Fiction

Warp Speed (#readathon)

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Dewey's Readathon, Fiction /

Warp Speed was a lot of fun, and not just because it’s always fun to debate the Star Trek vs Star Wars issue – extra fun to throw in some Batman and Superman debate as well. I really liked Marley’s mom – she’s blind and that’s not something you see in a character’s mom very often. Marley’s dad sounds like he has some social phobia. So yea, interesting family which makes the whole bullies in middle school topic a lot more interesting.

(Readathon page count: 1,435)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Warp Speed (#readathon) Read More »

Words in the Dust (#readathon)

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Dewey's Readathon, Favorites, Fiction /

Readathon page count: 781

I really liked Words in the Dust.  We need more stories about children in Afghanistan and we need more books with really solid female characters.  I was skeptical when I read the introduction by Katherine Paterson but she’s right – Zulaikha is a character who you can’t help but care about and wonder about after the story ends.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Words in the Dust (#readathon) Read More »

The Color of Tea

2012, Adoption Reading Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction, Women /

The Color of Tea started off really dark and depressing – and slow. That was the worst part, it was so slow that I read a chapter and put it down and each night I considered just stopping and starting something else. If there had been something on the shelf I was dying to read, I’d have done that. But no, I muddled through. And I’m glad I did because about the time Grace decided to get out of bed and build a café was the time it lightened up and moved. Which makes sense.

I loved Café’ Lillian. I loved the women who made their lives there.

I can’t decide how I feel about the end. I knew it was coming – an infertility story that was going to turn into an open adoption story… Grace gave birth to the macaron café and GiGi gave birth to Faith and then they… swapped. That’s how it felt and that’s why I can’t decide whether I liked the ending. Which is pretty much how I feel about adoption in general, I guess.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Color of Tea Read More »

Spy Mom: The Adventures of Sally Sin

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

A few weeks ago, Sassymonkey asked me if I’d read (heard of) the Sally Sin books. I hadn’t but they looked interesting, so I reserved them. TW read the second book and then realized that the other book actually contained two separate books under one cover. Cool – I took book 2 back and picked up Spy Mom a couple of days ago, and could not put it down. Totally fun. I love Sally Sin. I mean Lucy. I hope to goodness that there’s another book coming because I really need another book.  

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Spy Mom: The Adventures of Sally Sin Read More »

With a Name Like Sparkle Hayter….

2012, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery, Women /

I reserved Nice Girls Finish Last and Revenge of the Cootie Girls because I saw the cool pulp fiction-y covers on the library’s recently reviewed spinner. I am a sucker for a good pulp fiction style cover. And once they arrived, I noticed they were written by Sparkle Hayter. Hahaha. I love her name. I love it so much that I actually own Naked Brunch (but have never managed to read it.)

I was a little unhappy when I realized Nice Girls Finish Last was not the first book in the series. I do not like reading books out of order. But, I didn’t have anything else handy that I really felt like reading and I figured I’d take a shot. I still wish I’d read them in order but I enjoyed both of these books a lot. Enough that I’m thinking about reserving the rest of the books in the series. I like Robin. She’s a great character and her supporting cast is pretty darn good, too.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

With a Name Like Sparkle Hayter…. Read More »

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction /

I was more amused by The Cheshire Cheese Cat than I expected to be. An animal story done well is a wonderful thing – and not as easy to find as you might think, considering the overwhelming number of animal stories published for kids every year. But, it was the appearance/mentions of Wilkie Collins that did it. And, the role Dickens played in the story.  Brilliant way to, softly, introduce Victorian authors to middle grade (or younger!) readers.  (As a bonus, Skilly reminded me of the Fake Cat and her love of cheese – how could I not love this book?)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale Read More »

Catching Up on Cybils — Five Down

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction /

I knew we’d be spending a lot of time at home this weekend, new puppy and all that… so I went ahead and reserved a bunch of the books from the Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books. Generally speaking – I didn’t love them.

These are all perfectly fine books – Clementine was my favorite because I really like Clementine.

I Broke My Trunk – Mo Willems. I know it’s sacrilege to say so, but sometimes his books are boring. This is one of those books.

Dodsworth in Rome – I do not understand these books. OK I understand them, I am just not sure why one might read them to/with their kids. Kids should read travel books and learn about wonderful, famous places but I’m not sure that Dodsworth and Duck are the best books for that.

Aggie Gets Lost – I always want more from an Aggie story than I get. In this case, I really wanted more and it was just the same ole Aggie story stuff.

Frog & Friends – The balloon story was cute. The other two were fine.

Clementine and the Family Meeting – I really like Clementine. I like her a lot. She’s an awesome 8 year old with some of the same problems any other 8 year old might have. I like her parents and I like her teachers/principal. I even like her friends.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Catching Up on Cybils — Five Down Read More »

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

2012, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer /

In The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Cameron is a lesbian – she’s been attracted to girls for… forever. Unfortunately, she lives in small town Montana and her parents die the day after she kissed a girl for the first time.

It all goes downhill from there.

She falls for a straight, popular girl in high school but the girl is not so straight.  She does, however, tell everyone that Cameron took advantage of her (all summer long!) and Cameron is sent off to a special Christian boarding school to learn how to not be a lesbian.

Lots of bad things happen. Some good things happen, too.

I liked the book, well enough – but I had trouble getting into it and staying in it. Too depressing because this still/really happens to kids. (Not just the deprogramming schools/camps, but the rest of it, too…)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post Read More »

The Prisoner of Heaven

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I love these books. I really do. But, once again, I wish I had read them all close together – there are bits and pieces of Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game that are muddled and only became more muddled as I read Prisoner of Heaven. I own Shadow of the Wind in print… I’m thinking about buying the second and third for Kindle and then sitting down and re-reading all three, back to back to back.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Prisoner of Heaven Read More »