Joss Whedon – Astonishing X-Men, Volumes 1-4 – This is the first time I’ve actually read an X-Men comic, even though I’ve been a longtime fan of the cartoons and movies. Whedon was the perfect person to write for this series, and I thoroughly enjoyed these four volumes. The illustrations are nice and not so hyper sexualized that I felt myself rolling my eyes all the time. (Earth to comic artists, women read comics too.) Whedon’s signature wit and sarcasm fit these characters well, especially Wolverine. Unfortunately, Whedon only penned these four so the series reportedly goes downhill from here.

Bill Willingham – Jack of Fables, Volume 1 – This is the first in the spinoff series to Fables, with Jack (of beanstalk fame) as the main character. I enjoyed it, but not quite as much as the main series. It is still fun and worth a read if you like Fables.

Ernest Hemingway – For Whom the Bell Tolls – I was happy when one of my book club friends selected this title. I’ve always been a big fan of Hemingway and never read this, supposedly his seminal work.  I appreciated the novel for what it was supposed to be and the interesting way he wrote the dialog (basically transliterated from Spanish), but it didn’t grab me the way A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises did.

Paula McLain – The Paris Wife – It was a complete coincidence that this book came in on hold for me at the library right after I read a Hemingway novel. The Paris Wife is about Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, and the time they spent together in Paris before he cheated on her with a mutual friend. I loved the setting and the descriptions of all the literary and artistic greats who were in Paris at the time. Of course I knew that Hemingway was a chauvinist going into the story so I expected that, but I was frustrated with Hadley’s reaction to him. I don’t know how close that was to the truth since this was fictionalized, but the fact that she let him go on for so long married to her and having his mistress in the same house really made me want to strangle her! Still, this was a very quick and fun read set in a time period and location that I love to read about. Unrelated side note: I love the name Hadley, but couldn’t convince Dan of the greatness of the name for our baby.

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis – This book was a bit of a disappointment. I had heard so many great things about it from various bloggers, but it just didn’t do much for me. The parts of the novel that took place in the past were good, and I really loved some of the characters. Unfortunately, I didn’t get interested at all in the story for about 250 pages, and that is too long to read the boring story that took place in the present day. The present day scenes were also all telling and no showing, which makes for quite the dull reading experience.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien – This book was excellent. I can’t recommend it enough. This is a fictional novel in the form of shorter stories that was inspired by O’Brien’s own experiences in the Vietnam War. Everything about the story and O’Brien’s writing style was absolutely perfect. I plan to choose this as a book club selection because it is very thought provoking. Please read this book.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett – I was worried after the awesomeness that was The Things They Carried, that no book could follow it. I was wrong. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett is a moving and beautifully written story of a hostage situation in an unnamed South American country. The captors get in over their heads, and the situation goes on for longer than they had planned. The story of the relationships formed through a translator, Gen, make up the brunt of the story. Aside from a strange and unnecessary epilogue, everything about this novel was excellent. I chose it for book club, and it was very well received.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote – I think my Goodreads review pretty much sums it up: I need to read more Capote. I have always loved the movie with Audrey Hepburn and had heard that it is significantly different from the novella. I think it’s best to treat them as separate entities. Hollywood left out all of the darkness and unlikable aspects of Holly and turned the story into a romantic comedy instead of the sad friendship between a glorified call girl and a gay man. I love both stories. Capote’s prose is wonderful.

Suze Orman’s Action Plan: New Rules for New Times by Suze Orman – I read this for work, but mostly on my own time so I’ll list it here. This is a good book if you need a financial cheerleader, but don’t expect much depth or explanation of how to achieve the outcomes she suggests. Anyone looking for a good basic personal finance book should check out The 10 Commandments of Money by Liz Weston. This has loads of practical advice that Orman never touches. So I guess I don’t need to review that one now. Done!

Stay tuned for more mini-reviews soon!

