At various points in Beware the Kiss I felt like maybe I’d already read the book. But, in the end… I don’t think I did. Maybe I’ve just read a lot of lesbian, witch, love cursed books?
The book indicates this is a trilogy but Amazon only seems to have two books in the series. I wonder if the author couldn’t quite swing the third? Is Raven still out there…
It took me far too long to read Cinnamon Gardens – too many distractions in my world on top of it not being a page turner. It’s not bad, the characters are pretty darn interesting, it just wasn’t compelling.
I like the dual storylines – the older man, the young girl – I didn’t expect to like the jump back and forth but I did. And, I liked the ending for both of them.
I love Colette. I have no idea why I’ve never read the Complete Claudine before. I don’t know why I waited so long. I love, love, love Claudine – even Claudine married and denying Annie. Hah.
I should have known what I was getting into with a book called Rosemary and Juliet but I didn’t pay enough attention. Ah well, I’m a fan of YA and I don’t mind a YA problem book from time to time, either.
Regardless of what the title might lead you to believe this book is about – it isn’t that at all. It’s a basic YA lesbian problem book with more problems than most YA straight problem books.
Two kids die and neither were our star crossed lovers. (oops I guess that’s a spoiler, sorry.)
Electric shock therapy was tossed in there for good measure.
And of course, the predictable unhappy ending because in the end teens are required to do what their parents tell them to do – even if their parents are idiots.
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When I started reading Hood I felt like I’d read it before but quickly realized that all of Emma Donoghue’s books feel that way to me. Her characters seem familiar, like I’ve read more of their stories in some other book. I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or if it means she’s recycling characters and I should be annoyed.
I lean toward not being annoyed but that might be due to my willingness to give authors who write good lesbian fiction a break – there are so few good lesbian fiction writers, Donoghue is one of them.
Seems sort of kharmic or something that I finished Hood on the day Del Martin died, doesn’t it?
Queer is a book that’s on my From the Stacks Challenge list and I really wish I’d just left it on the stacks, unread.
I thought about putting it down, but I kept thinking it would get better or at least slightly less weird. Why I would have thought that, since I have read The Naked Lunch (which I liked) I dunno. But this is the kind of thing that usually prevents me from quitting a book, especially a short book.
Maybe I should have read Junky first? Oh well, too late now.
Book Two, The Orphan’s Tales: IN the City of Coin and Spice was even BETTER than Book One.
I love these books. I must buy them. I must also find some time to sift through the wiki provided to me by Liz.
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Crush is a tiny little YA book with very large font and it took me about a half hour to read. I have no idea what the reading level is but it’s got to be low – so maybe a low-literacy YA book? Good enough, I like that. It’s important that books like that exist.
My problems with the book are this.
Do we really want to tell teens that you can have one date with someone and bam, that’s it – you’re in love? Do we really want to tell queer questioning teens that you can figure out you’re gay THAT easily? I don’t know. It seemed pretty “fairy tale” like to me. There must be some way to meet in the middle between the fairy tale and the heavy handed teen “problem” book.
Other than that? I liked it.
I’ve got a love hate feeling about The Used World.
I loved the characters but also hated them because they were so damn stereotypical. I loved the story but it was so damn predictable. I loved the writing.
I see why Postcards From No Man’s Land won the Printz. It started a little slow or was a little confusing, I’m not sure which, but it settled down and it was interesting. It also didn’t read like a YA book. Lots of tough topics to think about – war, infidelity, “love”, “marriage”, euthanasia, even a wee bit of polyamory tossed in. And, another look at Anne Frank. Interesting book.
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