2006

Black Swan Green

1 Comment / 2006, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Goodness it took me a long time to finish Black Swan Green and it really shouldn’t have. I liked it. Jason Taylor and his family, his friends and his enemies – all good characters. A British book set during the Falklands and no Thatcher-bashing (except for a brief bit by the gypsies) – my kind of book. No idea why it took so long to read – maybe it was just the whole 12 days of Christmas thing got in the way of my reading?

I never read Cloud Atlas last year when everyone else did. Black Swan Green makes me think maybe I should grab it from the library and give it a go.

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Tanglewreck

2006, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Who knew Jeanette Winterson could write such a great young adult fantasy book, and it’s not gay at all! There’s not even any gender confusion. Weird, eh?

Tanglewreck is the story of the Timekeeper. The Timekeeper is important because time is totally screwed up. We never have enough of it, time is always flying, stuff like that. I mean it’s REALLY flying and we REALLY don’t have enough. That’s the problem and the Timekeeper is the solution.

Really a good book, your fantasy loving kids will enjoy it.

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The Iron Girl

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction, GLBT, Mystery /

I guess it isn’t all Jane Lawless, after all. I didn’t love The Iron Girl but I sure liked it more than Stage Fright. How many women has Jane Lawless been through? She has bedded more women than, errrr, well a lot of women.

I think I like the Sophie Greenway mysteries better than the Jane Lawless mysteries – which is too bad since Sophie isn’t a dyke and it’s odd too because all of the food is just not “me”. But there you have it, I’m a contradiction.

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A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl

2 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Young Adult /

Well I guess A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl, maybe. If you learn your lesson and don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again. Tough lessons to learn and it drives me insane to think that girls (and young women and old women) keep having these same types of issues with men. You’d think, by now, the female species would have evolved and created some better defense mechanisms or something. But no, we keep letting boys (and men) do these things.

It’s the patriarchy.

Nice book, the notes inside of “Forever” were a really nice touch. And as sassymonkey says, if it hasn’t been challenged yet, it’s only a matter of time. So if you like banned/challenged books, beat the rush and read this one now.

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Glass Books of the Dream Eaters

1 Comment / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters was one of the oddest books I have ever read. It was also one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It was also one of the LONG-WINDEDEST books I have ever read (Long-windedest is a great word, I know! It should totally be in the dictionary!).

I finished the book last night and I have absolutely no idea how to describe it to you. Or what it all meant. In that way, it reminds me of House of Leaves which holds a special place in our lives, even though we have no idea what it was about, or what it meant. I believe Glass Books/Dream Eaters is going to be that kind of book for us.

I wandered over to Amazon and read the reviews, to see if those would help. They don’t. The one I agree with most can be para-phrased like this “Somewhere in this 750 page, over-written, novel was an amazing 400 page novel.” That is very, very truet. The writing, was dense. The story-telling, just a little convoluted.

The three heroes, wonderful. The bad guys, ummm there were so many. Too many, I think. The premise, the glass books – excellent idea! Really fabulous. The sex, wonderful! The alchemy and religion, very good too.

Sigh. Someone speak to the author please. Don’t let him do this again. Really, a great story is in there and that’s why I’ve plopped it into my “favorites” category. It’s just too bad it was such a struggle, such a painful struggle. If I could have looked into the blue glass, it might have helped clear the fog a bit. But since I couldn’t, sigh… reading should just not be that painful.

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Killer Dreams

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Is Killer Dreams a sequel or something? It felt like it and that bugged me because I hate reading a sequel before I’ve read the original.

Anyway, as with the odd book or two I’ve read by Iris Johansen, Killer Dreams is nothing to write home about. If you want a drama that doesn’t make you think and you don’t mind some silly dialogue sprinkled throughout the story, then you won’t mind Killer Dreams a bit. If you like to read dramatic thrillers at the beach or on some other vacation, then this will do the job.

If you prefer something substantial – something really GOOD, this isn’t it. Try Dexter instead.

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The Rules of Survival

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

TW was pretty troubled by the idea of her kids reading The Rules of Survival. Not that they’ve read this, they haven’t. It’s just the idea that this book is a young adult book – something RJ might pick up off of the shelf – that idea troubled her. It didn’t trouble me at all.

Some kids do live this way and I think all kids should know this. Life isn’t all peaches and cream and sometimes people who say “I love you” are the ones who are doing their damnedest to hurt you. That. Is. Life. For some kids.

Nicely written book. Good ending, which is often not the case with “problem books”. Possibly triggering for kids who’ve lived with abuse or adults who have survived it.

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Chuck Palahniuk?

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

Until reading Diary yesterday, I’d never read a book by Chuck Palahniuk. I know, you’re shocked. As much as I read, you’d think… well yea, you would wouldn’t you? I’m not sure why I haven’t read one before. I’ve certainly SEEN Fight Club and I’ve certainly meant to read his books before. I think I went so far as to get Lullaby from the library over the summer but I never managed to read it. (Neither did Michelle, and she’s the one who asked me to get it in the first place!)

Anyway, about Diary. I liked it a lot. Very non-horror Stephen King-like in some ways. Very “Fight Club-like” in other ways. I really liked the art lessons sprinkled into the coma diary. I hope Michelle finds time to read this before it has to go back to the library – or maybe she can borrow it from Jared who is a huge Palahniuk fan. I’d hate for her to miss it – and I think this might make a better movie than Fight Club did.

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Kate Delafield

2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, GLBT, Mystery /

Sigh. Detective Delafield, you were not at your best in Hancock Park. Are you showing your age? Or is it Katherine Forrest who is showing hers? I can’t decide. All I know is that I don’t like it and I hope we see improvements with the next Kate Delafield mystery.

The good detective is a drinker and should definitely get that under control. I’m all for that. She’s also the kind of dyke who doesn’t wander around the sisterhood with a rainbow bumper sticker attending empowerment seminars and that should not change at all. Leave the woman alone. Let her do her job and go home to a nice g/f at the end of a hard day. Or let her do her job and go home with a screwed up lesbian relationship at the end of the day. But quit beating her up about not being an active participant in the community. That’s BS and Katherine Forrest should really know better, shouldn’t she?

Yes, she should.

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