Kindle

Vicki Beautiful

2 Comments / 2016, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Kindle /

My friend Somer wrote a book. It’s horror, which makes sense because Somer loves to be scared and loves to scare people. I also enjoy reading horror novels so I was extra excited to buy Vicki Beautiful.

Until chapter two.

Good grief, Somer! Did you have to go there? REALLY? That was the most horribly awesome chapter, EVER.

It was so horribly awesome that I wasn’t sure I could continue. But I did — and then I couldn’t stop reading because OMG, really? REALLY???? NO WAY! OMG.

And as I got closer and closer to the end, I was more and more afraid about what was going to happen at the end.

Yep. That’s what I thought would happen.

OMG, Somer. REALLY?????

Totally awesome but shudder. It still makes me queasy just thinking about it.

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Boy, Snow, Bird

2015, Books in Bed, Fiction, Kindle /

I finally managed to start reading Boy, Snow, Bird (on Kindle) when we went to see JMP in New York. But it wasn’t any easy book to read while distracted by JMP so I didn’t get very far. It’s also not an easy book to read in tiny bits, which is how I generally read Kindle books.

So, it took me a really long time to read this. I really only finished because I had large chunks of time to read when we did our #fakereadathon and #readathon. Without those two chunks of reading time, I’d probably still be reading this book.

About the book. Hoo boy. It had all the things. Wicked step-mothers. Black folks passing as white. Transgender stuff. It was all the things rolled into one and I can’t really decide how I feel about it.

I really liked some of it. I really disliked other parts of it.

I found it hard to read at parts, because it just felt like we were slogging along. But in other moments, I thoroughly enjoyed each word. I also don’t think I really liked a single person in the entire thing. That was troubling. OK maybe I liked Bird. Yea, I liked her. The rest of them — not so much. Not so much at all.

Very interesting read. Not like anything you’ve probably read before (even with the wicked step-mother thread(s).

PS. Thanks Elisa (who gifted the book to me last Christmas.)

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Fang Chronicles: Dimitri

2014, Books in Bed, Kindle, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

During #readathon, I always try to go back to some of the series written by BlogHer community members that I haven’t kept up with. This time around, it was Fang Chronicles. Fun to read on my iPhone when I want a break from paper or while I’m sitting at my laptop waiting for spam to delete and stuff.

That Dimitri is… powerful. Sheesh.

I’m starting to have trouble keeping the beasts straight — there are so many now. I might need a cheat sheet when I read the next book. Who’s a vampire? Who’s a cat? Who’s a wolf? Who’s a bear? Gah. All the beastkind!

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Bleak House Is Bleak

2014, Books in Bed, Kindle, Reading /

OK so I decided to re-read Bleak House after seeing one of Raych’s posts about re-reading it. She made me laugh so I decided what the hell. I haven’t read it in more than 30 years, I only barely remember it, I should read it again. Others should read it with me. It will be fun.

I reserved it from the library and started reading it during jury duty. Bad decision since I was already pretty grouchy about the jury duty.

I read a few more pages and then just put it down in favor of all the other books. Then, it had to go back to the library and I found I was sad about that.

So, I downloaded a free copy to my Kindle and I’ve been reading a page or two here or there… only to find that I had downloaded only a PARTIAL copy of the fucking thing. I wasn’t even all the way through the chapter telling us about The Ghost Walk when the book ended. WTF.

So I went and found another free copy and installed that on my Kindle. Kind of depressing though because not only is Bleak House very bleak, though it does have it’s good moments, I’m only on page 98 of … 788. Talk about bleak. I might finish this by Christmas.

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Organized Simplicity

2014, Books in Bed, Kindle, Non-Fiction /

Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Simple Living was on my Kindle app. No idea how it got there. Or when. Tsh is a blogger, you might have seen The Art of Simple before, so it’s possible I bought it just because she’s a blogger. I do that. I buy a lot of bloggers’ books on Kindle and then forget about them until I need a Kindle book to read.

Which is how I started reading this book. I was actually in the process of doing some de-cluttering in the laundry/stockpile room when I started reading this. It moves really quickly, particularly since there are some sections that are just not ME.

It’s not a bad book, though I found the end a little long — that’s the clean/de-clutter section. Since you pretty much do all of the same things from room to room, did we really need quite so much repeat there? Seems like it would have been more efficient to lay out the process and then provide a schedule for all of the rooms and then add info that’s specific to each room. Whatevs.

I didn’t love the book. Didn’t hate the book. I do really want to get up and do some de-cluttering right now because OMG we have so much stuff, lol.

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Steal Like an Artist

2014, Art, Books in Bed, From the Stacks Challenge, Kindle, Non-Fiction /

I’m on an e-Book roll! I have no idea how long Steal Like An Artist has been in my Kindle cloud but it was a fun read during the five and ten minute breaks I took from cleaning my house today.

Super fast read. Nothing really groundbreaking or revolutionary. I did smile a lot about the calendar/log book section — I’ve gone back to paper journaling and filofaxing for all of those reasons.

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Hatching Twitter

2014, Books in Bed, From the Stacks Challenge, Kindle, Non-Fiction /

Elisa sent me a copy of Hatching Twitter at the end of last year and when I needed to download a book for all of the waiting rooms I was going to be sitting in, it seemed like this was a good choice.

I was kind of hoping it would inspire me to go back to Twitter and figure out how to enjoy it again. But no. It didn’t. It might have done exactly the opposite. What. A. Mess.

No wonder we all got so familiar with the fail whale… geez.

Also, am I the only one who wants to track down @Noah and tell him that he did a good thing and he’s better off where he is, than to be in that mess? Long live @Noah! And @jack just makes me roll my eyes. Over and over and over again. Which is what generally happens any time I spend more than 5 minutes on Twitter. Coincidence?

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ROOTS: Where Food Comes From and Where It Takes Us

3 Comments / 2013, Books in Bed, cookbooks, Kindle, Non-Fiction, short stories /

The ROOTS Anthology is a BlogHer book — I am employed by BlogHer but I purchased the book myself. I was not asked to write about the book. The opinions expressed here are my own and I readily admit I’m probably a little biased.

OK a lot biased.

I know a good many of the people whose stories are featured in this anthology. I’ve spent time with them in person. I’ve read their blogs for years. I hang out with them on Chatter/Twitter and Facebook. It’s hard not to love this book because, well, these people are MY people.

It was fun to hear several of them read their stories at BlogHer Food — a little foodie community-like keynote. So fun. It was just as fun to read their stories again last week. I might even have felt tempted to make some of the recipes. (OK Fine. I might have been tempted to ask TW to make some of their recipes. Happy now?)

I loved this book. Yea, I’m biased.

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