I'm currently reading the last of the Earth's Children Series by Jean M. Auel.
I'm not done, so this isn't the official review, but I have to say, WTF? I started reading these books when I was eleven. Now that I'm not eleven, I'm wondering if they were all written as though we're stupid readers. I don't usually mind lots of detail, but come on, do you need to point out that not only did so-and-so have rope in their carry-bag all the time, but that you never know when it will be needed?
And sometimes I wonder if Auel's trying to "dumb down" the thought processes of the people of the time.
Case in point: Ayla leaves her baby sleeping in a meadow under the protection of Wolf while she pokes around the nearby shrubs for roots etc. She comes back and Wolf's growling at the grass. "Was something wrong?"
Really? Not, "What was wrong?" but "Was something wrong?"
Uh, your wolf's fucking standing over your baby and growling at something in the grass. Get your sling-shot out!
Oy.
Showing posts with label Bookshelf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bookshelf. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
How I Became a Jennifer Crusie Dealer
It was Jennifer Crusie's birthday yesterday (the 17th), so in honour of that, I'd like to write a post that I've been meaning to for a while, and tell you about how I became a Jennifer Crusie dealer. (I'll do an actual review her books some other time.)
It all started a few years ago when I worked in the Oil Patch as a First Aid Attendant. Oh, wait, no, I started dealing when I went to school in 2003ish, but I have to go back to the first time that I worked in the OP as an FAA. Because before I became a JC dealer, I became an addict.
When you work on drilling rigs as an FAA, you have a lot of downtime. A lot. Unless you're working on a rig from hell, staffed by idiots who, against the lovely OP adage, "put their fingers where they wouldn't put their penises" on a regular basis, all you had to do was keep a clean FA Room, keep a clean and maintained ETV (emergency transport vehicle), make sure all of your pertinent information was up to date, and play nice with the rig pigs. I mean the men who worked on the rig. (This was usually the hardest job.) Otherwise, you could watch TV (if you had it; see this post), exercise, do correspondence courses, or read. Or sleep.
I read, a lot. When I first started up there, my stints were a three-week max, so I got good use out of my library card. On one pre-work library trip, I was looking for just one more book. As usual, I was vehemently avoiding the "Romance" racks (I like my books well-written, thank-you very much (I had been scarred by a very badly written Harlequin), and at that point I didn't think romance could be).
I spied the shelving cart, and there, in all of it's glorious yellow (JC has some of the best book covers, I swear), was Faking It by Jennifer Crusie. The book was stamped "GF" for General Fiction (thank goodness!), and the blurb on the back sounded funny, so I checked it out. Oh my god I freaking loved it! It is by far one of the funniest books that I've ever read. It is well-written. And when Davy was pleasantly surprised to bounce off a round and soft Tilda, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself reading about a "real" woman; not some uber-fit Twiggy who always had perfect hair and make-up. Tilda is also not a simpering idiot (this could be a whole post on its own, so I'll leave simpering idiots for later), especially when it came to men. I had a new heroine. I also had a new favourite author.
So I go to work, and in between jobs I manage to hit up the local library up north. I find some more JC books (Tell Me Lies and another one, but I cannot remember which one it was). I was excited! They were stamped "ROM" for Romance. Fuck. I actually stood there with abject disappointment and tears brewing in my eyes. No. No. No. I hummed and hawed for at least five minutes before deciding, okay, and I checked the books out. I read them. I laughed. I loved them. I still had a new favourite author! Phew.
(I did have another moment of panic later on when Jennifer Crusie teamed up with Bob Mayer; I love the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, so when I saw one of her co-writes, I bought it. Oh man, was I disappointed. Seriously, it was some of the worst drivel I've ever read. So when I saw Don't Look Down I stood in the store for a few minutes trying so hard not to have an anxiety attack. Deep breaths. Deep, deep breaths. I bought the book, and thank-you, but Bob Mayer can actually write! Funny, funny, well-written book, and worth the leap of faith in JC. Every other co-write of hers is excellent as well.)
On the way home from the job I hit up a Chapters and bought every single JC book that they had in stock, even the ones I'd read from a library. I spent the next few years collecting every new and re-release I could get my hands on. I explored other "Romance" authors, like Sophie Kinsella and Diana Gabaldon. In more recent years I've collected even more romance (I was either pregnant, or, now, have two kids, so a girl's gotta get sex somehow when we're too tired/schedules don't mesh in real life), and I'm probably a bit of an addict, and Jennifer Crusie will always have a fond place in my heart as my gateway drug. I mean author. But this is another story.
Anyway, it's still a few years ago, and I now have a decent collection of books of all genres. I was taking a course at a college, and one of my classmates was deaf. She had an interpreter. Because the coursework was 90% practical practice, the interpreter had a lot of downtime. I noticed that she read a lot when she wasn't interpreting, so I approached her one day and said, "Have I got some books for you!" She was hooked (she aptly described the books as dangerous (in a good way)), and my JC dealing career started.
Fast forward a few years, and I'm back in the OP. I'm carrying with me a Rubbermaid bin full of books. Including my entire JC collection. A fellow FAA loved to read as well, and since we were sharing a house at the time, I happily lent her some books, Faking It and Bet Me included. I hooked another reader.
