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2012, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I was very surprised when TW put Home into the library bag. She is not the Toni Morrison fan in the family. She doesn’t hate her, she just doesn’t enjoy her as much as I do. I was also surprised when she questioned my decision to read Home. She had already read it and why WOULDN’T I read it – I LIKE TONI MORRISON for god’s sake.

Anyway.

I read it.

Very fast read.

It felt like I had already read Cee’s story. And maybe bits and pieces of the old mean step-grandmother’s story. That part where she beat the dog and lost the cleaning services of the girl – very familiar. The eugenics part – familiar. The part where Cee’s dirtbag boyfriend took off with the car that belonged to her family back home – also familiar.   If I didn’t know better, I’d say I’ve read this book.

But, it’s new – and I did not recognize any of the Smart Money pieces and I’m pretty sure I’d have remembered that. Yum yum? Yea, I’d have remembered that.

Anyway – it felt familiar. It was fast. It was Morrison. It was good but not my favorite, by a long shot.

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This Is Not a Test

1 Comment / 2012, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I was nervous about reading This Is Not a Test – because, it’s Courtney Summers and she makes me crazy. So crazy that I swore I’d never read another one of her books. I’m not very good at sticking to my guns when it comes to YA. In case you hadn’t noticed.

Thankfully, she stepped into the world of zombies and all was right with the world. Well not really, but all was not so horribly wrong, either. Which is weird since zombies took over the world and people died and stuff. But that, believe it or not, was better than what I expected after Some Girls Are and Cracked Up To Be. Heh.

Good zombie, YA trouble book. I liked it. A lot of bad stuff happened and she did a very good job of making her screwed up characters screw up in ways that made sense to me. I hope she sticks with fantasy. Heh.

Also – Tina T – super damn brilliant.

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The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R.

2012, Books in Bed, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Women /

The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R. was good. It could have been excellent had the editor (errr author) had a better editor. When beautiful writing bogs down the narrative, you’re in trouble. When your scattering of French phrases becomes a distraction, you’re in trouble.

Other than that – well done.

France in the mid to late 1800s wasn’t a cake walk for women, in case you didn’t know that.  #patriarchy. 😉

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The Time in Between

2012, Books in Bed, Fiction, Women /

TW loved The Time In Between – she said it was like the Pink Carnation books but not like them. Which makes things pretty clear, doesn’t it?

Woman.

Spy.

There you go. That’s how it’s like the Pink Carnation books.

Otherwise, not so much.  There are some little romances but not a lot. 1930s and 1940s. Spain, Morocco, Portugal.  Nazis. Nationalists.

There’s not much to laugh about, really.  It’s all very serious.

But she was right, it was very good and I’m glad I read it – even if a 600 page hardback novel killed my already sore wrists for a couple of days.

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When She Woke

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Women /

I am a fan of The Scarlet Letter and tend to be a little hard on books that attempt to recreate that story – but When She Woke was EXCELLENT.  Abortion is murder and convicts of all kinds have their skin color changed (color based on level of crime) and sent back into the community. As you can imagine, “Reds” have a pretty tough time since those are the ones who’ve been convicted of murder.  Feminists run an underground railroad helping women who’ve been convicted for having abortions.

I really liked Hannah, and while I didn’t love the choice she made there at the end – it was the one that made the most sense for her and it made for a solid ending.

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The Mysterious Benedict Society Series: Books, 2, 3, 4

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Young Adult /

I read the first Mysterious Benedict Society book ages ago and then never read any of the others. When Sassymonkey mentioned book 4, The Mysterious Education of Nicholas Benedict, I decided to catch up and reserved the rest at the library and then I read them all straight through.

The Perilous Journey and The Prisoner’s Dilemma were much like the first book – the four children work together to defeat Mr Curtain and his (mostly) evil henchmen. The Ten Men are creepy. Very creepy. And the kids are very smart. Mr Benedict still has necrophilia.  

The Mysterious Education of Nicholas Benedict is a prequel – and gives us a lot of missing info about how Mr Benedict came to be Mr Benedict. This one’s a little different than the other three books, obviously, but there are still good kids (though not necessarily gifted kids) and the most of adults in the story are not so much bad – they’re just flawed and need someone to help nudge them along the proper path, thankfully there’s Nicholas to sort them out.

Fun series. I’m glad I caught up this way.  

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Being Lara

2012, Adoption Reading Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I ended up liking Being Lara, though in the beginning it was touch and go because I did not like Lara very much and I didn’t like her adopted parents very much either.  But, they did all grow on me after the story got moving and I ended up enjoying all of the characters – even when I wanted to shake them a bit.

I sure wish Lara’s adopted parents had answered her questions – when she asked for them. That they’d told the truth – when she asked them questions. That they had not ignored the letters from her birth mom.

But, I can also understand how scary it is to be the adoptive parents.  Except it’s really not about your fear, is it. You are, after all, the adult…

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Elf Girl

2012, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Women /

Reverend Jen is… hard to describe. She kind of scares me. I would love to go visit the Troll Museum, have wanted to visit the Troll Museum since Suzanne Reisman wrote about it in her book Off the Beaten Subway Track, but Rev Jen scares me.

I thought I could convince TW to try it, after reading Elf Girl but then I made the mistake of watching some of Rev Jen’s videos. I think she’s just a little too out there for us. Maybe if we took Michelle with us?

Heh.

I did like the book. Quite a lot. I also agree with her that wearing elf ears is no weirder than some of the other socially accepted stuff people do to themselves.

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