2006

Marlon Brando? Fan-Tan!

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction /

The most interesting thing about Fan-Tan was the “afterword” (if you get this book, read that first!)

The second most interesting thing about Fan-Tan was the cover.

The third most interesting thing about Fan-Tan was really only interesting after I read the “afterword”. The story itself. Interesting. But not really interesting until you put the whole Brando/Cammell thing together.

It wasn’t a bad book but not a great one either. I think it would have been a good Brando movie, too bad it didn’t work out that way. Nice pulp fiction feel. One good sex scene. (Good as in well written and interesting and not run of the mill sex.)

Check this one out at your library. Or if you are a Brando fan (are there any Cammell fans?) buy it. I think you’ll be glad – but read the “afterword” first.

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Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams is a bit like Hitchhiker’s Guide with a little Christopher Moore thrown in for good measure. As TW says, “So you recommend it, then?” Well duh. I’m a Hitchhiker fan and a huge Chris Moore fan. What’s not to like?

Quirky characters. Weird science. Unbelievable made totally believable. Tons of snark and sarcasm. Yea, I recommend it.

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Snapshots of Bloomsbury

2 Comments / 2006, Art, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

When I read a blog or a magazine or a newspaper and see a book recommended (or when TW does this) I will do one of two things. I’ll either save the name of the book in an Evernote folder to reserve at the library when our book stash gets low. Or, I’ll head to Amazon, find the book and then use a library bookmarklet to instantly find it at my library and reserve it. Occasionally, our library won’t have the book so I immediately save it to my Amazon wish list. I’ll go back a few months later, to my wishlist, and try again to reserve it at my library. Sometimes I am successful, other times not so much.

A few weeks ago, I really cleaned out my Amazon wishlist. If my library still didn’t have the book, I used the online inter-library loan request form and then happily deleted the book from my wishlist. Nice, eh?

One of the books that arrived from the nice folks at University of South Florida was Snapshots of Bloomsbury. Surprisingly interesting.

Thinking about how Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell took photos and organized their albums, and as an extension, how women did such things in the late 1800s when photography and photo albums were just becoming popular. Family photo albums were women’s art.

Really interesting glimpse, visual glimpse, into that world through photography.

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Historical Science Fiction Romance?

3 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Whoever heard of historical romance science fiction? Imagine a Harlequin crossed with some cheese sci fi paperback. Weird. But. It. Worked. Sort of. It being The Sun and the Moon.

Once I got into the idea and I got comfortable keeping all of the characters straight, it was a little bit interesting. The King of France (who would be Louis XIV) gets a “sea monster” which is of course a mermaid courtesy of his Jesuit Natural Philosopher. The Jesuit has a sister who is not a typical woman, of course, and discovers the sea monster is not a monster or an animal but a WOMAN and she needs to stop the King from eating the mermaid and thus risking his eternal soul through cannibalism. Seriously. I’m not making this up. Vonda Mcintyre made it up.

Also, there’s romance. The Jesuit’s sister, she has many suitors even though she has no money or title. There’s the gay guy. A music composer. A prince (or was that the bastard prince, umm whatever). A dwarf. And the king himself.

Fun and mindless stuff. Oddly compelling about half-way through it.

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Soul Kitchen

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

Soul Kitchen, the latest installment in the story of Rickey and Gman, by Poppy Z Brite… What to say, what to say? It was good, better than Prime but not as good as Liquor. I was afraid there would be too much “politics” in there particularly early in the book when I saw this, “MR CONGRESSMAN. MR PRESIDENT. PEOPLE OF THE USA. HERE R YOUR SHRIMP WHERE R OUR LEVEES”. But nope, if Poppy went back and edited after the hurricane, she didn’t destroy the book in doing so because that was the only mention of levees and there was no heavy political (or social) message going on. (She finished it right before the hurricane, by the way.)

If she keeps this up, she’s going to have a whole generation of readers who don’t know she was a horror writer. I’m not sure that’s completely good but it does say something positive about her as a writer, doesn’t it?

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The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

3 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery /

I can’t for the life of me figure out why our library does not have a copy of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I’ve been checking once a month for at least a year. I finally got tired of checking and requested it via interlibrary loan. Two days later, I had the book in my hand. Why I waited so long to go that route is beyond me. The moment I finished it, I went to the ILL form and requested the sequel.
The Pink Carnation was a fun read, quick and compelling read, and definitely chick lit. But really excellent chick lit. Good characters, good dialogue, good sex scenes. Heh. Happy ending, too. Excellent in every way.

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Jean Rhys

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Is Voyage in the Dark, by Jean Rhys, autobiographical or isn’t it? I’ve seen some reviews that say it is and others that say no? Does it matter? Maybe.

I certainly didn’t find this book as good as Wide Sargasso Sea, but then I didn’t expect to. It was interesting. Dreamlike and sad. Depressing. TW read it before me, and without giving away the end, said she’d have preferred an even “darker” ending because the main character was so sad. After reading it, I can understand that line of thinking. Anna was definitely sad.

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Anybody Can Do Anything

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty McDonald (of Mrs Piggle Wiggle fame) makes me wish I had been in a better frame of mind when I read The Egg and I.

I really enjoyed Anybody Can Do Anything. I wasn’t bored at all, which is what happened to me when I tried to read The Egg and I. It was funny and quick moving. Not one of those depressing depression books but not one that ignored the poverty entirely, either.

I’m glad I used the interlibrary loan program to get it.

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The Edge Chronicles – Freeglader

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites /

I finished a book and almost forgot to blog it, that’s how tired I still am. Geez. OK the book, I finished it. The seventh in The Edge Chronicles series, Freeglader. If you haven’t picked this series up, and you have children 7-12 or an affinity for children’s literature, then you should give the series a try.

We’ve all agreed that the first book was the best, the second was pretty good, the others sort of ho hum but only in comparison to the first two. This last one, much better. It tied up all of the loose ends from the other books. Gave a lineage, so to speak, showed us what happened to the missing sky pirates and librarian knights. It was a good way to tie things up. Which makes me wonder if this is the last in the series. I think it probably should be. Not because I’ve not enjoyed reading the books, I have. It just felt like an ending to me, tying up the loose ends, explaining all of the missing pieces – the end, happily ever after and all that stuff.

Oh darn, I just read a review on Amazon and it appears there are more books, though they seem to fit into some of the other segments we have already read. Interesting. Weird. I’m not sure I want to backpedal my way through those. I hate reading a series out of order and I’m afraid that is what this is going to feel like… ah well, they are quick and easy reads, I’ll probably give them a try if they become available at our library.

Oh what the heck, let’s have a little Edge Chronicles fun while we’re here….Looks like I’m Twig, that’s a bit of a surprise actually. I thought maybe Cloud Wolf.

#1 Twig

#2 Cloud Wolf

#3 Maugin

#4 Slyvo Spleethe

#5 Cowlquape

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The Dark Lady of DNA

1 Comment / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

As a rule, I don’t like biographies about scientists. As a rule, I don’t even like a lot of science themed non-fiction. Based on those two rules, I shouldn’t have liked Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, but I did.

Actually, I really liked it. It wasn’t the writing. It wasn’t because the race for DNA was compelling. I just plain liked Rosalind Franklin. Possibly because she reminds me of TW’s doctor (who I now call The Dark Lady of Digestion) and I like TW’s doctor a lot.

Whatever. I’m glad I finally made time to read this. I’m glad sassymonkey suggested it when I was looking for biographies for Michelle to read. Rosalind Franklin was cool.

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