When shopping for bedding, I found that the only bedding that suits my tastes (Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn) would cost more than the crib! Also, the crib sets all come with bumpers, which have been known to be hazardous for some time now. I hate to pay for something that is useless so decided to sew my own crib skirt out of this Amy Butler fabric that I ordered last night and buy or register for solid color sheets to match.We live in a house built in the 1960′s so the retro style looks especially good.

I may also try my hand at making a baby quilt out of the charm pack below since it will look nice with this fabric. FYI – For the non-sewers, a charm pack is a package of pre-cut fabric squares. You save money since you get a bunch of different patterns without having to buy yardage and save time by not having to do much cutting. That wouldn’t go in the crib, but I could use it in the car seat or rocker. I’m also in the middle of knitting this baby blanket, which will be a small car seat/stroller sized blanket.

I found this adorable print on Etsy of a little girl reading with a furry orange monster and had to order it so that’s one piece of decoration we have. My talented BFF also offered to paint some fairy tale themed art for the room, and I’m super excited about that. So I have ideas and have gotten started on a few things, but hopefully it will all come together by the end of February!

I’m learning that pregnancy means that strangers will ask you personal things without batting an eye. Of course, I have no intention of answering personal questions so I hope they are ready for disappointment. Also, the world would love to shut pregnant women in a quiet room and not let them do anything at all. There are so many  so-called rules that are “just in case this might hurt the baby” with no scientific evidence to back them up. I spend so much time looking for actual reputable information that comes from real doctors and scientists. Luckily, I have a great doctor who is calm and not fear-mongering or “woo” at all.

I will probably blog more about the pregnancy and planning for the arrival as things move along. I also have a bunch of mini book reviews to post that will be up soon. So wish me luck that the baby decides not to take this route into the world. The thought of childbirth has always conjured up this image for me.

What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss – After a coworker jokingly left this book in my box, I decided to read it and see how bad it would be. I’ve never read a Harlequin before and was prepared for a horrible read. I was surprised to really like it! The librarian stereotypes were a bit annoying, and the college age students acted very young. But, as a librarian, I can get behind a librarian/rock star romance any day. This was like the book version of candy.

Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey –This seemed like a safe pick because I liked the first in the series, but it was a disappointment. I’m not a fan of pregnancy plots in romance, but I thought Stacey might bring something different to the story. The heroine was really annoying because her reasons for not wanting a relationship were not believable. She’s afraid of getting too close because her parents loved her too much, but Stacey never shows us that. From this book, her parents seem completely normal and not smothering at all. The secondary romance was much better, but not enough time was spent on it.

My main problem with this title when compared with the first Kowalski romance is that Stacey forgets the rule of good writing, “show, don’t tell”. The reader spends the whole book reading conversations about what happened instead of actually seeing things for themselves.

I hear the next one is better. I hope so.

The most recent book that comes to mind is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. The characters felt so real, and I had come to love them even though I knew what would happen to them. I will leave it at intentional vagueness for anyone who hasn’t read this or seen the movie (which also made me cry).

I’ve also been doing a lot of reading about the romance genre, including book blogs and the Romantic Times, to which my library subscribes. I feel much more confident about my knowledge of subgenres and authors now, but nothing really replaces reading the books yourself. I have found that the genre is pretty unfairly targeted for derision among literary types and other genre readers. I was one of these people before I started reading up on the genre a bit more. As a public librarian, I’ve always held the belief that you should read whatever the hell you want and ignore anyone who suggests otherwise, but I still held some misguided beliefs about the genre. Yes, some adhere to a formula, but so do many mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction/fantasy titles. There are varying degrees of quality as with any genre.

So far, I’ve read two romances this year (excluding the awful vampire one for my book club). Here’s a review of the first one.

Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey – This book is a double whammy when it comes to my preconceived notions. It is a romance and it was only released in ebook format (although I think Stacey’s titles might be coming out in print soon due to her success).  It was published by Carina Press, a Harlequin imprint that releases digital-first titles. I read a good review of this book on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and decided to try it out since it was only $2.99 in the nook store.

