Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Revelations; Wasteland; Ten Big Ones

"Revelations" by Melissa de la Cruz was her third in the Blue Bloods series, about the rich teenage immortals living in New York. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention because I'm not really sure what's going on, but it's still fun to read. I might reread it someday. We'll see.
"Wasteland" by Francesca Lia Block was kind of disappointing. I've been in the mood to reread "Flowers in the Attic" by V.C. Andrews, so I was in the mood for some good brother/sister incest. Supposedly, according to Novelist, "Wasteland" was similar. Not too sure how. I wouldn't have even known the brother and sister had sex if the damn Novelist site hadn't told me they did. Block didn't go into description. The whole book seemed more like an outline: nothing was really fleshed out as much as I would have liked. It would have been really good, if there had been more to it. I liked how she depicted the Valley, and set the book in the early '80s, but other than that there wasn't much else to it. I definitely won't ever read it again.
"Ten Big Ones" by Janet Evanovich was a reread. Steph is hiding out at Ranger's apartment because the local gang, the Slayers, are after her. It was pretty hilarious, and I'll definitely read it again someday.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Hot Six; Three to Get Deadly; Hard Eight

Three more rereads from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum the bounty hunter series. "Hot Six" has Steph trying to catch Ranger (good luck!!), who's FTA on a concealed weapons charge and wanted for questing in the murder of a drug kingpin's son. "Three to Get Deadly" has Steph chasing Uncle Mo, beloved candy store owner in the Burg who's wanted for questing in the murders of several prominent drug dealers. There's a really hilarious scene when Lula and Steph have a dead body fall out onto their car on the freeway and they stuff it in the trunk and deliver it to Morelli's house. "Hard Eight" has Steph being chased by a really bad guy named Abruzzi, who's hired goons include a bunny and a bear. All hilarious stuff. And I'll definitely reread all of them again, someday.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Stop in the Name of Pants; Love is a Many Trousered Thing; Startled by His Furry Shorts...

For some reason this time of year I always want to reread some old favorites. Last December it was Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. The year before, it was the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This year, it's going to be Janet Evanovich and Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson series. Over the last week I reread 8 of the 9 books (just skipping the first one: I've reread them in reverse order, don't ask me why). It's such a funny, funny series, and I hope that Rennison has more of Dave the Laugh and Georgia together in book 10. I'm looking forward to it! Obviously I will reread all of these again; I think I did in July when the latest one came out. My favorite one is "Away Laughing on a Fast Camel", when Dave duffs up Mark Big Gob for insulting Georgia. Although the camping scene at the end of "Love is a Many Trousered Thing" is absolutely hilarious. I made the mistake of reading "On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God" at the dentist's office this morning and couldn't control my laughter. The other people in the waiting room no doubt thought I was insane. I dare anyone to read them and not laugh out loud.
#9 "Stop in the Name of Pants"
#8 "Love is a Many Trousered Thing"
#7 "Startled By His Furry Shorts"
#6 "Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers"
#5 "Away Laughing on a Fast Camel"
#4 "Dancing in My Nuddy Pants"
#3 "Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas"
#2 "On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God"

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Smart Women Finish Rich; High Five; Seven Up

"Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach wasn't nearly as helpful as I'd hoped it would be. All of the advice he gives for investing and saving I already do. Maybe I'm already smart, so I'll finish rich :-) Somehow I doubt it: I've never felt smart a minute in my life. We'll see when I get to the end, I guess. I definitely won't ever read it again, although it only took, like, two hours, so at least it wasn't a total waste of precious time.
In the mood for some hilarity, so I reread two Janet Evanovichs's "High Five" and "Seven Up". Both were pretty funny, and I enjoyed the much needed laughs. In "High Five" Stephanie is looking for her Uncle Fred, who has disappeared, and Benito Ramirez, the crazy guy from the first book, has been paroled and keeps showing up. She also somehow manages to screw up not one but two cars Ranger lends her: his Porsche gets blown up and his BMW gets stolen. I'll definitely reread it; I've read it, like, six times now. "Seven Up" involves Steph's problems trying to catch an elderly FTA, her grandma getting kidnapped, and her sister, Valerie, moving back to Jersey after being deserted by her husband. The best parts are when things heat up with Ranger. Oooh! I'll definitely reread this one again, too.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Runaway Dolls; Masquerade

"The Runaway Dolls" by Ann M. Martin is the third in her children's series on the dolls that are alive and have lots of adventures when the humans aren't looking. They're pretty cute, and this one was fun, if a bit long. If I were ten I would have loved it. I'll probably read it again someday; once in awhile I'm in the mood for nostalgia.
"Masquerade" by Melissa de la Cruz is her second in the Blue Bloods series, about the snobby teen vampires in New York. It was pretty good; I enjoyed it. To be honest, all I really want to do is reread "Twilight", but since I just reread it two weeks ago, I'm using all my strength not to do it again and so I thought it might help if I read something somewhat similiar. It didn't, but I tried. I'll probably read this one again.

Monday, December 1, 2008

What Would Kinky Do?

Kinky Friedman's latest, "What Would Kinky Do?" was disappointing. Normally his nonfiction humor makes me laugh, but this one seemed like he just recycled a whole bunch of his old essays into a book. There was no cohesion, and he repeated himself a lot. Very sad. I really wanted to laugh. I probably won't ever read it again.