A to Z Challenge

Rejuvenile

2 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

So, I’m a Rejuvenile, sort of. Not as hardcore as some people, (like TW – I don’t skip), but definitely a Rejuvenile. My desk is full of toys. I have toys on my Christmas list. I cannot imagine joining a kick ball league or taking up roller skating again, though.

As I was reading the book, it brought lots of people to mind – TW for her love of skipping (and about an hour after I read that particular chapter, some 40 year old dude was skipping through Target on Black Friday, sheesh), Ken ’cause of his toy collection, my dad and his war game thingies. This brought me to a conclusion – I’m not sure I know anyone who is NOT a Rejuvenile.

Interesting book. I’m glad I finally made time to read it (and that I had it on my A to Z list.)

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The Queen of Cool

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Young Adult /

Again with the YA and again with a book from my A to Z challenge. This one was considerably better than the last one particularly if you like mindless YA chick lit where the cool kids go geek and the geek kids gain some cool cred and they all live happily ever after – except for the cool kids who aren’t smart enough to go a little geek.

The Queen of the Cool: Fun. Easy. Mindless. Typical. Not bad at all.

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The Year the Gypsies Came

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to read The Year the Gypsies Came. The first few chapters weren’t all that encouraging. Then suddenly, probably with the arrival of Buza and his stories, I was captivated. And then, when I saw the bad stuff coming, it was too late for me to decide not to read it.

Bad stuff in this book, lots of bad stuff.

I really enjoyed the book, I just wish… well, read it for yourself. You’ll see what I mean. But beware, it isn’t really a happy book.

Edited: I just realized this was a book I had on my A to Z list challenge. Yay me! (I’ll never complete the challenge but it’s one step closer.)

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Zoia’s Art

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction, Women /

It took me a long, long time to finish Zoia’s Gold. It was slow until the end and then it picked up nicely and I was turning pages as quickly as I could. Interesting, though I was troubled that it took so long for them to figure out what Zoia was hiding with the gold… it seemed obvious to me, which is probably why I found it moved so slowly.

Heh, I had forgotten this was on the A to Z challenge list! Yea! One more to cross off. Not a bad book either. I’d like a Zoia painting, I think.

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Water for Elephants

5 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Favorites /

Wow. Just wow. I expected Water for Elephants to be good but not this good. The circus lore was excellent (I’ve heard a good bit of circus lore in my life, my ex’s grandfather was with Ringling for a good long while) and the characters wonderfully written. The animal scenes were handled nicely – sometimes writers give animals too much personality, or too many “human” traits, not these animals!

I love, love, love this book. What else has Sara Gruen written? Are her other books this good?

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Lisey’s Story

3 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed /

It’s been so long since I read a Stephen King novel, I’d forgotten just how LONG they can be (and usually are). Lisey’s Story seemed longer than most because of the whole writing and language thing. It was good, but LONG, LONG, LONG.

Something it made me wonder about – has King’s wife, Tabitha King, written anything besides that book about the girl basketball player? That was good and I remember I used to check the library occasionally to see if she’d written anything else. (I just looked – good grief, she’s written a lot of books. I’m going to have to reserve a few at the library.)

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Miss Garnet’s Angel

1 Comment / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Art, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Miss Garnet’s Angel started out as a disappointment but improved as the story went along… Much like Miss Garnet herself.

Julia Garnet starts out as a pretty unlikeable retired, spinster, British school teacher. Heck she’s not even a dyke to give her some interesting quality. She’s a stick in the mud, a little too high and mighty and just plain boring. Until she goes to Venice. Until she discovers the Angel, Raphael.

The parallel story about Tobit helped move Miss Garnet’s story along. Not a bad book, if you give it time to develop.

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