The other week I read She Who Shops by Joanne Skerrett. I didn’t enjoy the book too much… none of the characters were likeable… A woman moves to Boston for grad school, and the most real part of this book is her observations about boston when she lives there. they are so dead on! I lived in boston for ten years, till i moved to san francisco, so I knew every single place she was talking about (like that good breakfast place off Washington street), and every single behavior and mood she described… Although, when i moved to Boston from NH my first thought was how much MORE friendly people were there:“Sometimes she felt as if she were in a foreign country when trying to absorb Boston’s culture. She was … Read entire article »

Silver wolf is the first book in a series by anne rice’s sister alice borchardt. I wouldn’t have known it was her sister, even with the endorsing quote from Anne on the cover, except for that they make a big deal of it on the about the author section. Once I saw that, I was kinda scared. Anne Rice is very good, her son is good but boring, but it seemed like she was using her sister as a crutch. So? I liked the book. Alice is not as good of an author, but I was drawn in anyway. The main character is a shape shifting wolf (they don’t even use the term werewolf, and indeed, she can control the shifting) who lived in Rome in the time of Hadrian … Read entire article »

I managed to start Kelley Armstrong’s series the second book in with Stolen. This series is supposed to be the werewolves equivalent to the Anita Blake vampire slayer series (but of course by a different author). They even advertise a quote about that on the front of all the books. So..what do I think.. Does it measure up? Well, the main characters in both are supernatural women. Elena is the only female werewolf in existance. She is tough and good at fighting and all of that…though not as tough as Anita. If they hadn’t have made that comparison, I would have never thought of it. There are plenty of books and series with strong heroines, and some of them have weird powers. Maybe it’s because I started at the second … Read entire article »

Comedy snippet books like Autobiography of a Fat Bride by Laurie Notaro are, to me, like reading blogs. And we know I LOVE blogs. This book is just a bunch of short stories about Laurie meeting her husband, getting married, then some things that happen in the year or so afterward. Most of the stories are about nothing important, but they’re written in an interesting way, that makes us feel like we know her. I actually read this book in one night, in about one sitting, and was laughing out loud for some portions of it. I can’t wait to read her other books. If you like comedy writers, pick this up. … Read entire article »

Notes from the underbelly by risa green was a great, but quick book. If I had any reason to feel guilty about my pleasures, then chick lit would be a guilty pleasure. What I liked about this particular chick lit book was that it did not center around a man. Not that all of them do, but there are a great many that deal with finding or keeping the perfect guy. What is this book about? A 30 year old married woman who is a rich kids high school guidance counselor, whose husband pressures her into getting pregnant. Lara is not your average pregnant woman. She dislikes babies, has no maternal instincts, and loves fashion. She is sarcastic and funny. I definitely don’t want kids, but if I were pregnant, … Read entire article »

I borrowed manny by Holly Peterson from my friend, who had read a couple chapters then got bored. I originally picked it out from the store. I thought it would be like the nanny diaries but as a guy. It wasn’t. the book is from the rich woman’s point of view, with the manny always telling her how ridiculous everything is, and her denying it. She didn’t grow up as rich, so she thinks she’s above it all, but she’s obviously not. This could have been interesting, but the writing is pretty dry. You shouldn’t have to work so hard to get through a chick lit genre book. It’s like when you’re in college, and the subject could be interesting, but the people who write the book that your professor … Read entire article »

Night blooming by chelsea quinn yarbro is a vampire book that does not read like a vampire book. I started with a book right in the middle of the series I guess, but this is fine as a stand alone book as well so I had no trouble reading it. The main character is a vampire who has been alive for thousands of years. Of course, he’s good, and only drinks blood from women in their sleep without killing or hurting them, or from animals. In this volume, he’s summoned to the court of Charlemagne, in the late 700s to early 800s, and you mostly forget he is even a vampire, just a really long living guy. I got a great sense of the life of people back then, as … Read entire article »

One thing I’ve always liked about memoirs is that you are reading something that actually happened. No matter how mundane the story is, you’re getting a slice of someone’s life, someone’s brain. StreetChild by Justin Early is anything but mundane. Here is the story of a ten year old child who ends up on the streets, left to himself, except for the family that he’s able to make from the other street children. This book completely pulled me in. Here I was, reading about Justin’s life, and something bad would happen to him, like when he’s picking up a trick, or he’s getting high, and I’d forget that he was only just a kid. My childhood wasn’t like that… Then suddenly, a well-placed photo would appear, and there he was, … Read entire article »