I'm working on finishing another McKillip novel, but may not get it done till 2004 at this rate. Good thing I long since met my year of reading requirement. ;)
Nanny works for the wealthy Mr. & Mr.s X watching their son Grayer while finishing out her Masters degree. Things begin well enough, although Mrs. X has her quirks, but the situation goes further and further south as Mrs. X takes advantage of her employee and pushes the boundaries Nanny has set while imposing more and more outrageous demands of her own, Mr. X's mistress starts to consider Nanny part of the Mr. X package, and Nanny finds herself attached to and concerned for their son in the ensuing confusion.
Impression: I was laughing from the very beginning, but, then, I can kinda relate. I was a live-in nanny for a summer. Granted, the family I worked for wasn't as wacked out as the one in this book, but they had their moments as well. I definitely want a copy of this book for my own - it's something i want to be able to reread again.
I actually received this from a kind fellow bookcrooser and have already shared it with my 14-year-old who read it in a day and thought it was funny. It'll be going on to the 16-year-old, then it will be released into the wild, maybe at oldest's high school. :)
I had to go to see the doctor again today so took 2 og my bc.com books with me to let loose: Lucky Bride and Fine Things. The place I go to is attached to a hospital and is always quite busy so it's one of the better places to drop books off. Someone's bound to pick them up, even if they don't register them as having been found.
The sad things is I still have this box with over half a dozen books in it waiting to go wild. Going to have to get a move on with letting them loose.
Someone else at bc sent me The Nanny Diaries: A Novel, which I received yesterday. I'm actually in the midst of reading another McKillip novel, but hubby went to bed sick last night and McKillip was up in our room. Not wishing to disturb him I went ahead and started on this one and am enjoying it. It's quite funny actually. I'll definitely have to get my own keeper copy. ;)
I don't know why I had all these romance novels, romance is most definitely not my cup of tea, especially Harlequiins. Don't get me wrong, I understand some people like Harlequinns, I just don't happen to be one of them. Maybe I was desperate for new reading material and this is all that was available--wherever I was? Or maybe they were gifts from my mother (she tends to send me all kinds of things, most of which are not things I would ever really want to buy).
Anyway, I've added the lot to my bc.com bookshelf:
I really need to start dropping things off again, and soon!
I've started another novel, McKillip's Song of the Basilisk which is oop. I have another McKillip book on its way as well and will probably start it as soon as I'm done with Song. I really love this author!
I was actually hesitant to put up The Writer's Mentor because when I read "knowledge" books I tend to mark them in highlighter and occasionally write comments on them. while I don't recall having out any comments in Mentor, I most definitely used a highlighter when reading. But it is a book I'm going to be giving away, and who knows? Maybe the finder will like having the highlights when s/he reads.
This book asks the question "what happened during Shakespeare's lost years?" and comes up with an answer of a fantasy nature. A young wil comes home one night to find his wife and daughter gone, and his search for them will take him to the lands of the fairy and back again.
Impression: I should have read the description, I don't know why I didn't. Maybe I did at the time I added it to my amazon.com wishlist. Regardless, this was not what I expected when I actually read it. The writing is good enough, and the idea of fantasy touching Shakespeare's life in a way a littl more direct than just in his head is intriguing. However, for a short read, it took me awhile to get through it. And while relatively engaging and interesting, I doubt I'll read it again. I think one of my favorite things about it was the various quotes from several of Shakespeare's plays that appeared sprinkled through out and well woven into the book.
I've placed this book on my bc.com book shelf (you can see the entry for it here) and have already chosen a place for it's release. My oldest will be taking it with her to release at her high school.
Update: It only took her 3 days to remember to find a place to drop it off. lol It's finally out in the wild.
One of the people who (inknowingly) introduced me to bc.com kindly has sent me 2 of the Sue Graftion novels. I've read the first 2 books in the series and enjoyed them, and hope to purchase the remaining books in the series one day.
Anyway, the friend and I were talking about bc.com via i.m. when I went to check out her bookshelf and saw the two books, C Is for Corpse and L Is for Lawless. I mention that I loved the two I have (letters A and B) and she offered to send the two she has!
So they're not added to my stack of reads (and it really is quite a stack!). I know I'm going to have to let them go when I'm done though, and that's going to be the hardest part!
And one not so favorite, plus created a bc wishlist and linked it from my profile. My bookshelf at bc.com is pretty big now.
I added the four following books as favorites. These won't be available for adoption by anyone or ever released (well, unless I get replacements copies), and the asterisks I put next to the titles at bc are to show that they are my recommended keepers. While I listed only one book, most of these represent at least one trilogy.
I also added this book, A Kiss of Shadows, but I haven't advertised that it's up for adoption yet. It's another one of those books i don't feel comfortable releasing to the wild because of the adult content. There's supposed to be a plot with the main character, Merry, being chased by the people from her home, but it's so thin it might as well not be in there at all.
The primary "plot" (and that's using the word very loosely) seems to be one of perverse sexual encounter after another intemixed with graphic violence and the constant mentioning of what lacy undergarments Merry chooses to wear that day. Not that the garments matter; with the amount of bed hopping she likes to do, they don't stay on very long anyway. There's no real story here, and S&M and violence just aren't enough to give a book a plot. (And I bet the majority of those positive reviews at amazon.com are written by men!)
I think this series is the one that started bleeding into the Anita Blake series and why we saw such an about face on Anita's characterization. This series doesn't impress me at all and I have no plans to buy more of it. The sad thing is a lot of people probably bought this one based on the early Blake books, so she and the publisher will probably see this as quite popular rather than as a case of author association only.
I imagine this will slow down fairly soon. The novelty wears off, and, in my case, I don't get out much. Half my books have been released for me by my kids.
Anyway, in addition to the releases, the following books have been requested by other bookcrossers:
I cannot believe how many romance novels I had hiding in cupboards - Harlequins, no less. Some peopel love them, but I'm not one of those people. I must have picked them up either as an experiment or out of desperation.
I joined bookcrossing.com today. I've actually seen the name about for a bit, but this was the first time I've ever really looked at it. I like the concept. Obviously reading is something I think is important and if dropping a book off somewhere has a chance of getting one more person reading, then I'll happily drop off a book or two (or more!).
I started my bookshelf initially with 3 books: Killobyte by Piers Anthony, Magic Casement, and Kushiel's Dart. The first two I've gone ahead and released to the wild - one outside or grocery store and the other on a bus stop bench, but Kushiel's is far too adult to release to the wild like that. I'd be concerned about a youngster getting a hold of it if I just set it free like that. So I've put it up for adoption.
Update:Kushiel's Dart was claimed pretty dang quick! I hope to sending it off to its home soon.
Unless otherwise noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by me.
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I will no longer be linking to Amazon and no longer recommending Amazon as a place to purchase books I review. Amazon has repeatedly used bully tactics to reinforce its policies, even if those tactics cause harm to authors or limit customer choices. Amazon usually apologizes for the events after the fact, but that they continue to use the same methods makes those apologies hollow. I will not purchase from or encourage others to purchase from a business that chooses to take from the pockets of authors (who as a whole earn a lot less than general public realizes) and decide what the public should and should not read.
