Isn’t summer supposed to be relaxing?
I mean, shouldn’t I be sitting on a lounger in the sun, drinking sweet tea and reading books? Isn’t that what one is supposed to do in the summer, especially when they live in Canada?
Apparently that is not my summer. My summer has been a whirlwind of highs and lows in which I seem to frequently say, “Can I sleep now?”
Let’s recap. Early June? My grandmother has another stroke and I fly home, coming back after the funeral.
Mid-June? I play hooky from work and instead spend 10 hours in urgent care at the hospital for a mystery ailment. It involves pain, morphine and almost passing out a bunch of times until they force me to spend a few hours on a stretcher before declaring they don’t know what’s wrong and send me home. The next day I sleep and am generally considered to be all better!
A week after that I head back home, this time with Lee in tow for a vacation. Cottage is wonderful, the weather leaves something to be desired. We manage to stay pretty busy but somehow find time to relax, which is a good thing because…
Ten days after we get back we take possession of our house. July is a blur of boxes. We spend just over a week sleeping on an air mattress before our furniture is moved in. During that time we get hardwood floors installed. When we do move in we decide that mattresses are the best invention ever and want to do nothing but sleep for a month. Well, I want to sleep for a month. Lee wants to work himself stupid unpacking and then sleep for a month.
Soon we are leaving for another trip, this time to NYC. It’s mostly fun with a bit of seriousness through in for me in the form of BlogHer ’10 (which don’t get me wrong, is also lots of fun but I do put my serious face on in some of the sessions). When I get back I know that I’m going to want to sleep for a week, at least.
You know what’s not in here? Sitting on a lounger in the sun, drinking sweet tea and reading books.
I did somehow managed for finish Making Toast by Roger Rossenblatt and Sweater Quest by Adrienne Martini. I probably would have appreciated Making Toast more if I had read it at another time, a time in which I wasn’t trying to figure out how to grieve the loss of my grandmother. Sweater Quest taught me more about Fair Isle knitting than I had learned so far and while it doesn’t could exceptionally difficult it does sound complicated and I’ll stick to knitting plain socks, thank you very much.
Some day soon I am going to blink and summer it is going to be gone. It’s been a very eventful, and even exciting, summer but I’d really like to know when I get to sit on that lounger. I guess it would help if I bought one first, eh?
But before I collapse and call an end to the summer you will see on Sassymonkey Reads:
- My new library branch!
- My new home library, complete with book rainbow!
- A trip to The Strand in NYC! (After which I’ll have been to Shakespeare & Co, City Lights and the Strand and will need to find new bookstores to aspire to visit)
- Possibly even actual discussions about books! (I know, how shocking!)
Of course this is all dependent on me taking photos, which I haven’t done yet. And me actually getting to NYC (yay!). And me not buying that lounger because if I do no one may ever see me again…at least until it’s too cold to stay to outside.
Posted by sassymonkey @
10:30 am |
Getting Lost Can Be Good: An Interview with the Lost Girls
I mentioned in my summer vacation post that I had read The Lost Girls while I was in PEI. I also was lucky enough to interview them.
The interview is posted on BlogHer. Go forth and read Lost Girl goodness!
Posted by sassymonkey @
10:59 am |
Only the Good Spy Young
I was thrilled when I found the fourth book in Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girl series, Only the Good Spy Young on the shelf at my local bookstore in advance of the release date. (I’m not sure why, I can only guess that it was because the release date was originally earlier and everyone got confused…including me as I had been looking for it for awhile by then.) Instead of reading it right away I hoarded it, saving it for my vacation.
I waited the whole vacation before reading it. Instead of flying to PEI we always drive it. Why? Well, it actually costs less to rent a cottage there for a week than it would cost for both of us to fly and then rent a car for a week. Driving is easily doable and way cheaper so we drive. (Bonus: we rented a really fantastic cottage.) For some reason whenever we do these long roadtrips I never read on the way there. Ever. But I always get the itch to read on the way back.
