The Serial Garden

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Classics, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, short stories /

I’ve read a couple of Joan Aiken’s stories before and I’ve always been interested in reading more, thank goodness for The Serial Garden – a compilation of Aiken stories. Nice. Loads of fun. Except for The Serial Garden where I gasped at the ending (TW didn’t find this nearly as troubling as I did) or The Goblin Music where I couldn’t believe the goblin child … well I won’t spoil it for you.

Another great Cybil Middle Grade Fantasy/Science Fiction selection. I have no idea how a winner can be picked from this group. They’re just too bloody good.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Serial Garden Read More »

The Red Hat Club Rides Again

1 Comment / 2010, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Women /

I was looking for something light, on audio, and when I stumbled into a sequel to Haywood Smith’s Red Hat Club, I thought that would be perfect. And it was. Sort of.

The Red Hat Club Rides Again made us laugh because of the southern-ness of it. It also made us cringe because of the… horribleness. Patriarchy. Body image bullshit. The body image BS was the hardest. All of the negative comments about their bodies. The month long cruise where they had every type of cosmetic surgery known to man. It was… troubling. I wouldn’t recommend it – unless you’re a Red Hat Club fan and you can forgive Smith for these sins.  I forgive her, mostly.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Red Hat Club Rides Again Read More »

Books Make a Difference

Books in Bed /

Disclosure: I’m the Community Manager for BlogHer.com. I was not asked to blog this because I work for BlogHer – I’m blogging this because I want kids to have access to as many books as possible. Read on…

BlogHer and BookRenter have teamed up to bring books to kids in Head Start programs – and we need your help to get these books into the hands of kids. All you have to do is go to this post, Books Make a Difference and leave a comment telling us which book made a difference in your life. Or, you can blog about this initiative, encouraging others to go to BlogHer.com and leave a comment, and add your link to the Mr Linky in the bottom of the Books Make a Difference post.

Each comment on that post – or each time you blog about this campaign (and leave the post link on Mr Linky) you’ll be donating a book to Head Start.

Easy. What are you waiting for? Books have made a difference in your life – help them make a difference in the lives of others.

Comments have been turned off – go to the BlogHer.com post and leave a comment, or blog it yourself.

Books Make a Difference Read More »

Social Media 101

2010, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I finished Social Media 101 last night, just in time to get it back to the library today. I enjoyed it, even if it was a “101” style of book and I don’t need a “101” refresher.  I found the community manager pieces interesting and amusing and yes I found myself nodding a few times – makes sense, since I am a community manager, doesn’t it?

(I wrote more about the book in the BlogHer – How to Blog Better group, if you’re interested.)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Social Media 101 Read More »

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

2 Comments / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

And here’s the problem with the Cybils – and with any awards really – books that don’t really “go together” are judged in the same category. How do you put Where the Mountain Meets the Moon in the same category with something like Farwalker or Dreamdark? 11 Birthdays is a completely different type of “fantasy  or science fiction” than Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which is different from The Prince of Fenway Park, which is different than… it goes on.

Folk tales should not be up against science fiction.

Modern fantasy should not be up against folk tales.

Bah.

Can we just give every book in the Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade) a prize. They’ve all been excellent. Every single one of them.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon felt familiar – like I’d read it before, or like I’ve read all of those Chinese folk tales before, in one book – or maybe like I know Minli. If you do read aloud with your kids, this would be a nice one – short chapters and within most of the chapters are stand alone tales that are being told within the story. So if you’ve really only got just two minutes to read, there are a lot of easy stopping points – and you can drag the book out for a long time, if you have kids who like that.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Read More »

The Prince of Fenway Park

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I didn’t expect to like The Prince of Fenway Park, much less love it. But – it rocked. I mean it really did.

I know a good bit about baseball but I’m not a fan. I only watch it when we go to dinner at Booby’s and I’m facing a TV that is playing a baseball game.  So really, why would a kids book about baseball appeal to me at all? Well… it was a fantasy. It had great characters, and I’m not just talking about the Hall of Famers (and those who should be in the Hall of Fame) but the cursed creatures who lived underneath Fenway Park – those characters were brilliantly written.

I was almost sorry to see the book end.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Prince of Fenway Park Read More »

So Punk Rock

2010, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Young Adult /

A mix between a YA novel and a graphic novel, So Punk Rock And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother was funny. A little predictable – but funny. Did you read Fat Kid Rules the World? The book about making the fat kid a rockstar drummer? Well… yea. Happens again.  Predictable like that. All of the characters do/learn pretty much what you’d expect but the Jewish kid twist makes it just different enough that I didn’t feel like I’d heard this story before. Fifty times. 

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

So Punk Rock Read More »