Yawp!
From the Cybils shortlist, Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets was awesome. I loved it. Didn’t want to put it down and I’m not even a very big Walt Whitman fan.
What I loved is that it’s just different enough from every other book about kids and depression/anxiety but familiar enough and true enough to keep me nodding my head.
Excellent. Really. I’d like to read it again (and maybe Yawp a little.)
Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets Read More »
Remember when I said Planesrunner was really not my favorite kind of scifi? Yea, I should have remembered that when I reserved the second book in the series, Be My Enemy. It was so hard to get into. So confusing. Even after I settled into the two Everetts, I struggled and skimmed a lot of the confusing science mumbo jumbo. I need my science to feel at least a little like magic and not so much like impossible science.
But, I did like it. Really. I just didn’t love it. And I do want to know what happens next so I’ll probably slog through book three at some point.
Oddly enough, TW is struggling with it too. I told her it gets easier once you sort out the alters but still she’s struggling.
We came home from our Starbucks run and I kicked off my boots, only to kick off one sock at the same time.
I sighed and said…
My sock came off
My foot is cold
I have a bird
I like to hold
TW giggled and so did I.
Dr Suess runs through my head at the weirdest times. That happens to you, too, right?
It’s Not Dr Suess Day Until Sunday, But… Read More »
I did not get any sleep last night. Well, I got some but not enough. Let’s not talk about that anymore, though. It makes me grouchy and I’m trying to overcome grouchy because it’s been a pretty darn good day.
TW and I went to the grand opening of Mariano’s today. Crazy. A grocery store grand opening? Me? Really? Yes, really. And it was fun. We spent too much money on interesting (and also yummy) things. We’ll try harder the next time, to stick to my normally thrifty only what’s on the list AND on sale sort of ways. DOUBLE freaking COUPONS on Wednesdays? How awesome IS THAT? Totally awesome. Can’t wait.
In other good news, Michelle belle sorted out an insurance problem AND she finally managed to find a dentist and get an appointment. That’s been a pain for her so I’m glad things are moving along the right path, finally. Also, thank God for insurance.
More good news — TW’s check came, right about the time I’d decided it was going to be a month late and we would be back to scrounging pennies (OK not really, just pulling money from savings) while we waited for it to arrive.
Also good, a present I ordered for her finally arrived or I think that’s what is waiting for us at the post office. We’ll find out for sure tomorrow. I hope it’s cool. I hope she likes it.
There are books I’ve been waiting ages for at the library waiting for us to pick them up and I’m excited about that. Flavia freaking de Luce, y’all!
And, JMP was busy talking to Grandmaaaaaa today. If I wasn’t already in a fairly good (though tired) mood, that would sure to cheer me right up.
I would, however, like to just call it a day right now and go to sleep for a very long darn time. So. Tired.
Granddddddddd Opening and Boy, I’m Tired Read More »
Beautiful Darkness is the sequel to Beautiful Creatures — I started off not liking it as much as Beautiful Creatures. I was also troubled by the addition of Summerville/Charleston references. She’s put Gatlin too close to my hometown (not that it was far from home in the first book re: Santee and Lake Moultrie, but I could hang onto the invisible fake town-ness of it before…)
Anyway, barring that hometown problem, I ended up liking this one a lot. It just took me awhile to get used to less Lena and more of the other supporting characters. I should have liked it right off the bat since I never loved Lena to start with.
I do love Ethan, Amma, Link, Marian, and Macon. Heck, I even like Ridley more than I like Lena. So yea, this was a good darn book once I settled in.
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From the Cybils Shortlist, Eleanor & Park… what to say, what to say. I liked it. A lot. I might have even loved it but… I kept wondering if any of my kids would have loved it when they were teens and I don’t think that they would.
There were so many 80s references. SO MANY. Neither of our girls knew what I was talking about when I asked them about a few of them. It’s one thing to have a few 80s references that a kid can figure out in context but so many? I dunno. Seems like something might be lost in translation. TW and I smiled all the way through it though BECAUSE of the 80s references.
I did particularly appreciate that Eleanor wasn’t a hero… there was no attempt to save her siblings. She didn’t even really try. Or even pretend to try. She thought about it but halfheartedly and with the awareness that she just couldn’t, she wasn’t even sure she could save herself.
I also really liked Park’s parents. And Park, sure I liked Part, too. Surprisingly, I liked the ending. I liked the abruptness of it. I like that we don’t see the complete resolution of all of the problems. The postcard ending — pretty much perfect. And, now I want to go immerse myself in 80s movies and TV shows. Sheesh.
It’s Girl Scout Cookie Time and I made sure to have some cash in my pocket today when we ran errands — sure enough, the girls were outside of the Starbucks, which is right next to the Robeks we usually stop at after a trip to the Navy base.
While we waited for our Robeks, I asked TW what kind of cookies she wanted. She said, “I dunno, who is the baker?”
Duh, either Little Brownie Baker or ABC, how the hell did I know? I could have walked out there and looked at the boxes and then come back and asked her again which kinds she wanted but whatever. I’ve never tasted a difference between the two, I think TW is just weird.
She’s also annoying and did not want Samoas (Little Brownie Baker FTW!) so I only bought one box of those to send to Sassymonkey and the Fake Husband. She’s also annoying because she likes Thin Mints — I do not. Thankfully she does like Trefoils and Tagalongs — so I bought those and was happy enough.
This led Elly to be completely 100% annoyed. We bought Trefoils for godsakes and NO SAMOAS? What is WRONG WITH US?
I blamed her mother, rightfully so — there are some things I’ll take the blame for but not buying Samoas, nope. That’s all on TW. (But next year I’ll remember and buy a box of them for Elly and we will make sure TW doesn’t touch them.)
Now I’m off to eat a Trefoil. Or 12.
Girl Scout Cookie Time Read More »
Fire & Ash was a very satisfying conclusion to the Rot & Ruin series. Very, very satisfying though I’m a little surprised that we didn’t lose more major characters… (trying not to spoil things for those who haven’t read it.)
I’d be disappointed that it was over, being that it’s one of the BEST zombie SERIES EVER, but I’m gonna move to the adult series, featuring Joe Ledger and I’m sure I’ll feel almost like the series hasn’t ended.
BEST ZOMBIE SERIES people. Don’t let its YA label keep you from reading it! (Now if I could just get some zombie trading cards…)
Our Dominicks’ grocery stores closed at the end of the year and since then grocery shopping has been a little… off.. around here. To make it better, we’ve gone to Tony’s Finer Foods a couple of times — which is nice, but we’re spending a lot more money than we used to spend.
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the opening of the Mariano’s in Northfield and the Heinen’s in Glenview because surely those stores will help me get back into a good grocery shopping routine. Hopefully.
The Mariano’s is opening on February 25th. We got a nice flyer with a coupon for free coffee and my first thought was… “Maybe I should take the day off and we can go to the grand opening!”
Which is weird, isn’t it. Much weirder than the people who stood in line for hours to get into a Trader Joe’s in Boulder last week (or was that just a couple of days ago.)
I’ve stood in line for weirder things — a four hour line for Burger King is the weirdest thing but this would definitely be weirder than that. Much weirder. Still, I’m tempted…
It Would Be Weird… Read More »
Oops. Just realized I never blogged Squish (5) — I read it two days after I read 1-4 and 5 is the one that’s on the Cybils shortlist.
It’s just as fun as 1-4 — I particularly liked the video game fixation storyline — creeping black mold! So much fun.