books read

since my last book post:

Really great reads are two books from Jacqueline Carey -- Santa Olivia, which is basically a gritty super-hero story, and Naamah's Kiss, which starts a new trilogy in the the Terre Ange universe.

Finished the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris: A Bone to Pick ; Three Bedrooms, One Corpse ; The Julius House ; Dead Over Heels ; A Fool And His Honey ; Poppy Done to Death except that I accidentally skipped the penultimate Last Scene Alive.
And finished Charlaine Harris Lily Bard series: Shakespeare's Landlord ; Shakespeare's Champion ; Shakespeare's Christmas ; Shakespeare's Trollop ; Shakespeare's Counselor.
And read her first book Sweet & Deadly, which is really a novice effort. Or maybe she just doesn't do 3rd person well.

Read more of Lauren Willig's pink carnation series: The Masque of the Black Tulip ; The Deception of the Emerald Ring ; The Seduction of the Crimson Rose Emerald Ring was cringe-worthy but Crimson Rose was good.

Also read Julia Quinn's What Happens in London, which is a cute and light regency and Nalini Singh's Angel's Blood which is a paranormal romance which has some interesting world-building and an annoyingly "feisty" heroine.

YAs:
My 12yo made me read Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner, which is fantastic, and I sneakily read the sequel Nobody's Prize before her which totally ticked her off. :) They are about a young Helen of Troy as we'd like her to be, and I enjoyed her view of Helen's contemporaries.

She also wanted me to read the Faerie Path by Frewin Jones, but after I had to read about the heroine glancing into her mirror to check her beautiful self out I told my 12yo I am just too old for this many writing cliches.

Another good YA I read is the almost-too-angsty Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner.

dvd reviews

Inkheart -- I love the book, I like Brendan Fraser a lot, and the movie was better than I expected from the reviews. Paul Bettany as Dustfinger really steals the show. I enjoyed this a lot and it's a great family film.

Push - I'd never heard of this before hubby rented the dvd. SF conspiracy thriller with psychic super-powered teens trying to escape the clutches of a shadowy government Division which wants them in their experiments. Geareded towards fans of Jumper. I liked that it was set in Hong Kong, although on the minus side it had stereotypical heartless Chinese villains and too much gore. Dakota Fanning has a really good moment when she begs the arch-villain for mercy. Worth renting.

Coraline - I think the book is so creepy (Neil Gaiman has serious Mommy issues) I couldn't imagine how they could make a children's film out of it. But they do pull it off, mainly because of the high quality animation. However, it still lacks the heart that Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride have. Younger kids will probably get nightmares if they watch it.

BBC's Elizabeth Gaskell collection. Ok, so I didn't actually get them in a set, just borrowed them from the library. Cranford, Wives & Daughters, North & South. Love, love, love them. Anyone who loves period pieces or classics like Austen & Bronte will love these.

Doubt - Love Meryl Streep in this. Sister Aloysius is the coolest nun ever. Sister James is a twit.

Watchmen- A completely stinky movie, didn't watch more than 15 min.