So on our drive back, after a break at a truck stop for a late breakfast/early lunch (and our only real stop of the day) I settled in to read it. I flew through it. I flew through it so fast that I’m actually thinking about listening to the next one on audio book (which is how I experienced the first one) just to make it last longer.
Only the Good Spy Young is very, very action packed. I’m almost tempted to say it’s got too much action going on but well, that’s just Cammie’s life right now. After the big showdown in which she discovers that she’s being targeted by The Circle her life is different. When she’s outside of school she’s under constant surveillance. She’s on holiday in London with Bex (her parents acting as her detail) when she discovers that an ally may actually be her enemy. She doesn’t know who to trust any more. When she gets back to the Gallagher Academy it’s not the same. It’s been locked up tighter than Fort Knox. All the secret passageways have been locked up…all for her protection.
As I said I flew through the book and I loved it but it wasn’t perfect. We just don’t see enough of the other Gallagher Girls and life at Gallagher Academy. The action-action-action sequences felt like the main part of the book and the time at Gallagher Academy was… well I don’t want to say filler. It wasn’t filler. But the Academy itself was not a character the same way that I felt it was in the other books in the series.
It was also all about Cammie. Her best friends were really pushed into the shadows in this one. They weren’t as present as they were in the others books. Maybe it was Cammie pulling into herself (quite understandably) but I found I missed them, especially Macy. Maybe it’s because there was so much Macy in the last book but it felt like she was barely present in this one.
And the ending? I had to go back and reread it because I totally did not believe it. (I’m not the only one. I saw a tweet from Ally Carter saying that yes, the end means exactly what it says.) It surprised me. I think it was a good surprise, at least in the sense that I didn’t completely see it coming. It was also the kind of surprise that makes you want to howl at the moon because you know it has to be at least a year before you know what happens next. The ending isn’t exactly a cliffhanger but it caused kind of that same “omg!omg!omg!” reaction for me.
I found myself thinking how different this book was from the first book. Based on that book I never would have expected this one. I really am not sure what is going to happen next. I believe that the series is supposed to end at six books and I’m not sure how it’s going to end. Sure, yes, I believe that in the end Cammie will have a happy ending. Well, not entirely happy. I think there’s going to be some bittersweetness to the end of the series. I just don’t know what that ending will be and that, I think, is rather usual at this point in a series.
So in sum it was a good book but not a perfect one. It didn’t leave me wanting to shout from the rooftop that I want to be a Gallagher Girl but it may come up in random conversations where no one else knows what I’m talking about. You may need to read the end twice to really believe it, which I did and I’m still not sure I completely believe it. Definitely worth a trip to your bookstore or library.
Posted by sassymonkey @
8:29 am |
It’s Not You, It’s Me
Dear Fantasy,
I want you to know that I still like you. You have lovely worlds. You’ve taken me places I’ve never even dreamed of. And your looks? Trust me, your covers are so pretty.
You are full of adventures. You really are made of magic.
So I’m really sorry but right now…I’m just not that into you.
I try. I really do. I give you a shot a few chapters at a time but if I’m honest it’s a struggle to get through those and I’m happy to set you aside and leave you until it’s time to return you to the library.
And it’s not just you. Me and YA? We’re struggling too and you know how much I love me my YA.
Fantasy, I’m taking a little break from you. Don’t worry, I’ll call you the next time I’m in town. We’ll hook up, have a few drinks…maybe even get back together and have a fling or two.
Until then, please don’t call. Please don’t write. Let’s just quietly go our separate ways for a bit.
It’s not you, it’s me.
~ Sassymonkey
Posted by sassymonkey @
5:13 pm |
What I Read On Vacation
July 4, 2010 Lists
I still have a few hours left of vacation, which I am holding onto very tightly, but here’s what I read on my vacation. I may write more about some of these books, I may not. I’m going to have a busy, busy month. We close on the house in ten days – TEN DAYS. We move in 19 days. Anyone want to send some magical packing elves my way? And possibly a money tree?
