Fiction

St. Nick (x2)

2015, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Do you find yourself reading books that are completely unrelated but have odd connections between them? It doesn’t just happen to us, does it?

Like the audio book, St. Nick, that I grabbed from Amazon just because I didn’t have any other audio books and it seemed like it would be a fun listen in the car (even though Christmas just ended) and the Sandman Slim #6, The Getaway God, with the very evil Saint Nick character. Never in a million years would have expected a connection between those two books but there you go. It was also a little disconcerting to be reading them both at the same time. One St Nick was super good and the other so very not good. Very weird.

Anyway, I loved both books…

St Nick — a depressed and struggling cop turned mall Santa is just as you’d expect. The magic of Christmas etc. etc. etc. It was awesome.

The Getaway God, #6 in the Sandman Slim series, was just as awesome (maybe more awesome than some of the other books in the middle of the series) as you’d expect. Stark saves the world (again) and sorts out all of the broken Gods (and Lucifers, for that matter.) The only downside for me with a Sandman Slim novel is the lack of chapters. I need chapters. Why does Kadrey hate chapters? Hmph.

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The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

Margaret Dilloway is awesome. Totally. I sort of fan-girlled all over her at BH14. I never do that sort of thing. I think I scared her. lol. Anyway, I absolutely loved The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns.

Gal is my kind of woman. I liked her. Such a great character. I also really liked the relationship between her and Riley. And, shockingly (if you know me), I loved the ending.

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Neverhome

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

Neverhome was a beautifully written book. I was surprised by just how wonderful it was.

A woman heads off to fight for the Union in the civil war, leaving her husband behind, because she was better suited for fighting than he was. She was a good soldier but of course, bad things happen and, well, it was beautiful. You should read this one.

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The Love of Good Women

2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer, Women /

I finished a book and couldn’t decide what to read next so I grabbed a Naiad that TW bought at the little used bookstore in Cleveland last month. I should have reached for something that’s been in my stacks longer but I was feeling lazy and it was there. It was also amusing to us because of the title “The Love of Good Women” and because it was written by the author of Patience and Sarah.

And it was … what you’d expect. Old, really old, lesbian fiction. Not great. Not horrible. A classic.

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The Boy at the End of the World

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I have no idea how The Boy at the End of the World ended up in my library bag. So weird. It’s an older book, so it wasn’t from me just randomly surfing the new arrivals stack or anything like that. I can’t remember seeing it mentioned in a recent blog post. It just… randomly made its way to me and that’s awesome.

It was really good. I didn’t want to put it down. And, that was only in part due to the appearance of mutant prairie dogs. MUTANT PRAIRIE DOGS.

I really enjoyed it and the only sad thing is that there’s no sequel. Wah! I wanted more stories about Fisher, Protein, Click, and Zapper!

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Jim Hensen’s Labyrinth: The Novelization

2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Don’t ask me why I impulsively tossed Labyrinth: The Novelization into my library bag. Nostalgia probably. Or maybe I’d seen some weird buzzfeed quiz that pushed me over the edge. Whatever. I did it. I read it. I almost enjoyed it. Sort of.

The novelization isn’t as good as the movie. The drawings and notes in the back were the best part. I also found myself wanting to watch Labyrinth again. Maybe when all of the kids are home in a couple of weeks, that would be fun.

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The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, Steampunk /

It took me awhile to get into The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy — I was having trouble with the setting. This happens sometimes when real people are in fiction or, worse yet, steam punk fiction. Everything is so … far-fetched that it takes me awhile to suspend disbelief and just go with it.

Once I did that — I was good. It was a fun story. Interesting. I wish I’d known more about damn Nellie Taft but am certainly glad to know more now. Cool woman.

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The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t…

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, short stories, Steampunk /

After I finished Waistcoats & Weoponry, I was surfing Gail Carriger’s author page on Amazon and noticed a novella that I’d never read… a prequel to the Parasol Protectorate series so I downloaded The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar — that’s a mouthful and the title is almost longer than the short story.

Which is exactly what was wrong with this… it wasn’t so much a novella as a short story and it was too short. Way too short. There was some bouncing around that only barely made sense. Horrible transitions. I didn’t hate it and I’m glad I read it — it just wasn’t enough.

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