Fiction

Tithe

2006, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale was a nice little young adult DARK fantasy novel. A pixie changling, black knights, some faery queens, kelpies and just about any other fae being you can think of are included here. Completely fun and probably a little scarey at times for young readers just venturing into DARK fantasy faerie worlds. Oh and there’s some gay boy stuff tossed in for good measure, too. Pay attention the DARK descriptive I keep using. It is dark. This is not a light-hearted aren’t the faeries cute sort of tale. There’s a line about how the sunset looks like slit wrists in the bathtub, a pretty dumb but interesting line and an example of the type of “shock” writing in here.

This isn’t a series but there is another by the same author called Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie. I guess I’ll try and reserve that at the library too.

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The Understudy

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

The Understudy was a cute little bit of fluffy chicklit – if the main character is a man, can it still be chick lit???? It’s was an “understudy” sort of book – a not great but waiting in the wings to go on, perfectly acceptable sort of book. I liked the ending. Boy didn’t really get the girl. Boy didn’t get his big break and become the star he always knew he could be. No nice neat ending.

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Hollow Chocolate Bunnies

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

When I blogged about Over Easy I got a really great book recommendation from Fausti – Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse. I immediately reserved it at the library and it’s been in the house for several months now (thanks to the magic of online renewal!).

I finally picked it up a couple of days ago. Read the first chapter and thought hmmmm, is this suppose to be good? TW said it was very good, she read it last month. So I picked it up again and read another 100 pages the next day and yes, it was good! (I think the lack of nicotine on day 2 of my quit caused the lackluster first chapter) I had trouble putting it down today, it was that good. And definitely better than the Nursery Crimes book of Ffordes’!

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Sarah Waters

5 Comments / Favorites, Fiction, GLBT /

Click into this interview with Sarah Waters (Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith).

If she had any aim regarding the "lesbian-ness" of her writing,
it was the more properly historical one of writing lesbians back
into history, of telling stories that were once left untold. In
this sense, the label historical novelist, rather than lesbian
novelist, makes more sense to her, though she is happy with
both.

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Books for Girls

2 Comments / Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Reading Lists /

The New York Times has this interesting list of books for "girls" to read.  I really hate gendered reading lists like this but that’s a blog for another day.  Looking at the list, I think I’ve read four.  All four were very good. 

Interesting to see Luna on the list – I wonder if it makes the list of books for boys to read, ha! 

Flipped, also very good.  I think Michelle read this before we did.  Maybe right after we brought her home for school.  Or maybe it was Chris’s ex g/f who recommended it?  I don’t know, I just know we’ve all read it and we enjoyed it quite a bit.

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things was good but not something I’d recommend off the top of my head. 

Speak was a tough read, I’m surprised it’s got the 14 and up label.  I thought parents were more conservative than I am…

Oh wait, I’ve read 5 – Tiger Eyes, sort of boring actually.  I think I’ve outgrown Judy Blume or something.  Which now that I think about it, is really very sad.  I sound like my mother!  Ack!

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I don’t like sock monkeys

3 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery /

I’m not a fan of sock monkeys and I wasn’t all that thrilled with “Dickie” the sock monkey in Penn Jillette’s (yes from Penn & Teller) Sock. What a weird book. Weird isn’t generally a bad thing and it was probably the weird that made this worth reading. I mean sock monkeys. NYC police diver. Gay hairdresser. Serial Killer. Lots of dead people. And Proust. If that isn’t a weird combination then I don’t know what is.

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Ourland

2006, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, GLBT /

Ack! I should have stuck with not reading the sequel to Herland because With Her in Ourland was a disappointment. Boring, boring, boring – but that’s what Michelle said about Herland… I wonder if she would like Ourland better?

I didn’t really need to look at “our” history through the eyes of a Herlander – or her husband’s eyes, for that matter. I already Blame the Patriarchy for everything as it is. Well there are some things I do blame my mom for, but those tend to be familial issues and running over dogs and stuff like that.

Blah!

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Rococo

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I finally finally finally finished Rococo. I didn’t think I’d make it. I almost put it in the “to be returned to the library” stack unfinished. I stuck with it because TW said she liked it. I stuck with it because I have always enjoyed Adriana Trigiani’s books. I stuck with it because surely it would get better.

And it did. Eventually. Sort of.

I think the male lead character was the problem. I love Trigiani’s female characters but I did not love the male lead. Toot – loved her! Chris and Amalah – loved them. Capri and Aurelia – loved them. Eydie – loved her and would love to date her (well I would if I wasn’t in a relationship). Bartolomeo (lead character)- didn’t love him, didn’t care a thing about him. The supporting male characters – loved them, too. The main character, ummm, no. Boring.

One other problem – I’m having issues with ottomans now. They seem to be everywhere. How did that happen? Were they always there and I just never noticed before The House of B and his ottoman fetish?

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Atwood!

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, short stories /

Sassymonkey is awesome! She sent us a video for Michelle (whic is on the lesson plans for Tuesday) and along with it she sent us an autographed copy of Margaret Atwood’s The Tent! I was seriously surprised. I mean I knew she was going to send the video, which was terrific but I had no idea she was going to send the book. She totally made my day.

What makes the surprisey gift so much better is that I really enjoyed the stories. The stories are very very short, just a few pages each, which makes it quick and easy to read in small bits throughout the day. And the stories were just a little “odd” but not too “odd”. Some sounded very “Atwood-like” and others not so much. Almost all of them made me smile. The drawings were a nice inclusion to the book, too.

While I liked them all, I really enjoyed “” (Like God, I like a balanced Heaven) and “Chicken Little Goes Too Far” (I umm am a Chicken Little fan, shhh don’t tell anyone).
Thank you sassymonkey, you’re the BEST!

If you clicked the link to sassymonkey, you’ll see her review of seeing Atwood in person recently – what’s funny about this is that I tried desperately to get The Penelopiad to her before Christmas, when her package was lost, and damn Chapters couldn’t guarantee it in time so I cancelled it in favor of a snack basket that promised before Christmas arrival and ended up not getting there in time. I knew I should have stuck with the book!

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The Killing Art

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery /

TW picked up The Killing Art from the shelf while I was waiting for the librarian to retrieve our reserves. She didn’t think I’d like it, though I do not know why. It was fun. Nice to read a NYC cop, whodunit type thing about art. I don’t think we read enough books where art plays a large part.

Apparently there are a couple of other books about the lead character (who is a woman! another bonus!) and art murders/crime. I liked The Killing Art enough that I reserved the other two books for future reading.

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