Bad Girls Don’t Die was pretty creepy. All of those dolls. * Shudder *
And fire. There was fire. And fire has been freaking me out lately.
I’m not sure I really understood the need for the Carter storyline but I didn’t hate it, really. I found the missing father more troubling. The reaction to his accident by the girls and their mother – weird. And I don’t think it was related to the evil doll, either.
Creepy. Weird. But a quick, fun read.
Bad Girls Don’t Die Read More »
I almost didn’t read Addie on the Inside because I didn’t love The Misfits enough to really want to read any more of Howe’s books in the series. But, then again, Addie is a good strong female character so… I figured what the heck. And, I think it’s No Name Calling Week, or will be next week? Right, next week, Timely.
And now I’m glad I read it.
Told in verse – nicely done verse – it’s a super fast read and a bit of a page turner, too.
All of the normal stuff. Middle school sucks. Bullies suck. And sometimes bullies are bullies because they’re trying to survive their own kind of hell. Being queer in middle school sucks. Trying to start a Day of Silence program in middle school sucks. Dealing with annoying teachers in middle school sucks. Dealing with race issues sucks. Heck, everything about middle school pretty much sucks. Addie knows all of this but that doesn’t really make it any easier to deal with the middle school suckage (or suckers, for that matter.)
Addie on the Inside Read More »
I couldn’t have asked for a better book, (or author), to kick off my Steampunk Challenge – Ganymeade is fabulous. I might be a little bit biased since I actually spent a good bit of my summer vacation hanging out at the Friends of the Hunley museum way back before it moved to North Charleston. (Err, actually it was way back before the Hunley was found, now that I think about it.)
A submarine is a great steampunk machine – brilliant idea and brilliant idea to have the crew of the Naamah Darling fly it/drive it/sail it.
As much as I’m looking forward to seeing Boneshaker made into a movie, I feel like Ganymeade might be even better. The Hunt for Red October meets Night of the Living Dead – steampunked? Brilliant, right? I’m also looking forward to see what happens next in Seattle.
I saw The Dragon of Cripple Creek cover in a recently reviewed spinner on our library website and it looked interesting – so I reserved it. Cute little middle grade fiction book about a girl who is crazy for gold – and what happens when she convinces her dad to take a detour so they can go on a tour of an old gold mine – and she takes a detour away from the group. She finds gold and a dragon and sets off a modern day gold rush.
… So that’s where gold REALLY comes from. Cool…
The Dragon of Cripple Creek Read More »
I’ve never been an Apple fan girl. I come close when it comes to my iPhone, though. There really isn’t a better phone and my appreciation of the iPhone helped me begin to understand the Apple fan girls and the Cult of Mac. Reading the Steve Jobs biography made it even easier to grok. Reading the biography even made me more of a Steve Jobs fan, even if he was an asshat.
Fascinating read – fascinating guy – fascinating company.
And those Ultrabooks at CES… bah, Apple did that shit with the MacBook Air and I wanted one. I still want one. The new Ultrabooks are obviously going to be cheaper than the Macbook Air but… I might just break down and buy the Apple version because Apple did it first.
Maybe I’ll turn into an Apple fan girl some day.
Sassymonkey sent me an advance uncorrected galley of The Apothecary. She got it at BEA and I was thrilled to get it – even if I didn’t have time to read it when it arrived.
Now, I’m sorry I didn’t make time earlier. It was excellent. I love how awesome Janie and Jin Lo were. Pip was a great character, too. And I liked the ending a good bit. From truth serums memory loss potions. Brilliant idea.
I can’t wait for the next book about Janie and Benjamin. I sure hope Pip (and Sarah???) are in the next book, too.
No, I’m not just doing the Cybils Short List – though I probably should just stick to what’s easy, shouldn’t I? Heh. But no, what fun would it be to always do only what comes easily?
So here’s what I’m going to do:
– I want to read MORE than 200 books in 2012.
– I want to read MORE than 3 books for the Adoption Reading Challenge.
– I want to read MORE than 6 LGBT books.
– I want to read AT LEAST 12 books From the Stacks (that weren’t purchased in 2012.)
– I want to read AT LEAST 6 books for the Steampunk Reading Challenge but would prefer to read 12.
– Finish The Nancy Drew Challenge. I have 23 left to go and I think I’ve reached the point where I have to start buying Nancy Drews to fill in the holes in my collection. I really want to finish it this year. Wish me luck!
– I want to go back and catch up on some series that I know I’ve fallen behind on.
– I’m going to spend some time looking at the “1001 Books to Read Before You Die” and the “1001 Children’s Books to Read Before You Grow Up”. I’m betting there are some good books lurking in those lists that I never got around to reading. I’m not calling this a challenge – not really. It’s just something I want to do that will maybe turn into a challenge someday.
Reading Challenges in 2012 Read More »
It’s that time again, time for the new Cybils shortlist – which means it’s time for me to get busy reading all of the books on the shortlist. I’ve already read two from the list of 80 – I thought I’d read this Anna Hibiscus because I griped about the cliff hanger in last year’s book, but I either forgot to reserve it or I couldn’t get it from my library. (Or maybe I did read it and I forgot to blog it? Or something?)
*There’s a new category this year called “Book Apps” – I haven’t looked at it yet but am going to try to check out all of the shortlisted apps. We’ll see how that goes…*
Book Apps
BoBo Explores Light (iTunes link)
Harold and the Purple Crayon (iTunes link)
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (iTunes link)
The Monster at the End of This Book (iTunes link)
Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books
Clementine and the Family Meeting
Just Grace and the Double Surprise
Fantasy & SciFi (Middle Grade)
The Cheshire Cat: A Dickens of a Tale
Fantasy & SciFi (YA)
Fiction Picture Books
Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow?
Graphic Novels
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword
–
Middle Grade Fiction
Darth Paper Strikes Back – 12.17.11
Nonfiction for Middle Grade and YA
The Many Faces of George Washington
Nonfiction Picture Books
I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat
The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs
Thunder Birds: Nature’s Flying Predators
Poetry
Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto
Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers
YA Fiction (gosh, I almost typed YA Saves, lol)
Anna and the French Kiss – 1/8/2011
The Cybils Shortlist Challenge – 2012 Read More »