Fiction

Odd and the Frost Giants

1 Comment / 2010, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction /

First, Neil Gaiman books should be listened to on audio, right before bed. If we listened to Odd and the Frost Giants when I was tired, his voice threatened to put me to sleep. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a boring voice – it’s a good bedtime story voice. Next, you should know that this is a super short book – a plus in my opinion. Two cds (on audio) – nice. No chance of this one being overdue at the library.

Now, about the story – nicely written, nicely told. I liked Odd. I liked Loki and Thor and Odin and Freya AND the Frost Giant, whose name we do not know because he didn’t tell us. Everyone should read (or listen) to this one.  

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7 Poets 4 Days 1 Book

2010, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon, Fiction, Poetry /

I picked up 7 poets 4 Days 1 Book at the library because the cover was cool. When I read the first couple of pages, it was even cooler. Seven poets from all of the world came to Iowa to spend four days writing poetry. Not collaboratively but not singularly, either. They’d write, they would read aloud (some had to translate to English, on the spot, because they write in other languages – which I cannot even imagine doing) and then they would edit, write some more, and talk about their poems.

It’s interesting to see themes, common and not, that obviously came from the direct sharing of works in progress. Mis-hearing or misunderstanding another poets words turned into something else completely in someone else’s work. Or pushed them toward something that sounded similar but was different.

Very interesting reading. And, a good choice for both the Dewey Readathon and National Poetry Month.

(And just to help me keep track – 122 pages.)

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The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag

2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult /

Have I mentioned I love Flavia De Luce? The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag might have actually been better than the first book. Flavia is funny. People take her a wee bit more seriously in this book than they did in the first one, which is as it should be. Loved the description of the puppet show, excellent writing.

Now, onto the “real” Readathon books… total pages read thus far, 152.

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The Firefighter’s Secret Baby

2010, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

Yes, you read that right. I just finished The Firefighter’s Secret Baby. Why yes, it’s a Harlequin. And yes, it was exactly what you’d expect from a Harlequin about a firefighter and a secret baby. Amusing but fewer love scenes than I expected, not nearly as many romantic/love scene moments as the last firefighter book I read.

Thank you, Firemom, for bringing this little gem to the attention of the BlogHer Book Group. Now who wants to read it next? Go add your name to Mr Linky – we’re going to pass this (not so secret) baby around to everyone who wants to read it.

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Fledgling

2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

We’ve been listening to Fledgling on audio for quite awhile and finally finished it last night. After you get over the creepy-ness of the 10 year old vampire erotic sex/feeding story, it’s smooth sailing. (For the record, the 10 year old vampire isn’t really 10 years old, she’s 53 in vampire years and just LOOKS like a 10 or 11 year old girl.) The race storyline, the simbiont storyline – excellent, as you would expect from Butler. She turned vampires into something a helluva lot more than Meyers or Rice or even Stoker ever dreamed up.

When it ended, TW and I were once again sorry that Octavia Butler died in 2008. She had a lot more stories in her and I’d really like to have heard more about Shori Mathews and her family of simbionts.

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Bite Me

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I would marry Chris Moore. I say that every time he publishes a new book. Every time. Sometimes I just say it for no good reason except that I love Chris Moore. I also love Abby Normal and would marry her if she wasn’t a fictional character and wasn’t my daughter’s age.

While I was reading Bite Me, I tweeted a couple of quotes from the book. Quotes that made me laugh my freaking ass OFF.

An inky-colored despair of rejection enveloped me like the black tortilla of depression around a pain burrito

I have sniffed the bitter pink Sharpie of despair

People! What’s not to love about lines like that?  Poor Chet! Poor Tommy! Poor Abby! Yay Kona (from Fluke!) Go Animals!

Go Christopher freaking Moore!

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The Girl Who Chased the Moon

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction /

I’m still a Sarah Addison Allen fan. I keep waiting for the shoe to drop, for her to write a book that makes me cringe or roll my eyes. The Girl Who Chased the Moon isn’t that book. It’s as good as any of the others and in some ways better. (Teen sex, teen pregnancy, abortion, cutting but none of it was preachy or shocking or anything other than straight storytelling.)  I’m not 100% sure I loved the ending but I sure didn’t hate it (which is saying something.)  And, this one made me crave North Carolina BBQ. And cole slaw. Mmmmm

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Shades of Grey

1 Comment / 2010, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

Jasper Fforde is a wee bit crazy. But it’s a good kind of crazy. The Thursday Next books are a lot of fun. The Nursery Crimes are amusing, too. But with Shades of Grey, Fforde has carried is own brand of crazy to a new level.

We listened to this one on audio, and at first we thought it was just a wee bit convoluted for us. We turned it off after the first 15 minutes because we just couldn’t follow it – we had no clue what was going on and we didn’t feel like we’d ever figure it out. We turned it on again, a few days later, and within a few minutes we were chuckling. There are moments when it’s difficult to follow but that’s ok, it’s just part of the crazy, brilliant, funny. It’s ok to be confused, Fforde’s characters often are and that is part of their charm.

I hope this is going to be a series – I think it will be an even better series than Thursday Next.

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The Child Thief

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Should I start by confessing that I don’t really like Peter Pan? And I cannot stand the Disney-fied Tinkerbell, though I supposed I probably had some weird fondness for her when I was young. I think the problem was that I saw the Disney Peter Pan before I read Barrie’s original. The early tainting ruined it all for me.

And then there was Brom and Child Thief. I was opposed to reading it because the dude needs to get another name – does he think he’s Prince? Or Madonna? I was opposed to reading it because… see above. I was interested in reading it because naked women prints inside of a YA book – awesome, that doesn’t happen very often.

So – I read it. And ended up paying 60 cents for the pleasure because I was working my butt off and couldn’t read more than a chapter a night for almost a full week. I wanted to read it straight through. It was good. I might almost like Peter Pan again. Maybe. I definitely like The Lost Boys – particularly since this particular group of Devils weren’t just boys.

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The Libyrinth

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Queer, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women, Young Adult /

TW kept telling me that I had to read The Libyrinth. I couldn’t figure out why. It looked like some run of the mill YA fantasy novel. What’s the big deal? TW likes fantasy but she tends to be not as big a fan of YA as I am.

It took all of two paragraphs for me to figure out why she liked it. Books. A library, the biggest library EVER. Ritualistic book burnings carried out by people who are either Eradicants or Singers, depending upon your point of view. Strong women, lesbians. The book had everything. EVERYTHING.

One of the characters, hears written text, and since she lives and works in a library (the Libyrinth) she is surrounded by books – random lines from random books appear throughout the story and it’s interesting to see how quickly we recognize (or don’t) the lines. (The list of quoted books is in the back, which was nice.)

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