I've since lent (upon pain of Guido breaking your legs if you don't return the book) or recommended Jennifer Crusie to anyone who needs a good read. Oh sure, I recommend other authors, too, but none are as enjoyable. Or as addictive. But that could just be my opinion.
So, to Jennifer Crusie: Happy Birthday! And, thank-you for being such a great author. And thank-you for only co-writing with other wonderful authors! You rock. Even if your pajamas are being hijacked by old women.
Spinny
It all started a few years ago when I worked in the Oil Patch as a First Aid Attendant. Oh, wait, no, I started dealing when I went to school in 2003ish, but I have to go back to the first time that I worked in the OP as an FAA. Because before I became a JC dealer, I became an addict.
When you work on drilling rigs as an FAA, you have a lot of downtime. A lot. Unless you're working on a rig from hell, staffed by idiots who, against the lovely OP adage, "put their fingers where they wouldn't put their penises" on a regular basis, all you had to do was keep a clean FA Room, keep a clean and maintained ETV (emergency transport vehicle), make sure all of your pertinent information was up to date, and play nice with the rig pigs. I mean the men who worked on the rig. (This was usually the hardest job.) Otherwise, you could watch TV (if you had it; see this post), exercise, do correspondence courses, or read. Or sleep.
I read, a lot. When I first started up there, my stints were a three-week max, so I got good use out of my library card. On one pre-work library trip, I was looking for just one more book. As usual, I was vehemently avoiding the "Romance" racks (I like my books well-written, thank-you very much (I had been scarred by a very badly written Harlequin), and at that point I didn't think romance could be).
I spied the shelving cart, and there, in all of it's glorious yellow (JC has some of the best book covers, I swear), was Faking It by Jennifer Crusie. The book was stamped "GF" for General Fiction (thank goodness!), and the blurb on the back sounded funny, so I checked it out. Oh my god I freaking loved it! It is by far one of the funniest books that I've ever read. It is well-written. And when Davy was pleasantly surprised to bounce off a round and soft Tilda, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself reading about a "real" woman; not some uber-fit Twiggy who always had perfect hair and make-up. Tilda is also not a simpering idiot (this could be a whole post on its own, so I'll leave simpering idiots for later), especially when it came to men. I had a new heroine. I also had a new favourite author.
So I go to work, and in between jobs I manage to hit up the local library up north. I find some more JC books (Tell Me Lies and another one, but I cannot remember which one it was). I was excited! They were stamped "ROM" for Romance. Fuck. I actually stood there with abject disappointment and tears brewing in my eyes. No. No. No. I hummed and hawed for at least five minutes before deciding, okay, and I checked the books out. I read them. I laughed. I loved them. I still had a new favourite author! Phew.
(I did have another moment of panic later on when Jennifer Crusie teamed up with Bob Mayer; I love the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, so when I saw one of her co-writes, I bought it. Oh man, was I disappointed. Seriously, it was some of the worst drivel I've ever read. So when I saw Don't Look Down I stood in the store for a few minutes trying so hard not to have an anxiety attack. Deep breaths. Deep, deep breaths. I bought the book, and thank-you, but Bob Mayer can actually write! Funny, funny, well-written book, and worth the leap of faith in JC. Every other co-write of hers is excellent as well.)
On the way home from the job I hit up a Chapters and bought every single JC book that they had in stock, even the ones I'd read from a library. I spent the next few years collecting every new and re-release I could get my hands on. I explored other "Romance" authors, like Sophie Kinsella and Diana Gabaldon. In more recent years I've collected even more romance (I was either pregnant, or, now, have two kids, so a girl's gotta get sex somehow when we're too tired/schedules don't mesh in real life), and I'm probably a bit of an addict, and Jennifer Crusie will always have a fond place in my heart as my gateway drug. I mean author. But this is another story.
Anyway, it's still a few years ago, and I now have a decent collection of books of all genres. I was taking a course at a college, and one of my classmates was deaf. She had an interpreter. Because the coursework was 90% practical practice, the interpreter had a lot of downtime. I noticed that she read a lot when she wasn't interpreting, so I approached her one day and said, "Have I got some books for you!" She was hooked (she aptly described the books as dangerous (in a good way)), and my JC dealing career started.
Fast forward a few years, and I'm back in the OP. I'm carrying with me a Rubbermaid bin full of books. Including my entire JC collection. A fellow FAA loved to read as well, and since we were sharing a house at the time, I happily lent her some books, Faking It and Bet Me included. I hooked another reader.
I've since lent (upon pain of Guido breaking your legs if you don't return the book) or recommended Jennifer Crusie to anyone who needs a good read. Oh sure, I recommend other authors, too, but none are as enjoyable. Or as addictive. But that could just be my opinion.
So, to Jennifer Crusie: Happy Birthday! And, thank-you for being such a great author. And thank-you for only co-writing with other wonderful authors! You rock. Even if your pajamas are being hijacked by old women.
