Fiction

Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, another Kris Radish, is pure chick lit with a dumb title. Any number of great lines from the book could have been used as the title, too bad something else wasn’t selected. Anyway, back to the pure chick lit – that’s what it was. Nothing really new or unusual about it, unlike the Elegant Gathering of White Snows which all felt new and unusual. Pure chick lit (and as you know if you read my book blogging regularly, I like chick lit.)

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn Read More »

Drag King Dreams

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer /

Drag King Dreams is a pretty decent follow up to the queer classic Stone Butch Blues. Pretty decent is about as good as I can come up with, particularly since Stone Butch Blues is fantastic.

I am a little tired of the post 9/11 NYC thing and this book was just a little too full of that for me. I understand the point – the police harassment of those from Pakistan, India, Iraq, Iran etc… is very similar to the harassment of “gender queers”. It makes sense and it’s a good point but I’d have enjoyed the book more with just a wee bit less politic thrown in.

The end of the book though, fantastic. The calling out of each person’s “name” while in jail – really good ending.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

Drag King Dreams Read More »

Anna Casey’s Place in the World

2 Comments / 2007, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction /

Yes, another book blog post. Sorry! Once I made it through Cellophane, the reading has just come so much easier. I don’t expect I’ll slow down since I’ve got two Harper Collins review books to read plus a bunch of A to Z list books due back to the library this month. So you non-readers just hang tight for a bit longer. (What do you want me to blog about that isn’t related to books? I’ll take requests, just this once. Carmen, don’t say ELFF Diet, I’m getting to that – I swear!)

So, about Anna Casey’s Place in the World it’s juvenile fiction (not even young adult fiction) and I have no idea how it landed in my ClubMom library bag. Did it win a Cybil? Did sassymonkey blog it? Did TW pick it up from the shelf while we were wandering around the stacks? Who knows, my library reading list is always a bit of a mystery and that’s ok.

The book was nice. A “problem book” but not an overwhelming problem book. There was a surprise involving Eb at the very end. I did not expect that. If you have a 10 year old reading the book, and your 10 year old is a sensitive being, you might want to read it first (or drop me an email and I’ll tell you what happens).

I love the neighborhood. I want to live in that neighborhood, homeless dudes and all! Does that neighborhood exist in the USA? If it does, are there any really big houses for sale?

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Anna Casey’s Place in the World Read More »

Cellophane

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I had a difficult time getting into Cellophane. Maybe it was trying to read it in busy airports when flights were being canceled all around me. Or maybe it just starts really slowly. I was about to give up on it when Don Victor discovered he could make cellophane and things got interesting. Very interesting.

The first 75 pages, boring. The last 75 pages also not great. Everything in the middle, fabulous.

Technorati Tags: , ,

Cellophane Read More »

Survivor

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Survivor by Tabitha King, not Survivor with silly Jeff Probst. Though actually, now that I think about it, I could write a lot more about Survivor the TV show than Survivor the book.

It’s not that the book was bad, it wasn’t. But I had a good bit of deja vu while reading it. It has been a good 15 years, maybe more, since I read a novel by Tabitha King but Kissy felt an awful lot like Deanie to me. Other than that weird character deja vu – I liked it well enough. I even found myself liking Junior, what a surprise that was to me.

I’ve got another Tabitha King novel waiting. I wonder whether I’ll feel that deja vu.

Technorati Tags: , ,

Survivor Read More »

What the Dead Know

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Oops, I’ve fallen behind in my book blogging. If I don’t watch out, I’ll turn into TW who never blogs her books and then where will I be? I don’t want to be a slacker! Heh.

My pal Katie sent me her copy of What the Dead Know. (She got it from the BlogHer Book Tour.)

How was it? It was good. I was a little worried that I wasn’t going to like it because TW read it first and made all sorts of whimpery homesickness sorts of noises because it is set in Maryland and TW grew up in Maryland. Not being a huge fan of the state of Maryland, I was afraid I was going to be left out. I wasn’t.

The idea of nostalgia and reliving a childhood was enough to hold my attention. Of course having the whole missing children aspect on top of it didn’t hurt.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

What the Dead Know Read More »

Elegant Gathering of White Snows

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

Someone on a message board at my place of business recommended Kris Radish’s books and she suggested I start with Elegant Gathering of White Snows. Gee, I wonder how she knew this would be the perfect book for me?

It’s sort of like The Red Tent in that female energy sort of way. Fantastic female characters and of course they’ve experienced pretty much every single issue/problem a woman can face. Just go read it, and enjoy it.

Elegant Gathering of White Snows Read More »

The Other Side of the Bridge

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction /

The Other Side of the Bridge started a little slowly but ended up being a pretty darn good book. An awful lot happened at the end and I wish the author would have expanded those last few chapters a bit more. I also wish there had been more story regarding the fringe community that Pete belonged to. I know the story really wasn’t about the “Indians and the white man” but it would have been nice to flesh Pete and his life out just a little bit more.

Good book. I was surprised to find I liked it.

Technorati Tags: , ,

The Other Side of the Bridge Read More »