Women

Crush

2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Queer, Women, Young Adult /

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.

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The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women /

The first book in what I hope will be a very long series, The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden was fantastic. It should not have taken me a week to read it. I wanted to read it all the way through, from the moment I picked it up. Maybe before I picked it up because TW loved it and I’ve read a lot of blog posts about other people loving it. I loved it.

But then again, I would.

I have a fondness for fairy tales and an even bigger fondness for creation stories.

Now I’m off to reserve the next book and hope it arrives before we move.

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The Miracle at Speedy Motors

2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

The really good thing about listening to most of The #1 Ladies Detective Agency on audio is that on the rare occasion that we read one in print, we can still hear the book on audio voice. The Miracle at Speedy Motors was like that. But, I kept getting distracted – wondering about the movie version. I am worried about that.

Anyway, the book – it was good. I laughed and I was sad and I laughed some more.

Now excuse me please, I’m off to research African fruit cake.

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The Best Place to Be

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Fiction, Women /

No I’m not about to shock all of you and talk about how synchronized swimming meets are the best place to be. I’m talking about a book, The Best Place to Be.

I have no idea why I was reading it. It made me nervous. Why am I reading all of these books about “middle aged women” who seem to be having weird life crisis and stuff? I’m not even sure this book ended up being about a woman with a mid-life crisis. I’m not really sure what the point of the book was.

The characters were kind of interesting. But. Not. I kept waiting for something to click – for that “ah ha, I get it now” moment. It didn’t come.

As I told Prince J – it was the perfect book to read during Synchronized Swimming – mindless, sort of boring, and I don’t really mind that I kept reading the same paragraphs over and over again because the synchro music was loud or the kids were crazy or the synchro moms were chatty. I don’t even mind that I have no idea what the book was REALLY about.

It kept me busy when I had no internet – and that’s good enough.

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Home School

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

No, this post isn’t about Michelle, it’s about the book Home School which is about kids who are home schooled but then again not really about them at all. It’s the sequel to The Graduate. Yes, The Graduate – you remember, Mrs Robinson? Or if you’re like me you just barely remember Mrs Robinson and so you had very low expectations for enjoying this book.

Guess what. I loved it. Funnyyyyyy. The home schoolers from Vermont, hahahahaha. And Mrs Robinson, tsk tsk tsk.

Loved this book and I do wish I remembered more about The Graduate.

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Cry Wolf

2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women /

Don’t bother clicking over to the amazon page for Cry Wolf, unless you’re planning on buying it. There’s nothing there that would lead you to want to check this thing out. Thank goodness for people like Liz who blog about really obscure lesbian utopias (or dystopias, as the case may be.)

She posts stuff like this all of the time:

– classroom scene, with Curie’s speech about Blue
– Mutants!
– Global climate change
– the bitter, lonely inner thoughts of Curie
– Sexual tension of Curie (and everyone, but especially and her best pupil Sophie)
– The festival with the cult dancers and the orgy in the river. Don’t miss the sexy hermaphrodite sex scenes. Here there be “fringe”. Tentacles?
– Telepathy!
– Curie begins to tell a mythical version of the past to Sophie.
– Curie’s mother was one of the women of Greenham Common

And when she posts stuff like this about obscure novels I immediately head to my library’s interlibrary loan page and try to have the masterpiece sent to me. Thank goodness Cry Wolf arrived.

Awesome. And I won’t say anything more because Liz has it all covered. Loved it and loved the Scheherazade stories of the women.

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