2007

Yankee Doodle Dead

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery /

I had a tough time getting interested in Yankee Doodle Dead – a Death on Demand mystery.  I think maybe I’m not a big enough mystery fan to really enjoy all of the mystery book references, which really slowed the story down for me.  About halfway through it – when the murder occurred, I was more interested and sat down and finished it right away.  But the first 100 pages, slow going.   Not a bad book for a vacation, though.  Light mystery.  Great female characters.  Nice lowcountry setting.

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The Deception of the Emerald Ring

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

The third in this little series was not quite as good as the first two. Something was missing from The Deception of the Emerald Ring. Maybe it was the lack of interaction between Elise and Colin? I’m not sure what the problem was because I certainly liked Letty better than I did Amy. And I loved Miss Gwen in this one.

It was rather amusing to read this while in London.  That in itself added a little twist of interest that I didn’t have when I read the first two.

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Getting Rid of Bradley

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit /

Do you remember when I blogged about “Anyone But You”?  It was last year, about women and men and dogs.  It was a good read.  That’s why TW picked out “Getting Rid of Bradley” when we wandered around the Hospice thrift shop in search of throway books to take on our trip to London.  Jennifer Crusie writes a good throw away, beach, vacation read.

Getting Rid of Bradley might have been even better than Anyone But You.  Man. Woman. Weird love story. Dogs – lots of dogs.  Better presentation than last time, I think.  Better sex scenes too.  Great beach read or airplane read.

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Choke

2 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I finally finished Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk. Finally. For such a short book, it sure took me a long time to finish. That’s not a reflection of the story or the writing – it’s a reflection of my crazy life!

It was a good book, as expected, but it was uhhh sort of disgusting at times. Sex addicts are a little scary and a lot messy. And the fact that the “hero” makes his money “choking” in restaurants just adds more queasiness to the mix. I loved the entire “Jesus Christ” storyline, that was fabulous.

I’ve decided that I need a Palahniuk break so don’t expect to see anymore of his books appear on the blog for awhile. As genius as he is, a girl can only take so much.

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Night Vision

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

Yes, another Jane Lawless mystery. I know, I haven’t left really stellar reviews of her books but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy them in a mindless, fluff sort of way. What better type of book to read after Garbage Land than silly dyke drama with dumb gay boys tossed in for good measure?

Night Vision was surprisingly good. I had high hopes that Jane was going to grow just a wee bit more backbone in this one, and I suppose she has, but she’s still just a bit too wishy washy for a detective – particularly a dyke detective. Ellen Hart needs to toughen her up a little, make her just a bit more Cordelia like. You’d think after more than a dozen of these, she’d have improved the character a bit.

Speaking of Cordelia. Poor thing. I hated that ending, obviously. Do you think the next one will be set in the UK as they work on fixing Cordelia’s problem?

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Garbage Land

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

Garbage Land was the most depressing and frustrating book EVER.  I keep looking at my trash and feeling so overwhelmed that I can barely look away.  Today, I pulled a grocery list out of my pocket and was I was about to drop it in the trash, I froze. 

What led me to write a list in the first place, for 15 things that I should be able to remember?  And then to do it on a full, clean piece of paper.  And, I used the WHOLE front side rather than making a tiny neat list that would enable me to use the paper again.  Bah.  I’m a horrible person!  Or maybe not.

Maybe this whole municpal waste guilt is a tool of the patriarchy, or at least big business.  Because municipal waste is about 2% of the trash problem.  The biggest problem is with manufacturing.  So like big pharma who has convinced us we need to buy rubber wristbands and walk in walkathons to CURE this or that (probably breast cancer though) we’ve all been convinced that we can SAVE THE PLANET through recycling.  We can’t.  It simply isn’t possible. 

Anyway, Garbage Land was very good.  But very depressing.  Very sad.  Very frustrating. 

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Break No Bones

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

I had high hopes for Break No Bones. Lots of my friends watch that Bones tv show that is based on this series of books (loosely based as sassymonkey explained to me). I am guessing the tv show is better than the book(s).

Maybe it was the fact that this one was set in Charleston – my home town – that caused me some issues. I should be glad that the author got so much RIGHT about Charleston. Often books set in my hometown don’t give an accurate picture, they put streets where they don’t belong, screw up names of businesses or famous places – just weird stuff that isn’t “right”. But there was so much, well, name dropping that it felt like overkill to me.

By the time we got to the point where Tempe solved the mystery, I was done. And then the solution – sheesh. We try to debunk these sorts of myths everyday at work and here we have some silly author writing about _______. (I won’t blow the ending for those who want to read it.)

Anyway. It wasn’t horrid. But it wasn’t anywhere close to making it to my favorites list.

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Restless

2007, Fiction /

Restless is a very good spy story. British spy, female, WW2. The story jumps back and forth between the ’30s-’40s and the late ’70s. Manipulating the press in order to manipulate the US into joining the fight against Germany. Intrigue, twists and turns. I liked it very much and I’m really not big on spy novels, usually.

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Twilight

6 Comments / 2007, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Woo! Two vampire novels back to back! Two totally DIFFERENT vampire novels back to back. Two totally different and totally fabulous vampire novels back to back. Life just doesn’t get any better!

Twilight finally made it to the top of my TBR stack. I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to get it. I wish I had just bought the darn thing instead of waiting for it to appear on my library reserve shelf. Maybe I’ll go out and buy it today so the kids can read it at their leisure. It’s another one worth having on the colorful library shelves!

And, the sequel, I cannot wait to read the sequel! It’s on the shelf right now – but there are a dozen in front of it… should I let it jump the line and read it right now? What do you think?

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You Suck: A Love Story

2007, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I love Christopher Moore.  I should just stop there and leave it at that.  There’s just nothing else that needs to be said about You Suck.  Christopher Moore wrote it and that should be enough for anyone.  You want more?  OK here’s more….

If you haven’t read Bloodsucking Fiends, then read that first.  Actually, you should read all of the books before this one because there were a ton of "in jokes" that you simply won’t get if you haven’t read a bunch of his other books.  You Suck was written for his long time readers, not for the newbies. 

I loved Abby Normal

"So I like slept til eleven, because we’re on Christmas break, only it’s called winter break now because Jesus is an OPRESSIVE ZOMBIE BASTARD AND WE DO NOT BOW DOWN TO HIS BIRTHDAY! At least not at Allen Ginsberg High School we don’t.  (Go Fighting Beatniks!)"

Heh.

Nope, You Suck was not the best Moore, ever.  But it was awesome Moore just the same.  I want to read it again.  Right now!  And then go back and read all of his other books again!  Oh no! I just realized something – we’re going to have to wait a lifetime for another book!  That’s the only problem with a new Christopher Moore book – waiting for the next one. Darn it.

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