Someone over on BlogHer recommended some kids’ audiobooks and Ninja Detectives sounded good so I reserved the first one, The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit and it was fun. Really quick, which was nice — good ending, interesting kids. I’ll definitely reserve the next one on audio at some point next year.
Ninja Detectives Are Awesome Read More »
Since I can see the end of my Cybils shortlist challenge tunnel, it seemed like a good idea to reserve some of the new books in YA series I’ve started but hadn’t quite kept up with.
First, the third book in the Cahill Witch series, Sisters’ Fate turned out to be better than I expected. After a rough few pages when I barely remembered what the series was about, I settled in and really enjoyed it. I’m not a big fan of Cate, which is too bad since she’s the narrator — but I love all of the other characters and eventually found myself appreciating Cate, too.
And, the third book in the Finishing School series, Waistcoats & Weaponry was possibly the best book in the series. I need some sort of family tree thingy though to see where all of the tie-ins to the Soulless series are. Some are obvious, some are less so (particularly since I read the Soulless books so long ago.) I also need another book in the series — quickly. This one was so much fun.
2 Awesome Non-Cybil YA Books Read More »
Total chick lit. Driving with the Top Down was fun, if a little far-fetched. The way Colleen and Tamara found Bitty. The way it ended for Bitty. Huge reach but it worked and it was fun. (If you read it, just skip the prologue, it’s dumb and unnecessary. It’s short but whatever, it caused me to roll my eyes.)
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I finally found some time to read Joyland and I really enjoyed it. I liked the setting and the characters. I even liked the way it ended. Since this is a “crime” novel and not a horror novel, we didn’t get the really creepy Stephen King and that’s cool. Nice change from scary clowns with just enough creepyness to make it a fun read.
We listened to Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time on our trip to/from Oberlin and finally finished it up a couple of days ago. This book was a hot mess, which you would expect because it’s a Jodi Picoult book. But, it might be the biggest hot mess of all of her hot messes. I figured out the big issue long before it actually happened and… oh boy. The look on TW’s face when it happened. Hahahahaha. She might kill me if I ever force her to listen to another Jodi Picoult novel. hahaha. And that’s all I’m gonna say about this one because I don’t want to ruin it (hahaha) for Picoult fans.
When we headed to Oberlin, I made sure another audiobook was in the car, in case Leaving Time was short and we needed another audio book… TW took one look at that and said, “You’re kidding me. Are you trying to punish me? First Picoult, then this?” I laughed and said “What? It’s a Cybils book. It sounds like fun!” And then she put the first disc in and my head almost exploded. I couldn’t handle more than the intro before I told her to turn it off. I returned it.
I don’t think I’ve ever NOT finished a book from the Cybils shortlist before. So this is a first for me. I feel a little bad about that — but not bad enough to sit through William Shakespear’s Star Wars. I’m sure it’s fabulous, if you like that sort of thing. I absolutely do not and I am NOT even gonna pretend.
Two Audio Books — Sort Of Read More »
Best Sarah Waters book in a very long time. I loved The Paying Guests. Every character was perfect. The story line was terrific (though of course you had to know that Frances and Lilian were going to end up in that kind of mess.) Perfect ending. I loved every darn thing about it.
Prisoner B-3087 wasn’t a bad book, it also wasn’t a great book. It covered too much ground, far too quickly – Jack Gruener’s story is amazing and hard to convey in a short middle grade fiction novel.
It was hard to feel a bond with Yanek though of course you feel all of the horror that comes with a story about a Jewish child in the Holocaust. I get it though, Yanek’s story is complex, really complex. Done properly, it would probably be a 3 book series so I see why the author took the course he did. It just made this book not great and only good. Hopefully kids who read this will go look for more information about Gruener.
From the Cybils shortlist, Serafina’s Promise is a story of a Haitian girl — written in prose. Books written in prose are either horrible or wonderful and this one was wonderful. Beautiful. I loved it all. Every word. I want to read it again. And again.
Serafina’s Promise Read More »
The second book in the Midwife Mystery series, The Harlot’s Tale was just as awesome — if not more awesome — than the first one. Oh so clever and I found myself chuckling several times. This troubled TW. She says I laughed more during this book than I did reading Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (which is probably true since I errr don’t really find The Bloggess as funny as others do, particularly in large doses.)
Anyway — loved it. I did not see that ending coming. The part about Edward, though I should have since it paves the way for Joseph to be… Joseph. Can’t wait for #3.
I should have known better than to add Mind MGMT (vol 3) to my list for #readathon… TW picked it out. TW does not like graphic novels. TW thought it was about homemaking (eyeroll). It was the third in a series I’ve never read. I’ve heard of it and I’ve thought about trying it so I thought it was kismet or something when TW picked it out.
Alas. I did not enjoy it. Not because I was lost due to it being the third but because it was boring. The art was boring. The people were annoying and I hated them all. Bah. I won’t be going back to read the first two.
Graphic Novel Read During #Readathon Read More »