I loved A Curse Dark as Gold more than I love Rumpelstiltskin or any other similar story. I loved the characters. I loved the ending. Yes, I loved the ending – can you believe it? I was afraid I’d hate the ending, particularly when I was down to the last 50 pages and was loving it so much. I just knew something was going to happen to ruin it. But nope, excellent. All the way through.
Great Cybil selection!
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Well, it’s no Ya-Ya Sisterhood but it’s not bad. At least not until you hit the last chapter. And then it was just annoying enough to make me regret reading The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder.
I hate it when authors do that. Was it really necessary? Really, Rebecca Wells, was it? I don’t think it was. Ruining a perfectly good book like that? Tsk tsk.
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Not all blogs should become books. Molly Wizenberg’s Orangette is not one of those blogs. Her blog, which then became the book A Homemade Life was fabulous. And remember, I’m no foodie.
That’s really why I think it was a great book, it can speak to everyone. There’s a little something for everyone. And the stories, often about food and cooking and recipes are not a turn off to those of us who don’t “get” the whole food thing. Because we do get the relationships thing.
Wizenberg does the relationship story just as well as she does the food story. And, because this is so, I would like to try a half dozen of those recipes. That’s saying something.
* I would like to note that I do not know Molly. I am not a long time Orangette fan. I’ve read it before, a few times, but it has never been in my feedreader. I have no personal connection to the woman or her blog that colors how I felt about the book. (Odd since most blog to books that I read, I read because I do have a connection to the author.)
* Also, if you live in Seattle or are visiting, I’d recommend you check out Delancey. I would, if I lived there (or was going for a visit.)
The search is on for this year’s Cybils judges and this sent me into a bit of a panic. New judges and I haven’t finished last year’s winners yet? Ugh. So, I’m on a mission to get these finished asap. As sassymonkey smartly reminded me mid-freakout, I’m almost finished.
I finished 3 middle grade/YA non-fiction this weekend and I didn’t love any of them.
Swords was the most disappointing because I was really looking forward to it. It wasn’t horrible, I just wanted more than I got.
I was pretty bored by Lincoln Through the Lens but I expected to be bored so that’s ok.
I enjoyed We Are the Ship the most out of the three. I have a fondness for Negro League Baseball stories because the men behind the teams were brilliant and those stories aren’t told often enough. The athletes were fantastic but it’s the owners and managers who I’m more interested in. I got some of those stories in this book, and I appreciate that.
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Flavia is my new favorite girl character! (Which leads me to the question, why isn’t this listed as a YA book?)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie appeared on my reserve list thanks to someone on the BlogHer Book Club Group. I can’t remember who exactly mentioned it but someone did. It sounded good, so I reserved it.
I didn’t expect it to be quite this good, particularly since it’s a British book and I’m not a huge fan of the British mystery. Flavia just rocks and her sisters are pretty fascinating as well.
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I just came home from the library, where I paid a 70 cent fine for The Angel’s Game. It was well worth it (and I do apologize to anyone in my library system who was waiting for me to return the book. I trust you’ll understand, once you read the first page. Or that you already understand because you have read The Shadow of the Wind.)
As an aside, mom… I’d love a copy of The Angel’s Game for my birthday. I know. I’ve read it. But it’s a book that needs to be OWNED. Just looking across the room at The Shadow of the Wind and knowing I can pick it up and read a line or two is… well, it’s important. I’d do the same thing with The Angel’s Game.
And OMG, I just read the Author’s Note on Amazon… there will be four! FOUR! Must own all four. (And hmmm has anyone ever thought about turning these into movies? I know those of us who love the books would probably not love the movies but… there’s potential there, don’t you think? And I think Zafon should make a millions of dollars, without having to sell his soul, and movie sales might help that.)
I wasn’t going to read Graceling because I am way behind and have a huge stack of books I need to read so that I can review them. Or read so that I can finish my challenges.
But TW insisted Graceling was good. Really good. And I wasn’t feeling very well, so a serious non-fiction book about a GI doctor seemed like less than perfect reading for a stomach flu kind of day.
TW was right. Graceling was really good. Another strong female character. A strong supporting female character. Male characters that run the range of good and evil, some that are a combo of both. And of course, there’s the “Grace”. How those who are graced are treated. What types of graces there are. Very interesting.
*Duh. Just realized the reason we had this book in the first place is that it was a Cybils book. Too bad it had so much competition in that category.*
Deb Rocks is funny. She’s more than funny. It doesn’t matter if she’s leaving comments on BlogHer, or on Twitter or blogging. The woman makes people laugh. In a smart way.
Her book, 5 Ways to {blank} your blog is funny – in a smart way. Totally what I expected to see.
It’s full of laughs. Full of great blogs that you should visit. Full of smart tips, sometimes masked as non-tips.
Buy the book and then go {blank} your blog. It will be funny. We’ll all laugh with you… and probably at you.
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Yes I’m just now getting around to reading Kabul Beauty School. Thank goodness for the From the Stacks Challenge because I’m sure if I didn’t force myself to do this challenge every year, a whole slew of great books I’ve purchased would go unread. Like this one.
There are just too many books and not enough damn time.
I liked it. I’ve heard a lot about it and was a little worried that I wouldn’t like it. There are a lot of non-fiction books, written by westerners, about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan that I’ve just plain hated. Thank goodness, this wasn’t one of them.
I loved the story. I loved the idea of the beauty school. I loved a look at the people and the culture – and the culture clashes.
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