Kink by Saskia Walker & Sasha White

( 19 )

Yea, no.

I have no problem with erotica, but I think it should have little checkboxes or warning labels.  Both stories in this two-novella book had elements that don’t appeal to me.  I nearly gave up on it. I think I would read more erotica if it had some kind of warning label or rating system.  There are things I just don’t want to read, you know?

Beyond that, the first novella, “Sex, Lies, and Bondage Tape” was just bad.  The plot was so thin you could shoot porn through it and the character development was nil.

The second, “Watch Me” wasn’t ~much~ better, but at least it occasionally had whole chapters where no sexual activity of any kind took place so it could pretend to be a real book

I’m going to take a wild stab here and say I do not think I am the target audience for this sort of book.  I have another loaned to me by the same friend that I’ll get to sometime in the next month or so, see if it changes my mind.

Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding

( 18 )

Loved it. May even have to read the sequel (saw that movie, too–it sucked)

Yes, I saw the movie first, but I’m happy to report there was no Renee Zellweger narrating in my head   I love Brit fic for its dry humor and this one did not disappoint.

Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh

( 17 )

*yawn*

What, oh, yea, a book.  I read a book.  I read the whole dang thing waiting for it to really get interesting and it only came close in the last 50 pages. Blech. THIS is why I don’t read litfic — give me my popular fiction brain candy!  Now!

Please?

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

( 16 )

A litfic I actually liked   Maybe because it is told like a YA book from a child to young adult’s perspective–more innocence, less dogma.

I like these glimpses of life in parts of the world we only ever hear about on the news, it helps remind me, in the midst of so much American anti-terror fervor, that they are just people, too.  Just as not all Americans are serial killers (though we have more active serial killers at any given time than any other country in the world, not all people from teh Middle East are terrorists.  Seems simple, but its hard to remember some time, especially when people are hurting.

I have a cousin in Iraq–I don’t think about it often because I can’t do much about it except keep him and his mom in my thoughts. Thinking about it, though, makes me glad that J would almost certainly be turned away by the military were she to apply.

Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville

( 15 ) The Unicorn Chronicles, book 1

J picked this one out last summer when she got a free book from B&N for reading a certain amount of books over the break and is just now reading it.  I’m not familiar with the series or the author, so I decided to check it out.

As a mom, it’s pretty harmless, but has some dark concepts.  For moms of the under 10 crowd (J is 7 going on 30) you might want to read along and keep an eye on where they are in the book so you can discuss some of these ideas as they come up.

J has made it through the fluffy bits and is hitting the meatier parts now. I can tell because while she has not wanted to talk to me about them, or asked any questions, I have caught her acting out some of the emotionally wrenching stuff with her stuffed animals.  I think voicing all the parts helps her understand all the perspectives better. She’ll talk when she’s ready

The ending is bloodless, though dramatic, and the only real violence occurs before the story starts in the distant past.

As a reader who likes to read YA (and Not the Momma) this was a little thin, a lot of setup for a fast, pat ending.  The whole book felt more like an extended prelude to the next book in the series, which is exactly twice as long (from 176pgs to 352).

She got the 2nd one for Christmas, so I’ll probably read it too, so if she decided to playact more I’ll knwo what she’s doing.

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K Hamilton

( 14 ) Meredith Gentry, book 7

The Shack by William P. Young

( 13 )

I am, at best, agnostic.

When still making the attempt to be PC and have faith I claimed Christianity with a severe universalist bias.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, universalism at its most basic is the idea that all gods are one God, and that everyone of every faith is basically praying to the same higher power (or in religions with multiple deities, some specific aspect of that higher power), a higher power generally considered to be moral and “good”.

This book touched on that idea, which appealed to me, but only did so for a sentence, maybe two, which did not.

Then you have the whole Trinity thing, which could be Deity appearing to the main character in a form he was most used to, or it could be the author’s obvious bias toward a particular belief system.  Guess which one I thought it was.

Beyond that, well, quite frankly the writing was just awkward, verging on and occasionally deep into Bad. It was florid in the wrong places, spare where more description would have been nice.  This book was a manuscript in dire need of a good editor, one who would see past the content to the structure and fix it.

It was an unsatisfying read for me, personally.  The idea of the main character accepting a nicely dressed, wordy version of the bumper sticker, “Shit Happens” with and God does the best he can with it tacked on the end in a mere two days… Yea, no.

For those who have found great meaning or renewal of their faith or a desire to seek God again as a result of this book, I’m happy for you. Just don’t expect me to do the same.