- The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents, One Unconventional Detour around the World by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner
- Rowboat in a Hurricane by Julie Angus
- The Girl with the Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
- The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
- The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton
- Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter
- Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim
The only one I didn’t really like was The Girl With the Glass Feet. I had a really hard time getting into it and just, meh. I seem to be a bit off fantasy right now though so that may be playing a part in it. I really, really liked The Lost Girls and think that a lot of twenty-somethings would enjoy it. And Only the Good Spy Young? I want another Gallagher Girls book, pronto.
Posted by sassymonkey @
6:55 pm |
Vacation
June has been a rough month for me. Emergency trip back home. Family funeral. A day in the emergency room. Trying to cram a month of work into two weeks. I’ve barely looked at books let alone read them.
But I haven’t wished the month away (even though June hates me) because I knew this was coming. Vacation. Sweet, sweet vacation in a place that the direction tells you take a left and then it’s the last cottage by the ocean.
I’m going to let the ocean take my worries away. I’m going to break out in freckles. I’m going to wear my hair in braids. I’m going to splash in the ocean (it’ll be cold but I’ll manage).
And maybe, just maybe I’ll get some reading in. After all, I will be spend the equivalent of several working days in the car. I might as well read, right?
Posted by sassymonkey @
5:53 pm |
Gimme A Call
When I was at the library last week I took a cruise by the express shelf. I’ve been trying to avoid because it’s often had tempting goodies on it and and lately I just don’t have time to read them. This week though I took a chance on Sarah Mlynowski’s Gimme A Call.
Devi is in her senior year and everything is going horribly. Her boyfriend, whom she’s been with since freshman year, is leaving her. Ok, so he’s not completely breaking up with her but he’s going to school in Canada after they had already decided to go to school together. She doesn’t have any other friends. All she has is Bryan. What is she going to do without him? If only she could talk to her freshman year self and warn her.
Which is, of course, what happened. After Devi drops her phone in the mall fountain the only person that she can call is herself but she’s calling herself four years in the past. Needless to say this initially freaks out both Senior and Frosh Devis. But then Senior Devi decides it’s the best thing ever. Frosh Devi can fix everything! They can have friends! See other boys! Get into a better college! Senior Devi is a little hardcore but Frosh Devi does her best to keep up with her demands.
I felt bad for Frosh Devi. Senior Devi was a tyrant who didn’t want her to have any fun at all. She just wanted her to fix all her mistakes. Honestly I’m surprised that Frosh Devi didn’t tell Senior Devi where to shove her cell phone. (Or maybe that was just me wanting to tell Senior Devi where she could shove her cell phone. It’s hard to tell. lol) It really was interesting to see how different choices impacted the future — from where she ends up going to college to what happens with her parents and friends. There’s some food for thought there.
Cute idea for a novel. I’m not sure it quite worked for me but it was nice to see a twist on the “I gave up everything for my high school boyfriend and now I’m screwed” story.
Posted by sassymonkey @
5:17 pm |
Every Day in Tuscany
Frances Mayes makes me hungry. She makes me long for good, simply prepared food. She makes me want to dig in the dirt. She makes me want to sit under a tree in Italy (trees in Italy are different…they just are) with a book and a piece of fresh fruit. She makes me want to be a better writer.
I get lost in her words and through her words I get pulled into Bramasole. It started with Under the Tuscan Sun. I’ll admit it, I saw the movie first and I got sucked in. It was a very useful movie to me at the time. I wasn’t in a particularly happy place and it was a dreamland. When I read the book later I suppose I could have been disappointed that the movie was so very different from the book but I wasn’t. I discovered that I loved how Mayes wrote and now I look for every opportunity to jump into her writing, but especially of her writing about Italy.
Under the Tuscan Sun felt to me like a honeymoon. Bramasole was still fairly new to them, it was a place and a home that they were on pretty good terms with but still were in the process of getting to know each other. In Every Day in Tuscany it was an established love. They knew Bramasole and Tuscany. Their friends were now long time friends. The honeymoon was over but still they were in love.
