Fiction

And She Was…

2007, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

And She Was… what? That’s the question, what was she? Who was she? Why in the heck did I spend almost a full week trying to read this book? The answer to the last question is the easy one – because Staci and TW both recommended it. While TW has steered me wrong in the past, Staci has not, so I stuck it out.

Mostly I’m left with, “huh?” But the last half of the book DID interest me and I had high hopes. Unfortunately, once I was finished, I just felt let down. It could have been really good. In places it WAS really good. Aleut mummies, women power, Alaskan bars – what’s not to love? Unfortunately, a lot. It could have been SO good. But it wasn’t.

(Don’t feel badly Staci, I’ll still read what you recommend in the future.)

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Odalisque

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

About 50 pages to the end of Odalisque: Book One of the Percheron Saga, I realized I was going to hate the book. I realized this because it is what I’ve always thought as a part of a “real” series. It’s a book that doesn’t wrap up the adventure, it doesn’t even come close to wrapping up the adventure. We haven’t even hit the climax – or maybe there are two climaxes and book three contains the denouement and wraps it all up tidy? I don’t know. I just know when I finished it last night, I was annoyed. Now I have to track down Book 2 and Book 3. Immediately.

Damn it.  Book Two hasn’t even been released yet!  How did this happen?  I blame TW for choosing this from the library shelf in the first place.

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The Wayward Muse

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Women /

I wanted to love The Wayward Muse but I didn’t. Part fiction, part non-fiction – it just didn’t grab me. I wanted to like Jane Burden but I didn’t. I wanted to like Morris and Rossetti and I didn’t. I didn’t care anything about any of them and that’s disappointing because I really do like all three – the real people, not the people as “characters” in this book.

Disappointing.

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The Sleeping Doll

3 Comments / 2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery /

It’s been ages since I read anything by Deaver. How long ago was The Bone Collector written? Years and years. I wasn’t sure The Sleeping Doll would be worth reading or anywhere near as good as The Bone Collector… it wasn’t as good but it was worth reading.

TW started it last night and said “boy it starts with a bang, doesn’t it?” – It does and there are bangs all of the way through it. I won’t go far as to say I couldn’t put it down but I will say that I enjoyed picking it up, every single time.

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The Bestiary

2007, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Religion /

Yet another favorite to add to this year’s list of great reads. Who would have guessed The Bestiary would be that good? Not me. I flipped through Nicholas Christopher’s other novels and don’t think I’ve ever read any. Oh wait, did I read Veronica? I know it was on my list to read at some point but from the description, I’m guessing I never got around to it… anyway, who knew the guy could write a great story with pretty terrific characters?

Toward the end, I was worried I was going to begin to hate it. I began to dislike the story just a tiny bit when Xeno, Bruno and Lena re-connected. I’m still not sure I like the Lena portion, though I suppose I knew it was coming all along. I loved the ending completely. It couldn’t have been better and I was able to overlook “Lena” and still check this one off as a favorite.

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Fictional History of the United States….

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer, short stories /

I was avoiding Fictional History of the United States With Huge Chunks Missing because I errrr thought it was non-fiction. I didn’t really pay attention to the title, just knew something about US history was on the library shelf, getting closer and closer to the top of the pile, and I just wasn’t feeling like reading it.

I mentioned my hesitation to TW and she informed me that it was fiction and really good and funny. She was right. Very amusing. I’m sorry I waited so long to read it.

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Dragonwell Dead: A Tea Shop Mystery

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery, Women /

I’m a little surprised that Dragonwell Dead is the first Tea Shop Mystery that I’ve read. The series seems to be set in Charleston which means someone should have pointed it out to me – or I should have somehow stumbled upon the series. Weird. Extra weird because I think TW just plucked this off of the library shelves.

It wasn’t a great mystery. It wasn’t a great book. It was a nice easy read. And most important of all, it didn’t make me growl. I am very particular about books set in Charleston. I growl a lot about inaccurate descriptions of places and inaccurate portrayals of the city or Charlestonians. There were some fictional locations mentioned but that was fine, the “real” places mentioned were given accurate descriptions and that’s all I ask.

I’m not sure I’ll read another Tea Shop Mystery but I wouldn’t turn up my nose at one if it appeared on my bookshelf.

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Going to hell?

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

TW laughed so hard while reading There’s a (slight) change I’m going to hell that she woke me up, twice. This is a sure sign that I’m either going to really LOVE a book or be really disappointed.

I was disappointed. But not as much as I feared.

It was amusing but not THAT amusing. TW has a weird sense of humor or maybe it’s the “faculty wife” thing I don’t get. Or the “pageant” thing? Or the making friends thing? Whatever. It was funny and TW laughed out loud over and over again. I just chuckled a few times.

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Forgive Me

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I can’t figure out if I liked Forgive Me or not. I read it quickly and at times really didn’t want to put it down. But at other times, I was a little bored. I read a review somewhere (Amazon probabaly) that used the word “contrived”. That’s a good word for it. But also “earnest” again a good word for this book.

I really disliked the diary entries from “Harry”. I also disliked most of the return to South Africa portion of the book. I don’t know, even as I type this part of me is saying “wait, it wasn’t that bad”. And it wasn’t. It just wasn’t great and it is possible that it could have been great.

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