zombie college, fill this space, cats at college

Background music to these three dreams: "I'm Gonna Harden My Heart"

So, this is where I start picking out "dreamsigns" from my dreams - noting places where you can tell something odd is going on and maybe this isn't real. Let me know if you see something I missed!

( Read more... )

dreamsigns: setting time 2x, character place, ego form, setting place, character role, ego action, character action, character place (cats at college), situation (dining room with no food)

Bloodring by Faith Hunter

(Something that I often find interesting is that people tend not to live up to their given names. I knew a girl in high school named Chastity. She was not chaste. Similarly, I have known a lot of heretics and agnostics named Faith.)

The Apocalypse has come - and gone. We've got the wrathful angels and the corrupting demons. Most cities of the world have been destroyed by fire. The few humans still living "Post-Ap" are banded together in small, restricted communities. They eke out a hard existence under the watchful eyes of the kirk elders and the angels. They try not to go out after dark. Mages and other supernatural creatures are hated and feared. But one of them has escaped the Enclave where she grew up. If only her secret were the greatest danger...

I picked this up during my library crawl. I was intrigued by the cover and the premise. Alas, the book didn't quite live up to its promise. The main character spends too much of her time doing stupid things. Don't understand your forbidden magic? No need to study, just use more of it. Fear your stepdaughter is being courted by demons? Don't tell the authorities or her mom, just "keep an eye on her." Drawn by the mystical powers of strange stone? Definitely use it rather than trying to figure out why or look for a trap. Et cetera.
Probably my favorite thing about the book was the relationships between Thorne and the other characters, but it was hard to see why they cared for her so much when she was screwing up all the time, risking their lives in the process. There were also some world-building inconsistencies - the angels were presented as not telling the humans which religion was "right" but the main character and all the angels quote from the Bible and everything seemed pretty Old Testament. Furthermore, the "kirk elders" acted like religious fundamentalists. If you're trying to avoid sin, you would WANT shotgun weddings rather than illegitemate children. Especially if you are seen as being responsible for the spiritual life of your community, you would say "thanks for coming, nice to see you" to people when they came to kirk rather than glowering at them for not coming all the time. At least, you would if you had any brains! A plot twist at the end did intrigue me, but not enough to keep me reading the series. Two and a half stars.

book swap update

The Color of Magic. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Erotica Vampirica. Chicken Licken. 501 Spanish Verbs. Then She Found Me. What to Expect When You're Expecting. In Defense of Food. The Tale of Peter Rabbit. A Scanner Darkly. You: On a Diet. Wildly Foxtrot. The Amber Spyglass. Running with Scissors. Smoke and Mirrors.

( Read more... )

The swap will be on Sunday from one to four, in a private home in Davis Square. There is no charge to get in but you should bring one to three bags of books. To get more details, including the address of the book swap, leave a comment with your email address or send email to ladyanemone at gmail dot com.

Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman

I saw a woman reading this book on the plane a few months ago - a new edition to go along with the new movie featuring Helen Hunt, Colin Firth (drool!) and Bette Midler. I had not heard of anything written by Elinor Lipman in a while, although I had read Isabel's Bed and loved it a while back. I decided I wanted to see the movie before I read the book, so that I would have at least a small hope of enjoying the book. This was a good choice because, despite a stellar performance by Bette Midler, the movie was not that great.

April Epner is a shy and awkward Latin high school teacher. After the death of her adopted mother, she is approached by a woman who asks her if she wants to meet her birth mother. Bernice is glamorous and aggressive where April is quiet and self-effacing. April is straightforward and open where Bernice can't help bending the truth. Bernice will hardly shut up about sex and April has hardly had a serious boyfriend. Do opposites attract even when they're mother and daughter?

( A quote. )

The book is touching, realistic, and make-you-laugh-out-loud funny. I laughed so many times while I was reading it. If you have a difficult mother or two, you must read it. Four stars.