Spinny
Saturday, 17 August 2013
The Bookshelf (and the Kindle). A.K.A. My Library
I have a bookshelf full of books. A friend of my mother's was excited when she saw it; it makes her sad that so few people have a personal library these days.
I've always loved books, but when I was younger they were expensive (probably in part because they were "real" and partly because my allowance wasn't that big), so my library cards were well used. And, of course, English Literature was one of my favourite classes!
In my twenties I worked as a First Aid Attendant in the Oil Patch (more stories from there, I promise) and I a) made lots of money, b) was often out in the bush for weeks at a time and didn't want to incur late charges at the library, and c) had LOTS of downtime just waiting for someone to do something inanely stupid, so I started buying lots of books.
Now I have a couple of kids and an in-town job that doesn't pay as much (but it's getting better), so the buying of real books has slowed down. A little. I try to stick to series and authors that I already have been collecting. I only add authors that have recently produced some kick-ass series. Or authors that have filled a need . . . but more on that later.
Enter my Kindle. Baby number two does NOT like to nurse while I read real books. He's distracted by the light, and by the turning of the pages. So I downloaded Kindle to my phone and found a couple cheap books that were pretty good. I can now read silently in the dark (so long as I dim the screen)!
I have to admit that I prefer real books. Sure, my husband won't believe that statement since I've been reading tons of e-books lately, but honestly, I love real books. I thought that I'd NEVER go digital, and I still prefer to buy my favourite ("quality") authors in paper, so I reserve e-books for the cheesy stuff that I would prefer not to admit that I read (but I will. Admit it. But only under high duress) and for the books that are only available digitally.
Okay, I'll admit it: I also love digital books. No one knows what you're reading, hubby doesn't know how many e-books I'm buying until he sees the credit card statement, (actually, I don't know how many e-books I'm buying until I see it on paper. Cheap books can add up to a lot of money. . . . Ahem) I can quietly read in the dark, and I'm not carrying any extra weight in my purse when I'm out and about and my phone is right there when I'm waiting in line anyway, so it's really easy to whip it out to read.
But, I still like the feel of real paper in my hands. I love the smell of books. Paperbacks don't really weigh that much, and the batteries never run out. I can also read them in the bathtub (favourite pastime!) without fear of financial ruin; it's not too bad to replace a ten dollar book, but a 500 dollar phone? Yeah, no.
Anyway, the point of all this is that I have an eclectic library and I'd like to share it with you, so I'll be reviewing books that I've recently read, and I'll go back and review the books that I've already read. And, I'd love to hear your thoughts on these books/authors. I'd also like to hear any suggestions for good reads (and warnings against the bad ones).
I'm just going to go pick one. . . . See you soon. Maybe.
I've always loved books, but when I was younger they were expensive (probably in part because they were "real" and partly because my allowance wasn't that big), so my library cards were well used. And, of course, English Literature was one of my favourite classes!
In my twenties I worked as a First Aid Attendant in the Oil Patch (more stories from there, I promise) and I a) made lots of money, b) was often out in the bush for weeks at a time and didn't want to incur late charges at the library, and c) had LOTS of downtime just waiting for someone to do something inanely stupid, so I started buying lots of books.
Now I have a couple of kids and an in-town job that doesn't pay as much (but it's getting better), so the buying of real books has slowed down. A little. I try to stick to series and authors that I already have been collecting. I only add authors that have recently produced some kick-ass series. Or authors that have filled a need . . . but more on that later.
Enter my Kindle. Baby number two does NOT like to nurse while I read real books. He's distracted by the light, and by the turning of the pages. So I downloaded Kindle to my phone and found a couple cheap books that were pretty good. I can now read silently in the dark (so long as I dim the screen)!
I have to admit that I prefer real books. Sure, my husband won't believe that statement since I've been reading tons of e-books lately, but honestly, I love real books. I thought that I'd NEVER go digital, and I still prefer to buy my favourite ("quality") authors in paper, so I reserve e-books for the cheesy stuff that I would prefer not to admit that I read (but I will. Admit it. But only under high duress) and for the books that are only available digitally.
Okay, I'll admit it: I also love digital books. No one knows what you're reading, hubby doesn't know how many e-books I'm buying until he sees the credit card statement, (actually, I don't know how many e-books I'm buying until I see it on paper. Cheap books can add up to a lot of money. . . . Ahem) I can quietly read in the dark, and I'm not carrying any extra weight in my purse when I'm out and about and my phone is right there when I'm waiting in line anyway, so it's really easy to whip it out to read.
But, I still like the feel of real paper in my hands. I love the smell of books. Paperbacks don't really weigh that much, and the batteries never run out. I can also read them in the bathtub (favourite pastime!) without fear of financial ruin; it's not too bad to replace a ten dollar book, but a 500 dollar phone? Yeah, no.
Anyway, the point of all this is that I have an eclectic library and I'd like to share it with you, so I'll be reviewing books that I've recently read, and I'll go back and review the books that I've already read. And, I'd love to hear your thoughts on these books/authors. I'd also like to hear any suggestions for good reads (and warnings against the bad ones).
I'm just going to go pick one. . . . See you soon. Maybe.
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