The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, Steampunk /

It took me awhile to get into The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy — I was having trouble with the setting. This happens sometimes when real people are in fiction or, worse yet, steam punk fiction. Everything is so … far-fetched that it takes me awhile to suspend disbelief and just go with it.

Once I did that — I was good. It was a fun story. Interesting. I wish I’d known more about damn Nellie Taft but am certainly glad to know more now. Cool woman.

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The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t…

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Fiction, short stories, Steampunk /

After I finished Waistcoats & Weoponry, I was surfing Gail Carriger’s author page on Amazon and noticed a novella that I’d never read… a prequel to the Parasol Protectorate series so I downloaded The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar — that’s a mouthful and the title is almost longer than the short story.

Which is exactly what was wrong with this… it wasn’t so much a novella as a short story and it was too short. Way too short. There was some bouncing around that only barely made sense. Horrible transitions. I didn’t hate it and I’m glad I read it — it just wasn’t enough.

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Filofax, Art Journaling and Other Goals In November

Daily Dose, Day to Day, Filofax /

I had such high hopes and then all the unexpected things happened (along with some expected things) and my life went to hell and didn’t really ever recover. OK maybe it recovered a little. Enough for me to finish Melisa’s bottle in time to take it to her on our next trip to that stupid suburb. I’m pretty pleased with that bit of artwork, even if it isn’t art journaling.

I did a tiny bit of doodling and I played with some ephemera in prep for a page that I’ll work on … someday, someday maybe. (Oh look at me channeling Lauren Graham, just as I’m about to talk Filofax… which makes no sense to most of you, but makes perfect sense to me.)

I had a couple of rough moments in the Filofax world because life went to hell and so did my well laid out plans. I recovered. Mostly. Or I’m still recovering. My schedules are all wonky and my reusable stickies for recurring meetings and reports are effed all to hell because times and dates have changed so much. Rather than completely re-do them again, I’m holding off and out til 2015 and feel better about the week’s schedule already.

In other news, my mom bought a Filofax, the youngest child asked for a Filofax for Christmas, and I convinced Idyllicchick that the perfect planner for her was a Midori Traveler or a Fauxdori Traveler (it is and I’m all the jealous that she has one and I do not.)

Besides Filofax screw ups my few lines a day journaling went to hell, too. My mornings were so chaotic that I completely missed the two minutes I usually take to journal with my first cup of coffee. Hell most of November was done while cursing and trying to remember life a week ago — rinse and repeat, three times. Yea, it was like that.

December will be better because I’ve carried over my major to do items + added only holiday related shipping and wrapping stuff. I’m really just holding on til 2015. (Oh, I did finally order my A5 inserts. They’re not here yet but I expect them soon. That will be fun — all bullet journaling, all the time. I think. Mostly. hah.)

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Reading In November

2014, Books in Bed, Reading, Reading Lists /

It wasn’t a bad month, all things considering — and boy there were a lot of things to consider. I read a lot of really awesome books and a few clunkers. Maybe more than a few — I’m trying not to remember those.

Total for the month was 17.

7 were YA
6 were from the Cybils shortlist (I quit one of those after five minutes of audio. ugh)
4 were audio
4 were non-fiction
2 were lesbian fiction

Yep, pretty darn good month all things considered. I’ll take it.

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2 Awesome Non-Cybil YA Books

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Steampunk, Women /

Since I can see the end of my Cybils shortlist challenge tunnel, it seemed like a good idea to reserve some of the new books in YA series I’ve started but hadn’t quite kept up with.

First, the third book in the Cahill Witch series, Sisters’ Fate turned out to be better than I expected. After a rough few pages when I barely remembered what the series was about, I settled in and really enjoyed it. I’m not a big fan of Cate, which is too bad since she’s the narrator — but I love all of the other characters and eventually found myself appreciating Cate, too.

And, the third book in the Finishing School series, Waistcoats & Weaponry was possibly the best book in the series. I need some sort of family tree thingy though to see where all of the tie-ins to the Soulless series are. Some are obvious, some are less so (particularly since I read the Soulless books so long ago.) I also need another book in the series — quickly. This one was so much fun.

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A Couple of Sketchbooks for Doodlers

2014, Art, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

20 Ways to Draw a Cat and 44 Other Awesome Animals and 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and 44 Other Nifty Things From Nature are fun books. I just wish I’d had more time to play with them before they had to go back to the library. The whole series looks pretty cool. I might have to check one out every month and really make myself take time to doodle. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?

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Joyland

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Mystery /

I finally found some time to read Joyland and I really enjoyed it. I liked the setting and the characters. I even liked the way it ended. Since this is a “crime” novel and not a horror novel, we didn’t get the really creepy Stephen King and that’s cool. Nice change from scary clowns with just enough creepyness to make it a fun read.

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