What have I done this month? Well, I know I saw Underworld: Awakening. It was a good sequel and led me to believe another installment will happen. What I couldn't believe is the trailer I saw for a new Resident Evil. People really continued to watch these after the first one?! Inconceivable! (And yes I do know what that means and I am using it properly.)
Let's see...a few crafts this month...pretty much all of them to be gifts for people next month, so I can't post them. But I can show one of them now. I found the pattern in an etsy store and almost died laughing. Luckily, a fellow Buffy fan had a birthday and was in need of a present:
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| Buffy to Giles: hips don't usually lie like that! |
So what did I read? I started with a couple of items from the library: Other People's Rejection Letters: Relationship Enders, Career Killers, and 150 Other Letters You'll Be Glad You Didn't Receive by Bill Shapiro and I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee. From the home stash, I read: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir by Jennifer Mascia, The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares, The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory, At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream by Wade Rouse, Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love by Larry Levin, and Insatiable by Meg Cabot.
The rejection letters book was funny and sad. It was a fun way to pass a few hours on an actual cold, wet, wintry Saturday afternoon with the sniffles. I feel like the title is pretty self explanatory. I just really needed something to cleanse my reading palette from the crap that was Room.
I always thought Samantha Bee was funny on The Daily Show, but I hadn't gotten around to reading her book. It wasn't as hilarious as the Mindy Kaling book, but it was still very entertaining. I'm always drawn to comic actors/actresses biographies and straight up humor books under the implied promise of hilarity. If you enjoy her humor, you'll probably like this. I did.
The Jennifer Mascia memoir was one I searched for...and searched for...after seeing it one time on a display at a bookstore and reading an article about it a long time ago. I did overhype it in my head, but it was still really interesting...and the cover was cross-stitched, so that's awesome. Who doesn't like a book cover with a little old-school stitchin' with some guns? Jennifer grew up fairly naive to the nature of her family's business ventures, possibly because each individual may have needed more therapy techniques than people knew about in the 70s and 80s. Mafia involvement? Check. Drugs? Check. Adultery? Check. INSANITY? CHECK! As a family unit, these people were tight, but just messed up. I enjoyed how the view she gave into her childhood, teen years, and adulthood. Despite all the crazy, there was a lot of love, but wow. I'm glad her parents had passed once she found all of this out or she might not have been able to move on with her own, separate life.
Ann Brashares is a little bit the same in every book. The story took place mostly at the beach, but some in the city. Sisters grow up, dynamics of relationships change, one sister doesn't change her thought processes, the other does, and of course, there's a man stuck in the middle. I guess you could call it a love triangle, but it's different than that. The guy is bff with one sister and in love with the other. They both need him in completely different ways...then tragedy, as only Brashares can write it. She does manage to give it a kind of happy ending, but it has some sad that you can't shake off.
If you're not a fan of historical fiction (not romance, but history mixed up with fictional dialog), then you probably don't like most of Phillipa Gregory's books. I started reading her way back...I think my first one was The Other Boelyn Girl, but it could've easily been that weird one about the gardener and the little person. Life was definitely different back in the day. Anyway, The White Queen is the first of the Cousins' War set of books by her. This first one happens during the time of the War of the Roses and focuses on Elizabeth Woodville, better known by her position as mother to the princes in the tower than by her name. I've only read one other book series that falls into that time period and I LOVED it, so I was kind of inclined to like this just because of the era. It was a good read and definitely has me ready to read the other two in the series (The Red Queen and The Lady of the Rivers) that I know are out now.
[Sidebar: while looking up that Sharon Kay Penman link, I found out that she has a new-ish one out last fall...Lionheart, which I will be either buying or checking out immediately. Although, it's been years since I read While Christ and His Saints Slept, so I might need to skim through that a bit again.]
Wade Rouse. Hilarious. This is another find from reading Jen Lancaster's blog posts regularly. Wade and his partner moved from the big city to a small, small town in Michigan near the water. Since neither were particularly adept at country-livin', the anecdotes are hysterical. I had more than one soda-up-and-out-the-nose moments with this book. Not many reads start with your main character being attacked by a raccoon and defending himself with lip gloss. Pure fun.
And now, let's watch while I yet AGAIN read a book about an animal. You guys know that in books and in movies, animals die a lot of the time, right? I know it too. but I continue to read books that make me cry. Now, you know going into this, right form the cover picture, that Oogy has had some problems. And thanks to a video passed around a couple of years ago when I got this book, I knew that Oogy was alive so I thought it might be better to read about a doggie who overcame all the crap at the beginning and LIVES and has a happy life. I cried every chapter. But I still can't believe how amazing his story, and his family's story, is. If you feel like crying, but know that things turn around, read this. Otherwise, just stay away. It's too emotional.
A long time ago, I noticed that Meg Cabot (love her!) had put out a book called Insatiable and the version I have has a woman on the cover, holding a stake. That's right. Vampire book! And then, just before Borders closed, I saw another book by Meg Cabot, that went with that first book and it's called Overbite. I bought it too. As luck would have it, after the history lesson, the sad puppy who get happy, and the modern Green Acres tale, I was really in the mood for vampires. They are not sparkley. The entire situation is very humorous (this is part of why I love her)...it's about the original Dracul family, and their clan in modern day New York. There's a soap opera vampire war and a real-life vampire war with the Vatican's Palatine Guard getting involved. The woman in the center of all of it? Meena Harper (yes, like Mina Harker, only better). And she has a special ability...she knows when people are going to die. And her dog, Jack Bauer. HA! Yes, she totally named her dog Jack Bauer and if I ever get another dog, I consider this now to be the perfect name. If you can't tell, I really liked this book. Just go read it. I don't even want to tell you any more about it.
