A Bookseller Recommends

The Sea Serpent and Me by Dashka Slater and Catie Chien

When in a brief mode of, "Ack - the kids are here and there's no one to do story time!" my managers asked me to and I had to scramble to find some cute books to read them. Not that there's a shortage of cute kids books out there. But this one caught by eye and turned out to be a delight. When a tiny little sea serpent makes its way into a girl's bathtub, the two become fast friends. But he's a sea serpent, after all, and he's getting bigger every day! The watercolor illustrations are bright and whimsical, and the kids really enjoyed the story. For any kid who likes a bit of the silly and fantastical, this is the perfect book - going from the bathtub all the way to the wide open sea!

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Notes from the playlist: "Song for Sienna" by Brian Crain

Posted by Nicole at Saturday, May 28, 2011 0 comments  

Labels: children's books, picture books

The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams

Yep, two books at once (or three if you count manga). My love for Watership Down finally led me to read this book, though I was still hesitant. Poor dogs who have been subject to experiments at a lab? That just screams sad from the get-go. And a lot of it does make me sad - especially for the little terrier who had his brain operated on so now he's not always "there." I keep flipping near the end because I'm worried it won't end happily. Dog stories are hard for me to read when there's abuse involved. It's a good book so far, but I'm taking a few breaks from it. In addition, Adams tosses in some dialect that takes some time to get used to. Try it for something different.

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Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Several years back I read Heartsick, the first novel in this particular series. I read mysteries from time to time, but when there are serial killers and, more often than not, a string of dead girls in them, I get turned off. Hey, I'm a girl and who gets killed most often in cases like that? Yeah, us. So I wasn't going to jump right back into another one. But it's been long enough and in this one, the Hannibal Lecter-like Gretchen Lowell (she didn't eat people, she's into severe torture, but she's smart and extremely manipulative) has escaped from prison. Add to that, her last would-be victim and cop Archie Sheridan has another case - three bodies in the woods, a dead senator, and dead journalist that all might be connected. Archie certainly has a full plate...

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Notes from the playlist: "Kingdom Dance" by Alan Menken

Posted by Nicole at Saturday, May 21, 2011 0 comments  

Labels: animals, fiction, mystery

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Another for Calico Reaction's Alphabet Soup Book Club, this is SF in one of its hard forms. Revolt on the moon? Good times. It does take a bit of time to get into because of the way Heinlein writes - the main character doesn't use a lot of articles (like "the" and "a") and I had to resort to using a Russian accent in my mind in order to get it to work. From then on, a lot of it is info-dumping and a great deal of telling and not showing - Mannie, the main character, basically tells you what's going on instead of the action simply presenting itself. But it is rebellion on the moon and all, and it takes time to progress, so in many ways it works. But you do have to be a fan of older SF or Heinlein for this book to work for you, otherwise you may very well decide to put it down and read another. For my part, I enjoyed it.

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Posted by Nicole at Saturday, May 14, 2011 0 comments  

Labels: fiction, science fiction

A Lifetime of Secrets by Frank Warren

Notes from the playlist: "Airplanes" by B.o.B (featuring Hayley Williams)

Posted by Nicole at Saturday, May 07, 2011 0 comments  

Labels: cultural studies, nonfiction