Fiction

Swordspoint

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

Ages ago, we read a book that I only barely remember – a gender bending story about swordsplay called The Privilege of the Sword. It was good, even though I can only barely remember what it was about. Then, a couple of weeks ago I saw that book on the library shelves. It made me wonder if the author had written any other books… she has and I read Swordspoint this week.

Not a gender bender but gay swordsman and gay Lords and it was good. Very good. The problem is – I’ve read the darn things out of order now. It looks like The Privilege of the Sword came much later… Alec is young in this story and old in Privilege of the Sword. Darn it. I hate reading books out of order and now I need to read the second book in the series and quite possibly re-read The Privilege of the Sword after that.

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Honolulu

2012, Books in Bed, Fiction, Women /

I’d like to say I read Honolulu in preparation for my trip to Hawaii but I didn’t. I read it because TW asked me to reserve it after it was suggested to her (on Good Reads, maybe) as a book she would like because she liked Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. She read it. She liked it. I figured I would like it too, since I liked Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

And I did, though it took me a lot longer to start to like it than it took TW. She liked it from the start – I didn’t like it until Jin left her dirtbag husband. That wasn’t far into the book, but I was tired when I first picked it up so it felt like AGES before I really got into the book. I loved the way the picture brides came together and supported each other. That’s really what made the book, for me. (And May’s storyline was pretty darn fantastic too.)

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War Horse

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

Heck.

I finally wrote my month in books wrap up for March and noticed I never blogged about War Horse. Which means my counts are off there, too. Sheesh. I’m on the ball, aren’t I?

OK so War Horse? Was there a movie made from this book? I thought there was and that’s why I reserved the book at the library. I figured if folks were watching the movie, the least I could do was read the book. Which I did. And I’m still not sure there is a movie. So. Whatever.

I sort of liked the book. Sort of. Mostly. There were just a couple of parts that kind of bugged me, stylistically. No big deal. A horse book is a horse book is a horse book, basically. But in this case…. The horse didn’t die. Well some horses did but not THE horse. Oops. I spoiled it for you. Sorry.  People die! There’s a war, after all. It will be sad enough, but not TOO sad (as most horse books are TOO sad, this will be a nice change for you.)

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Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

1 Comment / 2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

Well, I did it again. Reserved a book that I obviously didn’t know much about – because I’d seen it mentioned a few times and then seen it mentioned a few more times and then finally saw it mentioned in a way that convinced me that I should read it now. Which, it turns out, was funny in a way that I don’t really want to explain. Let’s just say… people are idiots sometimes. Now where was I…? Oh yea…

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

I thought it was chick lit (see above.)

I thought it was written by a woman (not that it matters.)

It’s neither chick lit nor was it written by a woman.

It was, however, excellent. Really very good. Can’t put it down good, though I did have to put it down on Wednesday night because I started it too late in the evening to read straight through (and man, do I hate it when that happens. You get a book that’s a perfect read straight through book but you start it at 9pm on a work day? That just stinks, doesn’t it?)

I really want to know what happened to Keiko before we meet her again in NYC. I also am interested in Ethel.  I need a sequel. Or a companion book. Or something. These are super interesting characters and I kind of love them. I want to know more.

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Ghetto Cowboy

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

This has been an awesome year for middle grade lit on audio. First, there was A Monster Calls, which I will never ever forget. Now, I’ve got Ghetto Cowboy and I’m almost glad Michelle has decided to move to Philadelphia because how cool is Philly with their Urban Cowboys and their horses? Because while this was fiction, Philly really does have urban cowboys and they really do  help keep poor black kids off of the streets by getting them involved with horses.   Learn a bit about Philadelphia’s urban riding program and then read/listen to Ghetto Cowboy. You won’t regret it – until the story ends and you want more.

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The Rivals

2012, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

The Rivals is the sequel to The Mockingbirds (not to be confused with Mockingjay). I… didn’t like it as much as The Mockingbirds and I saw the twist coming from a zillion miles away. I can’t believe how badly the three board members worked together. Wait, yes I can – they’re high school kids.  And Alex was really not prepared to lead the group – I suspect even if the cards hadn’t been stacked against her, she’d have had trouble with a big issue case. But, by the end of the book – she was definitely stronger, a better leader, and a better person, so that’s good.

Also, I like Jones. I wanted more Jones.

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Timeless

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

Thank goodness – you know how a series can get kind of boring after awhile, particularly if you read a bunch of books in the series really close together? Well Timeless, the fifth book in the Parasol Protectorate series, was excellent. As TW said, just as good as the first book and certainly better than the second and third and fourth. I was glad to see that some of the things I thought should happen in order to tie everything into a neat and pretty package DID happen. But now I’m dying to know what happens next and there is no next.  I mean I know what happens because the last book tied it all up for us but I want to READ it not just picture it. And, to not know how Ivy manages. Or see Madame LeFeoux neat and tidy. And. And. And.

Darn.

I guess I can wait for Prudence to grow up a bit more, 2013 will come around soon enough. I guess.

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Do the Math: Secrets, Lies and Algebra

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

The little spinny thing on my library website strikes again. Do the Math: Secrets, Lies and Algebra sounded cute so I reserved it. And it was cute. Super fast read with an awesome eight grade girl who thinks about pretty much everything in math terms, theories, and problems. And she doesn’t do it in a way that causes me to roll my eyes. Even though my TBR list is long this year, I’m very tempted to reserve the next book to find out what happens next. That Richard needs someone to teach him a lesson… just sayin’… And, I don’t care what the police decided – I think Rob was more involved than we will ever know.

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2 Cybils Picture Books

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

The Princess and the Pig was kind of cute –I liked the “It happens that way in books” refrain throughout the story. Very cute, though the youngest of children may not get it if they haven’t been exposed to all of the traditional fairy tales.  I was pretty troubled by the queen dropping her baby out the window and not realizing it – I mean, I know queens are dumb but that was pretty bad. Sheesh.

I wasn’t sure I’d like Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow but the illustrations and the foldouts really worked.  I would add this one to Johnny Mac Pippins reading list. Definitely.

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Press Here

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

Funny. I was going to hold off blogging about Press Here because I didn’t have a lot to say – mostly because I couldn’t decide whether I loved it or thought it was stupid. I figured I’d toss it off to Elly (she’s 13) and see what she thought.

She loved it. She did it all. Every single thing. And she said “IT WAS AWESOME, BEST BOOK EVER.”

And still I wasn’t going to blog it yet because, well, I figured it was just a weird Elly thing and maybe the book is stupid.

But just now, RJ, (who is 16, remember), came down to wait for her papers to finish printing and she picked the book up. RJ does not generally give two glances to the children’s books I check out at the library but I sat here and watched her go all the way through it – doing every single thing the book said to do. And as she was doing this, TW walked in and said, “you’re doing it wrong, you have to press down all of the dots at once…”

I looked at her in surprise. TW belittles my reading of children’s picture books ALL. OF. THE. TIME. And yet she had picked that one up, without me mentioning it to her – and she too, went all the way through the book and just said, (sheepishly), it’s kind of cool.

So. I guess it’s not stupid?

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