I've started Overbite, so it'll be on next month's list. Oh! Marian Keyes! She's back! I am so very, very happy about that. She has a baking book (with Himself) coming out next month and she's working on a new novel involving the last sister from the Walsh family, Helen. Yes! Keyes was out of commission for two years, fighting to get it together. Her newsletter for January is pretty awesome. If you like her, check it out.
Alrighty, next month should also include tidbits on how I felt about the Oscars. Later!
The rejection letters book was funny and sad. It was a fun way to pass a few hours on an actual cold, wet, wintry Saturday afternoon with the sniffles. I feel like the title is pretty self explanatory. I just really needed something to cleanse my reading palette from the crap that was Room.
I always thought Samantha Bee was funny on The Daily Show, but I hadn't gotten around to reading her book. It wasn't as hilarious as the Mindy Kaling book, but it was still very entertaining. I'm always drawn to comic actors/actresses biographies and straight up humor books under the implied promise of hilarity. If you enjoy her humor, you'll probably like this. I did.
The Jennifer Mascia memoir was one I searched for...and searched for...after seeing it one time on a display at a bookstore and reading an article about it a long time ago. I did overhype it in my head, but it was still really interesting...and the cover was cross-stitched, so that's awesome. Who doesn't like a book cover with a little old-school stitchin' with some guns? Jennifer grew up fairly naive to the nature of her family's business ventures, possibly because each individual may have needed more therapy techniques than people knew about in the 70s and 80s. Mafia involvement? Check. Drugs? Check. Adultery? Check. INSANITY? CHECK! As a family unit, these people were tight, but just messed up. I enjoyed how the view she gave into her childhood, teen years, and adulthood. Despite all the crazy, there was a lot of love, but wow. I'm glad her parents had passed once she found all of this out or she might not have been able to move on with her own, separate life.
Ann Brashares is a little bit the same in every book. The story took place mostly at the beach, but some in the city. Sisters grow up, dynamics of relationships change, one sister doesn't change her thought processes, the other does, and of course, there's a man stuck in the middle. I guess you could call it a love triangle, but it's different than that. The guy is bff with one sister and in love with the other. They both need him in completely different ways...then tragedy, as only Brashares can write it. She does manage to give it a kind of happy ending, but it has some sad that you can't shake off.
If you're not a fan of historical fiction (not romance, but history mixed up with fictional dialog), then you probably don't like most of Phillipa Gregory's books. I started reading her way back...I think my first one was The Other Boelyn Girl, but it could've easily been that weird one about the gardener and the little person. Life was definitely different back in the day. Anyway, The White Queen is the first of the Cousins' War set of books by her. This first one happens during the time of the War of the Roses and focuses on Elizabeth Woodville, better known by her position as mother to the princes in the tower than by her name. I've only read one other book series that falls into that time period and I LOVED it, so I was kind of inclined to like this just because of the era. It was a good read and definitely has me ready to read the other two in the series (The Red Queen and The Lady of the Rivers) that I know are out now.
[Sidebar: while looking up that Sharon Kay Penman link, I found out that she has a new-ish one out last fall...Lionheart, which I will be either buying or checking out immediately. Although, it's been years since I read While Christ and His Saints Slept, so I might need to skim through that a bit again.]
Wade Rouse. Hilarious. This is another find from reading Jen Lancaster's blog posts regularly. Wade and his partner moved from the big city to a small, small town in Michigan near the water. Since neither were particularly adept at country-livin', the anecdotes are hysterical. I had more than one soda-up-and-out-the-nose moments with this book. Not many reads start with your main character being attacked by a raccoon and defending himself with lip gloss. Pure fun.
And now, let's watch while I yet AGAIN read a book about an animal. You guys know that in books and in movies, animals die a lot of the time, right? I know it too. but I continue to read books that make me cry. Now, you know going into this, right form the cover picture, that Oogy has had some problems. And thanks to a video passed around a couple of years ago when I got this book, I knew that Oogy was alive so I thought it might be better to read about a doggie who overcame all the crap at the beginning and LIVES and has a happy life. I cried every chapter. But I still can't believe how amazing his story, and his family's story, is. If you feel like crying, but know that things turn around, read this. Otherwise, just stay away. It's too emotional.
A long time ago, I noticed that Meg Cabot (love her!) had put out a book called Insatiable and the version I have has a woman on the cover, holding a stake. That's right. Vampire book! And then, just before Borders closed, I saw another book by Meg Cabot, that went with that first book and it's called Overbite. I bought it too. As luck would have it, after the history lesson, the sad puppy who get happy, and the modern Green Acres tale, I was really in the mood for vampires. They are not sparkley. The entire situation is very humorous (this is part of why I love her)...it's about the original Dracul family, and their clan in modern day New York. There's a soap opera vampire war and a real-life vampire war with the Vatican's Palatine Guard getting involved. The woman in the center of all of it? Meena Harper (yes, like Mina Harker, only better). And she has a special ability...she knows when people are going to die. And her dog, Jack Bauer. HA! Yes, she totally named her dog Jack Bauer and if I ever get another dog, I consider this now to be the perfect name. If you can't tell, I really liked this book. Just go read it. I don't even want to tell you any more about it.
I've started Overbite, so it'll be on next month's list. Oh! Marian Keyes! She's back! I am so very, very happy about that. She has a baking book (with Himself) coming out next month and she's working on a new novel involving the last sister from the Walsh family, Helen. Yes! Keyes was out of commission for two years, fighting to get it together. Her newsletter for January is pretty awesome. If you like her, check it out.
Alrighty, next month should also include tidbits on how I felt about the Oscars. Later!