I’ll admit that I can be a bit of a skimmer when I’m reading. Sometimes it’s more about the story or a character than the language. With Mayes I read slowly and purposefully. There’s something about the way that she writes that makes me want to not just read it but absorb it. I find I often feel this way with writers who are also poets or who have a deep love of poetry. Even when she veers off the path of her days at Bramasole into her search for her beloved painter I follow her, be it rather impatiently.
When I read Mayes I am in Italy. I’m in Bramasole. I’m in Tuscany. I make pasta and drink great wine. What more can you ask for from a book?
Posted by sassymonkey @
4:20 pm |
Insatiable
I had planned to write about Meg Cabot’s latest release, Insatiable, earlier but life got a little crazy. (I had to fly home for a family emergency and I haven’t been online much.) But today is release day so I’m going to take some time out of my morning to write. I’ve missed writing and talking to y’all!
I’ve been accused of being a Meg Cabot fan girl. I do find her and her books generally entertaining. That isn’t to say that I enjoy (or have read) all her books. Truth is, I wasn’t sure that I was going to read Insatiable. I didn’t know much about it aside from it had something to do with vampires and that the book trailers were cute. You see, I was feeling a bit vampired out. Then I found out that Meena, the main character was also a bit vampired out and well…it was Meg Cabot after all. So I read it and you know what, it was fun.
Meena is a dialogue writer for a soap opera and when her boss tells her that they are starting a vampire plot line she is not pleased. Vampires are being done by another soap and she feels they are better than that. Plus she got passed over for the head writer position. Plus her next door neighbour wants her to go to a party to meet some relative of hers that is supposedly a prince. Then Meena meets a mysterious man and everything changes….
A fun read. It really is.
Part of the reason I read Insatiable is so that I could interview Meg Cabot last week. I was supposed to be asking her the questions myself but due to my family emergency I was unable to be on the call with her. However the very nice people at Sullivan and Partners took my questions via email and asked them to her for me. Wasn’t that nice of them?
The video interview is up on BlogHer — BlogHer Interviews Author Meg Cabot about Insatiable. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Insatiable from Sullivan and Partners in order to prepare for the interview. I was not compensated by them for the interview or this review.
Posted by sassymonkey @
7:47 am |
Heist Society
I love Ally Carter. I want the contemporary worlds she creates to exist. Well, ok I really want to be a Gallagher Girl but I don’t really want to be a thief like Kat in her newest book Heist Society. I would, however, really like for Kat to exist. Oh and Hale. I liked Hale. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In Heist Society we are introduced to Kat, a thief from a long line of thieves. Yes, her name is Kat and she is a burglar. She’s a cat burglar and rather than being cheesy it’s kinda awesome.
Kat is not really quite loving her life though and seeks a way out. She finds it by pulling off a fraud of her own in order to get into a very prestigious prep school. It’s going great. Kinda. Ok, it’s a little dull after a life of crime but she’s doing fine. Really.
But then there’s a situation with a car…in particular the headmasters car and she gets the boot. Only problem is that she didn’t do it. She finds out that was her former partner in crime, Hale (really, he was her partner in crime) when he picks up from school in a limo. Why did he do it? Someone stole a private art collection and the person they stole it from is a very mean man who would like his paintings back. Now. What does this have to do with Kat? Everyone thinks it was her father and now she has to save him. Kat is back in action and she’s got a whole crew behind her.
Heist Society is a bit like Ocean’s Eleven meets Gallagher Girls…but with way less girls. There’s only Cat and her cousin Gabriella. Then it’s boys, boys and more boys. It’s an interesting change from Carter’s GG series which is really all about the girl power. Not that this isn’t girl powery, it’s just super concentrated in Kat and Gabriella. I loved all the boys in Heist Society. They all felt very individually fleshed out to me, except maybe the brothers but they were supposed to be a unit. The uncle, the dad all fantastic.
Basically I loved it and I really can’t wait for the next Heist Society book. I don’t want to enter Kat’s world but I sure do enjoy visiting it.
I am left wondering though, if Kat really wanted to steal something and Cammie really wanted to stop her – who would win? I think my money is on Cammie.
Posted by sassymonkey @
8:46 am |
