Bookquarium

The time is nearly upon us! The time for the 24in48 readathon challenge, that is! This week has been rather crazy (hell, this MONTH has been rather crazy) so I haven't had time to do the appropriate planning, or gathering my excitement, or any of that.  Instead, the beautiful Elley is going to show up at my house tonight, and we're going to do ALL the cooking. We've got our time scheduled out for reading, sleeping, going to do water aerobics at the Y (you bet your ass I bought a cute new bathing suit for the occasion), and eating all those delicious meals she's gonna teach me how to cook. I have a few books picked out for this weekend. No idea if I'll be able to finish them all, or if I'll, like last time, veer off into a totally different direction and steal Elley's books. The contenders are:                          I know, one measly romance on there. In truth, I will probably read more romances than an...

I LOVE the Netflix show Queer Eye . I never watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy back in the day but the new show was fantastic. Five guys who are all confident in themselves not only as gay men, but as human beings, teaching other people - not just straight men, but all people and sexual identities) how to be their best selves through the art of food, hair, style, decor, and social suave. Basically I want these guys to be my best friends, and fix my life. As does everyone else who watches the show. So of course when the book fell across my desk at the library, I immediately had to request it. Even more advice on how to be a fabulous bitch from the five most fabulous bitches of them all? YES PLEASE. And I was correct. This book is everything I wanted and more. I want to purchase this book and own it for my home, in part because there are essential style and self care tips, delicious looking recipes, and wonderful pictures of the boys in their natural element.  What will...

I ADORE Jane Austen's stories. The romance! The tension! The period clothing! But here's the thing. I've never actually READ a Jane Austen book before. Sure I've read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is the original P&P text, with Seth Graham-Greene's graphic zombie goodness sauced over the top of it, but I've never sat down with an original Jane Austen story and read it. I've just watched all the movies obsessively. (And yes, I do prefer Matthew McFayden over Colin Firth. Fight me.) Then ever-clever Elley said hey, why don't we spend 2019 reading all the Austen books, and discussing them over tea in fancy-ass teacups, like the romance-obsessed ladies that we are? That's my 2019 plan, y'all. Read the seven novels of Jane Austen. This month's is Northanger Abbey.   I've seen the fabulous movie, staring Felicity Jones and J.J. Fielding.  Basic premise:  Jane Austen's first novel—published posthumously in 1818—tell...

Hey Everybody!    I've been reading a lot of ghost stories lately, and not just because Halloween is the best holiday.  Ghosts fascinate many of us because they are something that not everybody agrees are real, but they give us chills none the less. Ghosts aren't always scary, and they aren't always something tangible. Ghosts can be the past, a feeling, or an idea. That's what makes me really excited about them, and horror in general.   Here are a few books about ghosts I've been reading.  Ghostlight by Sonia Gensler    This a good book. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads: Avery is looking forward to another summer at Grandma’s farm, at least until her brother says he’s too old for “Kingdom,” the imaginary world they’d spent years creating. Lucky for her, there’s a new kid staying in the cottage down the road: a city boy with a famous dad, Julian’s more than a little full of himself, but he’s also a storyteller like Avery. So when...