been anti-zoo though. I don’t know, whatever, I’ve just never thought much about the subject.

Now, it seems that I’m thinking a lot about it. I even dreamed about doggone pandas the other night. The book, needless to say, left an impression on me. Interesting woman, interesting subject. Good book.

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Bloomin Ya-Yas

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Favorites /

OK OK so the title is Ya-Yas in Bloom, I like my version better, don’t you? Other than the title, which I thought was kind of dumb, I loved the latest Ya-Ya installment. Can I really call it an installment since these aren’t the sort of books that pick up where the others left off? Whatever, I liked it.

I hated Little Altars and spent a lot of time thinking Rebecca Wells should have quit while she was ahead. Well I’ve changed my mind, she should have written in Bloom and skipped the darn Altars instead! The Ya-Ya’s are a dysfunctional group of women and that stems from dysfunctional family life and leads to dysfunctional family life – we know that, we don’t need the darkness of a book like Little Altars Everywhere to tell us that.

Oops, I’ve rambled off into a rant about the Altars – that happens anytime someone mentions the Ya-Yas to me. I need to practice rambling about how much I loved Ya-Yas in Bloom instead. Because I did. Love it.

(And I loved that Wells including my pal Brenda in her acknowledgements. Cool.)

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I Love Nancy Drew

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Mystery, Non-Fiction /

When I picked up this book from the shelf, I was afraid I would be disappointed. But I wasn’t. And I knew I wasn’t going to be from the first page of the Introduction. Not only do I love Nancy Drew. I love “Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.

I mentioned in my Books That Say Something About You post that Nancy Drew says something about me. She does. I started reading Nancy’s in the early 70’s. The books with the yellow spine and interesting covers. (I do have one old one with a paper jacket and another with a solid turquoise binding) I remember when there was some controversy over who wrote the Nancys. And I remember the move from G&D to S&S.

This little book answers all of the questions I had about Nancy Drew and Carolyn Keene, and some I never wondered about. And it did it in a way that left me satisfied and not disillusioned with either Carolyn Keene or Nancy.

If you prefer the Hardy Boys or Bobbsey Twins or Ruth Fielding or Rover Boys was, you might still want to pick up this little book because the world of children’s literature, the 50 cents books, were linked in one way or another.

Whether you loved Nancy or hated her, she still had some kind of an impact on your life – if it wasn’t for Nancy, were would children’s literature be today? Girls’ literature in particular?

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Brilliant Women Redux

4 Comments / Bookcrossing, Favorites, Reading Lists /

I was chastised.  By the owner of the book I was telling you all about last month.. umm in August (time flies)   Sniff, Sniff.  No, I still haven’t finished my entry which means I still haven’t sent it on its way to the next person in the ring.  I’ve thought about it a lot.  I even bought some cool things to decorate my pages with.  I’ve come up with some Brilliant Women I want to write about and I’ve jotted some ideas about said Brilliant Women.  But no, I have not actually WRITTEN anything in the doggone journal.

I’m bad.  I know.  I’m sorry.  Sort of.  Brilliance is hard to write about.  I feel like I need to write brilliantly about these brilliant women and I’ve been just a little too "off" to come close to writing anything brilliant.  Heck, I can’t even manage to successfully log into my email account half the time because I can’t seem to type my own name!  See?  How can I be expected to write about brilliant women under this type of cloud?

Yes, I’m just making excuses.  I’m good at making excuses.  When it comes to excuse making, I’m a brilliant woman. 

So here’s the list of women I’m going to write about, in no particular order, I think…

  • Audre Lorde
  • Jodi Piccoult
  • Virginia Woolf
  • Jeanette Winterson
  • Sylvia Plath
  • Jane Austen

Making the list is the hardest part, right?

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The Warrior Poet Adoption

3 Comments / Favorites, GLBT, Poetry /

In the beginning, when we were still disovering similar interests and different ideas in each other, TW and I found ourselves in the midst of what I like to call a poetry dance.  The "music" we were dancing to was the poetry of Audre Lorde.  On a message board, in a community of women, there were few who recognized Lorde’s words and even fewer who understood what Lorde’s words meant to us.  Typical and disappointing.  Finding TW in that place and finding that she not only knew of Audre Lorde but appreciated her was neither typical or disappointing.  It was pretty darn amazing.

I’ve mentioned my birthday gifts on the other blog; iRiver and clean sweep but now I’m going to tell you about the best gift of all!  (I know, how could it get better than that?)

TW adopted Audre Lorde for me!  It’s true, she did!  You can go right to this Audre Lorde page of the Poets.org site and look way down there on the right.  My name is there (along with some other obvoiusly cool woman in NYC).

A lot of time has passed since then and we’ve shared a lot of poetry since then but Audre Lorde will always be special to us both.  For who she was, what she said and the poetry dance the two of us shared. 

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I Need Penguins

Favorites, Reading Lists /

TW and I spent some time daydreaming about the complete set of Penguin Classics but as of yet, we haven’t won the lottery so the 25 boxes that they are shipped in (and take 12 hours to unpack) aren’t clogging up ur already clogged office. (not that 77 linear feet would fit in this office…but that would motivate me to clean it) I am afraid that ownership of these will always be an unfulfilled dream, just like having my very own library. Sigh.

Penguinpock
But this little set is totally doable, don’t you think??? Free delivery in the UK. I don’t live in the UK. What do you think delivery would be to the US????

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I love banned books

6 Comments / Banned Books, Favorites, GLBT, Reading Lists /

I don’t really want to ban that stupid Modesty book because then that will just make it more beloved to the masses. We all know that’s what happens when a book is banned or challenged. It’s certainly happened for me. If we’re just talking about books and someone mentions Ordinary People, I’m likely to say “It was ok but no big deal” but as soon as I see it on the Banned/Challenged List I get all sentimental about it. Absence or the potential for absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

I’m thrilled that three of the most challenged books last year had gay themes or undertones. (Yippee! Next year let’s get four!) Not because I’m all that thrilled with the books themselves, (though The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a favorite around here), but because those gay and not really all that great books are getting more attention than if folks had just kept their mouths shut about them. I mean really, “King & King”? Who would have given that a second look if folks hadn’t made such a stink. It certainly wasn’t going to replace Grimm’s Fairy Tales in the classic Prince and Princess love story genre, was it?

And since I’m on the topic of Banned and Challenged Books, can someone explain to me how Song of Solomon is porn? Because I don’t get it. At all. It’s not even erotica. If I handed Song of Solomon to Michelle and told her it was porn, she’d laugh her rear end off. And I’m glad.

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