Keri Daniels is a journalist who heads back to her hometown to dig up some dirt on her high school boyfriend, Joe Kowalski, who is now a famous author. He agrees to do the interview with her if she will come on a camping vacation with his family. Some of his family loves Keri, but his sister has never forgiven her for breaking his heart. I think you can guess what happens when she agrees to the trip.

This book put a smile on my face the way a really good chick flick would. I love stories about people in small towns. I think it comes from living in more urban areas for so long now. These stories feel like an escape, even if they are unrealistic about small town charm. I grew up in one so I know! Stacey’s characterization of the Kowalski family was great, and it paved the way for a book about each brother. As an aside, there is definitely a disproportionate number of families with several brothers in this genre. There was also a good amount of humor, and the relationships between the brothers were believable. There were a few plot holes, but they didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

Highly recommended if you’re in the mood for a light summer read! I will be reading the others in the series.

Anyone can say anything, that’s easy. My focus is less on the need for women to trumpet their own achievements than to shoot high and achieve a lot. What I want to see is young, ambitious writers. And there are tons of them. Look at “The Tiger’s Wife.” There was that scandal with the Harvard student who was found to have plagiarized. But she had plagiarized very derivative, banal stuff. This is your big first move? These are your models?

I read several book bloggers’ responses to this comment and couldn’t decide whether I should weigh in on the comment or let it lie. Well, Egan has now apologized, and I just had to say something about this. I had decided not to do this because I wanted to say it nicely, but I’m just going to be blunt. No offense is meant to bloggers who voiced their displeasure with Egan’s comments.

Edited to quote Egan’s apology directly (from the link above):

“I have nothing to defend in what I said,” she said. “I really wish I hadn’t said that, and was incredibly and immediately sorry that anyone was hurt by it. I don’t blame anyone for being mad about it.” Though she does believe there’s an interesting conversation to be had about genre and gender and literary culture, she doesn’t see her comments in that interview as any kind of effective contribution to that discussion. “I’m all for criticizing; I’m not saying that no one should ever criticize anyone else,” she continued. “But if you’re going to criticize, you should do it intentionally and thoughtfully and carefully and know whom you’re criticizing and for what. And I didn’t meet any of those criteria.”

Authors do not always like each other’s work and are sometimes vocal about it (see Mark Twain, Stephen King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway to name a few). So what? I don’t like Nicholas Sparks or James Patterson, and I am quite vocal here and on Twitter about that. No one has demanded my apology. I’m beginning to think that Egan is the victim of a double standard here. She is a woman criticizing women authors rather than one of the men listed above.

See, the thing about free speech is that it sometimes hurts people’s feelings. Those people need to buck up and put on their big girl (or boy) pants and get over it. I’m sorry, but not everything public figures say has to be nice. If you would rather not read or buy any of Egan’s work from now on, that’s fine. That is how the free market works.

Egan is a brilliant writer. A Visit from the Goon Squad is now one of my favorite books of all time. She thinks some YA authors write work that is banal. That is her opinion, and no one should expect her to apologize for it. I don’t want to live in a world where no one criticizes anything for fear of retribution.

I’m cheating because it’s a tie between Little Hoot by Amy Rosenthal and Smitten by David Gordon.

Little Hoot is a bedtime story about an owl who desperately wants to go to sleep, but his parents make him stay awake all night because that’s what owls do. The illustrations are really cute, and I always want to curl up and take a nap at the end. This reverse psychology is supposed to lull your child to sleep, but I don’t know if it will work as well for them as it does for me!

Smitten is about a sock and a mitten who have lost their matches, and they need to keep each other company in the big city. Knitters will love this one because they end up knitting when one of them gets a snag. Too adorable for words! It’s very colorful, and the friendship between the two makes me smile.

• Spearmint – In its own pot since mint is invasive.
• Basil – 2 plants because we love pesto.
• Sage
• Oregano
• Thyme