2007

Dragonwell Dead: A Tea Shop Mystery

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

I’m a little surprised that Dragonwell Dead is the first Tea Shop Mystery that I’ve read. The series seems to be set in Charleston which means someone should have pointed it out to me – or I should have somehow stumbled upon the series. Weird. Extra weird because I think TW just plucked this off of the library shelves.

It wasn’t a great mystery. It wasn’t a great book. It was a nice easy read. And most important of all, it didn’t make me growl. I am very particular about books set in Charleston. I growl a lot about inaccurate descriptions of places and inaccurate portrayals of the city or Charlestonians. There were some fictional locations mentioned but that was fine, the “real” places mentioned were given accurate descriptions and that’s all I ask.

I’m not sure I’ll read another Tea Shop Mystery but I wouldn’t turn up my nose at one if it appeared on my bookshelf.

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Deer Hunting with Jesus

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Favorites, Health and Wellness, Money Talks, News and Politics, Non-Fiction, Religion /

And to think I almost skipped reading Deer Hunting with Jesus, that would have been a shame particularly since I’ve invoked the “C word” quite a bit over the last few months.

Liberals, (politicians and their supporters), should do themselves (and the country) a favor and read Deer Hunting with Jesus. Then, spend some time figuring out how to talk to the working class poor because the status quo is simply not cutting it. Millions of people in this country are under-educated, over-worked and under-paid and they do not have time, interest or knowledge to sort out the rhetoric and propaganda. They can’t relate to wealthy politicians of any political persuasion but they can relate to the conservative BS that scares them or inspires them and doesn’t make it necessary for them to do any thinking – all they have to do is believe in God, Country and Family … and they do. A little healthy fear of people who aren’t like them gets tossed in for good measure and the republican vote is all locked up.

As an aside, it was a pleasant surprise to skim through the Acknowledgments for the book and see one of my favorite blogs listed: Peacebang… Joe Bageant has great taste in religious bloggers.

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Going to hell?

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

TW laughed so hard while reading There’s a (slight) change I’m going to hell that she woke me up, twice. This is a sure sign that I’m either going to really LOVE a book or be really disappointed.

I was disappointed. But not as much as I feared.

It was amusing but not THAT amusing. TW has a weird sense of humor or maybe it’s the “faculty wife” thing I don’t get. Or the “pageant” thing? Or the making friends thing? Whatever. It was funny and TW laughed out loud over and over again. I just chuckled a few times.

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Forgive Me

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I can’t figure out if I liked Forgive Me or not. I read it quickly and at times really didn’t want to put it down. But at other times, I was a little bored. I read a review somewhere (Amazon probabaly) that used the word “contrived”. That’s a good word for it. But also “earnest” again a good word for this book.

I really disliked the diary entries from “Harry”. I also disliked most of the return to South Africa portion of the book. I don’t know, even as I type this part of me is saying “wait, it wasn’t that bad”. And it wasn’t. It just wasn’t great and it is possible that it could have been great.

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The Master of Secrets

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

Oh boy, another book about God and Jesus. How did that happen? The Master of Secrets wasn’t half bad. A “man behind the curtain”, anti-Christ character and a lost boy. Interesting and troubling and then redeeming. Which is sort of what Christianity is all about, isn’t it?

Not bad at all. But I am sooo done with religion at this point. Maybe TW will let me stay home from church on Sunday. Surely I’ve read enough about God this week to get time off for good behavior… (and how is it that I do not have a religion sub-category in the “books” topic area? weird, very weird.)

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Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn’t

2007, Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Non-Fiction, Religion /

Well. Religious Literacy…. was interesting in places. And boring as hell in other places. Pretty much like religion in general, in my never humble opinion.

I would definitely agree with the author, the US is a country full of believers who are ridiculously uninformed or misinformed about the religion they say the belong to. And they know even less about religions they do not belong to.

I would also agree with the author that removing religion, and The Bible in particular, from public education settings was probably not the best idea. The problem is that I don’t think there is any good solution to the problem. Americans are quick to cry foul and no matter what you do someone is definitely going to cry foul.

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Prom Dates From Hell

2007, Books in Bed, Young Adult /

A book with that title is my kind of book. I bet you knew that didn’t you? I love fun young adult fiction and Prom Dates From Hell was fun. Totally. I think everyone needs a demon and hell hounds to crash their prom, teach the “Jocks and the Jessicas” a lesson or two and let the geeks save the day. Awesome. Even if it was the geeks who, oh wait I don’t want to spoil it for you. Just go read it and have a laugh or two.

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Simple Genius

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

I didn’t really want to read Simple Genius. I don’t have any idea how it landed on our library shelf but I’m guessing TW picked it up off the shelf when we were down to no books from our reserve list waiting for pick up. TW swore I should read it. She swore it was really good. I didn’t really believe her but I didn’t see anything else on the shelf that I was just dying to read. So, I picked it up. And that first night I read half of it. I read long past the time that TW turned out her light and went to bed and I almost never do this because I tend to be just a little tired at the end of the day.

First I read late into the night and then today I finished it before I even read my blog feeds. This should tell you something. It should tell you that it was a good book and I’m glad I read it. I might even like to read more books about Sean and Michelle.

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Throw Like a Girl: Stories

2007, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, short stories, Women /

I don’t usually like short stories very much. And a book of short stories is just too much of a not so great thing. Throw Like a Girl might be the first book of short stories that I’ve ever really loved. OK maybe the Atwood book that Sassy sent me, I really liked that one too. Other than that, can’t think of any others that I’ve liked this much – enough to drop into the “favorites” category.


Once again, I can’t remember who recommended this or which blog I saw it reviewed on – but thanks, whoever you are.

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