Non-Fiction

2 Cookbooks

2015, Books in Bed, cookbooks, Non-Fiction /

Weird. I thought I blogged these weeks ago, but apparently not. Oh well, it will pad my November numbers since my October numbers didn’t need padding. 😉

Healthy Happy Vegan was ok. I didn’t love it. I don’t think there’s any recipe in there that I was dying to make.

Thug Kitchen… As expected, I love this cookbook. Which is probably why I love their site. Or maybe it’s the other way around? Whatever. I have reserved their party book from the library and plan to make all of the vegan things.

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3 Non-Fiction Gardening Books

2015, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Mosaic Garden Projects was interesting. I’ve done a couple of small mosaic projects but nothing big. I’d like to do something big and gardeny some day. Maybe a found objects type of project?

I want a living wall (or two) so I enjoyed Growing a Living Wall quite a bit. I was fascinated by the inclusion of an aphrodisiac living wall garden lol.

I picked up The Magical World of Moss because Teddy wanted to leave the moss on a walkway at their new house so I’ve thought off and on about moss gardening. So seeing this on the library shelf was a sign that I had to check it out. It was fascinating. I apparently knew NOTHING about moss. I would like to have a fairy moss garden for the grandchildren, some day.

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A Ton of Children’s Books

1 Comment / Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Non-Fiction /

I read a bunch of these in September when I visited JMP but never got a chance to talk about them. So… here’s a combined Sept/Oct list:

Cybils (12):

– Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain was pretty good. Not the best Angel Island book but not bad.
– Chasing Cheetahs was fantastic. I loved it.
– Feathers: Not Just For Flying was a nice book. The illustrations were especially nice.
– Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey was fine. Not great, not horrible.
– Separate Is Never Equal was wonderful! Best book of the bunch.
– The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats was interesting.
– When Lunch Fights Back was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.
– Brimsby’s Hats was a nice book. JMP was interested in it, mostly because of the snow and the “friends”.
– Maple was beautiful and I loved it. JMP was not really that into it. Probably because he hasn’t grokked the idea of maple treas and willow trees and such.
– Shhhh! We Have a Plan made me roll my eyes and I mostly hated it. JMP, however, liked it.
– The Girl and the Bicycle was a nice story. The underlying idea seemed lost on JMP, lol, he just wanted to talk about the bikes.
– This is a Moose was another one that made me roll my eyes and JMP didn’t get it at all. (Because, duh, of course he didn’t.) We stopped with the ridiculous story mid-way and just talked about the illustrations and that was good.

Non-Cybils (8):
– Seven Orange Pumpkins was cute (and it’s a counting backwards book, which is good)
– Max the Brave, I loved it. JMP isn’t sure about it but I think he’ll come around.
– Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin was cute. JMP wouldn’t let me read it to him, he wanted MAMA to read it. And she did. I think he liked it.
– Otis and the Puppy is a really cute story. JMP read it twice, once with me and once with MAMA. He liked it but he wasn’t sure Otis is really a tractor, lol.
– Bad Kitty’s Tasty Treats is a cute alphabet board book with just the quirkiness you’d expect from a Bad Kitty book.
– Scholastic Discover More: Rocks and Minerals… I love this book. JMP loves this book. I hope he loves it for many years to come. Also, he wants a green egg rock and I’m pretty sure he’s going to get a green egg rock.
– The Moon Is Going to Addy’s House is a beautiful, beautiful book.
– Thesaurus Rex is amusing. Really.

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Shirley, I Jest

2015, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Women /

When I saw Shirley, I Jest on the shelf at the library, I figured what the heck? It’s short, I liked Laverne & Shirley, and I don’t know all that darn much about Cindy Williams, really.

And, it wasn’t a bad book. It wasn’t a great book, either. I feel like I still don’t know all that much about Cindy Williams… really.

She talked briefly about her early childhood with an alcoholic father but she didn’t really dig into the emotional issues around that. Or the emotional issues around anything. Like how she left Laverne & Shirley (she was pregnant and the studio wouldn’t write the show so that she’d have time off to deliver a baby… that had to be horrendous but we got about three lines about it and that was that.)

It could have been better but it was fine, for what it was.

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3 Non-Fiction Cybils

2015, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

Popular was fun. A lot of fun. I loved it. I love both Maya and Betty. Heh.

The Port Chicago 50 was excellent. I can’t believe I didn’t actually know anything about this until reading the book. Read it!

Be a Changemaker was good but I didn’t like the format of the book so that bugged me all the way through it. The info was good, this is stuff kids don’t generally learn about and they should — whether they’re planning to start their own company/venture or not.

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Things That Keep Me Up At Night

1 Comment / 2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

We’re moving next year. In May or June. We don’t really know where, exactly. We have to buy a house and then we have to get ourselves, our stuff, TW’s mom and sister and their stuff, three dogs and three prairie dogs to the house that we buy.

The thing that keeps me up at night as the actual MOVING of the ANIMALS to wherever it is we end up buying a house.

I can’t figure it out. It’s just… how the heck are we going to do this.

In comes Dogtripping and I still don’t know how we’re going to manage this but I’m pretty sure it will be easier for us than it was for these folks who had to move themselves and 25 old rescue dogs from southern California to Maine.

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Three Non-Fiction Books

2015, Art, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I didn’t feel like starting anything long last night, so I grabbed the three non-fiction art books on my library cart and that was the perfect choice for the last couple of hours before I turned out the light.

Beginners Guide to Chalk Painting was pretty boring. Probably pretty helpful if you’re going to be using any of these paints, though. But overall, ho hum.

Rock Art: Painting and Crafting with the Humble Pebble was an impulse pick up from the new non-fiction shelf at the library. Rock painting isn’t all that intense and you don’t really need to know a lot of techniques to do it but it was really fun to flip through all of the painted rocks. And, I was reminded of an idea I had for a rock garden for JMP… I am definitely going to work on that once we move next year.

I love The Sketchbook Project so you shouldn’t be surprised that I loved the book The Sketchbook Project World Tour. I’m kind of sad that I didn’t find a way to get to the museum in Brooklyn last month to see the sketchbooks in person. Sigh.

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