2008

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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True Believer

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Queer, Young Adult /

When TW read the CD case for True Believer and told me it was the second in a trilogy I almost said “forget it” – Printz Challenge or no Printz Challenge. I do not like to read books out of order. Ever.

But, I said what the heck and put the first CD in the player.

Right off the bat, it was a little disconcerting because the voice of LaVaughn is the same voice as “Baby Girl” from Upstate. I was afraid it was going to be such a similar book that I’d just be confusing my characters all of the way through. But it wasn’t like that at all.

None of the poor black teens went to jail. None of the poor black teens were having sex that they shouldn’t have been having, though there was Jolly who had already done that – a couple of times. There was also the gay boy storyline, very unusual in a novel about black city teens.

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May Bird: Warrior Princess

2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I was worried about May Bird: Warrior Princess because third books in series are cursed. And also because Cat was unhappy with it, or so sassymonkey said. I read it anyway and I think knowing the book was cursed helped.

I didn’t hate it.

I also didn’t love it. But really, I did not hate it.

Pumpkin? Liked it.
Legume? Liked it.

The end – did not like and that makes it hard to remember that there were pieces that I did like.

NASA? Ummm no. Unnecessary and wrong.
Somber Kitty? No, no and no again.

I hope this is the end of the series, for real, otherwise I’d be asking for a do-over – Somber Kitty and May deserved better than the last book they were dealt.

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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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Intimate Relations with Strangers

2008, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Geez, first Freewill and now Intimate Relations with Strangers – weird and more weird.

TW really liked this book and I guess I liked it, sort of. It was just really weird. I think I liked it better toward the end. It moved faster. Jumped time really quickly. Brought the character that tied it all together into the picture.

But still. Weird. Very very weird.

And, beware of white cats. Just sayin’.

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2 more Printz books down

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

I picked up Freewill expecting, I don’t know what… TW read it last week and said she didn’t understand a word. Well. Yea. Weird book. I cannot imagine a teen reading this book and really enjoying it. Pretty disappointed Printz Award nominee, I think. It feels like a book we should all like and one that kids should all like – but we don’t, and they won’t.

Then, because I didn’t know what I was supposed to be reading next, I grabbed Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by 20th Century Art. Quick and easy to read and finish – and it was. I didn’t really expect much from it. It looks like a little kids’ book but it wasn’t. The poetry was interesting and the art was fantastic. And that’s what this is about – poets choosing a work of art and writing poetry inspired by the art. Good stuff.

So – one Printz not so good, another very good and two more scratched off the list. It was a good night for challenges.

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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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A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers

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

My expectations for A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers were not great. TW seemed “ho-hum” about it and she said it was sad. I peeked at the first few pages, shrugged, and dug in.

Next thing I knew, it was 10:30 and I had read 3/4 of the book. It was a super-fast, very easy to read book. You’d think that wouldn’t be the case since the narrator is a Chinese woman who speaks broken English – or maybe that’s what made it easier TO read. Basic broken English easier to read than proper English?

Anyway, I liked it. It’s not a favorite and I wouldn’t buy it, but I liked it. And I didn’t find it sad at all.

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