TW bought Memories Flow in Our Veins: Forty Years of Women’s Writing from CALYX at Wild Iris on Independent Bookstore Day. Thank goodness because, as I previously mentioned, we had no books to read. Heh.
I really enjoyed this collection. The poetry was particularly good.
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Alrighty, I’m calling it a night.
I finished 2 non-fiction and 1 fiction/short story (the most recent was Herotica 2 and it was fine, not the best but not bad, either) and 7 children’s fiction. I’m 2/3 of the way through an ebook and my eyes are too tired to finish tonight.
Total page count… 1,621. Not bad, all things considered. And, it was a very nice day. I’m looking forward to spring, now.
#readathon…. 16 hours and out… Read More »
I’m a big Flavia fan and I loved As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust. Excellent. Most excellent. I was a little worried, since Flavia was all by herself (I mean not with her family and the regulars from Bishop Lacey) in Canada but I needn’t have worried. It went well. Flavia did well. It all turned out as it should have. Every bit.
While reading it, I discovered there was a short story published last year for Kindle, so I grabbed The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse and read it right after I finished Chimney Sweepeers. It was good — cool death (lol) but I don’t love short stories. I wanted more Flavia, darn it.
Flavia de Luce (x1 1/2) Read More »
After I finished Waistcoats & Weoponry, I was surfing Gail Carriger’s author page on Amazon and noticed a novella that I’d never read… a prequel to the Parasol Protectorate series so I downloaded The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar — that’s a mouthful and the title is almost longer than the short story.
Which is exactly what was wrong with this… it wasn’t so much a novella as a short story and it was too short. Way too short. There was some bouncing around that only barely made sense. Horrible transitions. I didn’t hate it and I’m glad I read it — it just wasn’t enough.
The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t… Read More »
Midwinterblood is really beautifully written. A little confusing at the beginning and it isn’t until near the end that you really really figure out what you’ve been reading. (I should have read some Amazon reviews or descriptions, it would have made more sense right off the darn bat. Sheesh.)
I didn’t do a very good job of talking about most of the books I read during the #readathon, so I’m backtracking a bit.
Astronaut Wives Club — I liked it but it wasn’t nearly as interesting as I’d hoped. I see now why someone (Julie?) said she didn’t really like it very much. It was vague where I wanted more detail. I’m glad I read it but I wish it had been better.
Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate was really good — witchery popery popery witchery, it’s really much the same when you think about it, right?
Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives — a book of short stories, very good short stories. That’s saying something since I’m not really a fan of short story compilations.
Lake Geneva: Life At the Water’s Edge was a really nice coffee table type book. Great photos. Interesting. Makes me a little sad that we cancelled our mini vacation in November. We’ll do it in the spring, instead, and I’m looking forward to it now more than ever.
Day Trips From Chicago was nothing special. I didn’t find anything unusual or extra interesting. Not a bad book of day trips it was just a little vanilla.
A Short History of Myth, I think I did write about this one a little yesterday. It was ok. Dry, as you’d expect. Something to think about (or to try not to think about?) as I read the other books in the Myth series in the months ahead.
Backtracking Book Reviews Read More »
So, The Potty Mouth at the Table… I laughed out loud, early in the book, much louder and longer than TW did when she was laughing her way through Let’s Not Pretend (The Bloggess). Then I hit a few stories that didn’t really make me laugh. A couple of more that bugged me. And, I never quite fell back into the stories — I think I was always waiting for one to bug me. Which might be my problem with reading a book of short stories cover to cover.
Very funny in spots. Not so much in others (though I suspect the stories that bugged me wouldn’t bother others since one person’s joke is another person’s angst…)
It was well worth reading, if only for the hobos and the problem with puffs.
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I’m not a big fan of short stories — they tend to be too long, too short, do a bad job with back story or are too darn interesting and I’m left wishing I knew more. Overall, generally more frustrating than not.
So when I saw The Curiosities was a book of short stories, in the YA Fantasy/SciFi category of the Cybils shortlist — I wasn’t thrilled. I figured I’d just get it over with early and be done with it.
Turns out this is one of the best short stories compilations EVER. I particularly enjoyed the commentary between the three authors and immediately subscribed to their blog, The Merry Sisters of Fate so I can read more of their stories (I’ve already read several of their novels.)
The ROOTS Anthology is a BlogHer book — I am employed by BlogHer but I purchased the book myself. I was not asked to write about the book. The opinions expressed here are my own and I readily admit I’m probably a little biased.
OK a lot biased.
I know a good many of the people whose stories are featured in this anthology. I’ve spent time with them in person. I’ve read their blogs for years. I hang out with them on Chatter/Twitter and Facebook. It’s hard not to love this book because, well, these people are MY people.
It was fun to hear several of them read their stories at BlogHer Food — a little foodie community-like keynote. So fun. It was just as fun to read their stories again last week. I might even have felt tempted to make some of the recipes. (OK Fine. I might have been tempted to ask TW to make some of their recipes. Happy now?)
I loved this book. Yea, I’m biased.
ROOTS: Where Food Comes From and Where It Takes Us Read More »
I didn’t expect much from Molly Ringwald’s When It Happens to You. Interlinked short stories … that could have meant anything and I was expected to be all ho hum about it. Turns out, it was pretty darn good.
Each story was linked and the connections were strong enough so that you weren’t jarred (too badly) when moving from one to another. It was a little hard not to feel like this was all about Greta and Phillip – since they (along with Charlotte) featured so prominently in most of the stories. In that way, the stories might have been a little TOO interlinked. But, the writing was good and I liked most of the characters. I’d definitely read another novel by Ringwald.
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