Category Archives: cats

The Olivia Books by Ian Falconer

First off I’d like to clarify that I am talking the Olivia books.DSCN0482-(sm)

The books by Ian Falconer.

The books where the first of them has that nice shiny silver Caldecott medal on it.

THOSE Olivia books.

(I have no comment on all other shows videos and books of a pig with the same name.)DSCN0484-(sm)

The books where the face of the Olivia’s mother is one of the best parts.

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From Olivia and The Missing Toy.

Those Olivia books are my favorite picture books, and I collected most of them after I had children.

Olivia goes to Venice came out about a year ago and I liked it but not so much that I had to have it. This year when I saw the newest title was Olivia and the Fairy Princess  I rolled my eyes, thought the author was losing it but that Ivy would love it and brought it home from the library.DSCN0485-(sm)But, then I read it and was oh so pleasantly surprised.

Olivia, she’s got a problem with all the pink princesses.DSCN0486-(sm)

Olivia, I had no idea you could get any cooler but with the line “If everyone’s a princess, then princesses aren’t special anymore!” you became my all time favorite pig.

Ivy who has joined the hordes of girls (and pigs) who love pink princesses was unimpressed but I, I have a new favorite children’s book!

Diana Gabaldon

Start with Outlander and then keep going.

I’ve been re-reading them in between other books since Jane has been born and I’m on my 6th book of hers in a month.

I haven’t yet had the words “dinna fash” or “you’ll ken” come out of my mouth yet but it’s a good thing I’ve only got one book left or I’d be yelling “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ” next time I burn dinner.

Would I recommend them? Having just stared blankly at the computer screen for a many minitues I have no tidy way to sum up the books nor why exactly I’d recommend them.

I think I’m in a Jamie and Claire induced stuper… and now I have to go read what happens next – even though I’ve read this one twice before.

Terrier by Tamora Pierce

I had just finished this book and was trying to explain to John a why I liked it and this is what came out:

“It’s a book that had it been a movie I would have loved it but because I liked the book I’d never see the movie, but do you know what I mean?”

Fortunately he did know what I meant.

Here is a translation for the rest of you. The book involved a lot of beating the bad guys up with big sticks, funny quippy sort of comments from the good guys, who weren’t all guys and weren’t an angelic type of good. The main character is a girl who’s quite adept at beating people up herself, and she has an interesting purple eyed cat.

As it turns out my favorite movies are the ones where good guys aren’t really that great and they make lots of quippy comments while they are running around blowing things up, which is always good because there is significantly less gore and guts.

I’m not a fan of gore and guts.

Or I like romantic comedy’s.

What I really don’t like, and have just stopped watching altogether are movies based on books that I liked. My reasons are as follows:

1)They are never as good as the books.

2)My mind is then poisoned with movie images that I can never shake which is extra lame because of the first reason.

3)I don’t actually read a ton of books where stuff gets blown up, so I don’t really have to worry about overlap there.

4)I do read books full of suspense. Suspense in books is fine, I just read faster, I like it. Suspense in movies irritates me and I ALWAYS jump. I hate jumping.

5) I also hate nightmares. It takes a bit in books to give me nightmares, Steven King gives me nightmares. When it comes to movies I could probably manage a nightmare after watching the Sandlot. Therefore half the books I read are movies I would never see for fear of nightmares.

6)If I want to have deep thoughts about something I’ll read a book. movies are in my opinion for open mouthed, drooling, mindless, entertainment. Therefore if I’ve read a book that requires any sort of brain power I’m not interested in seeing it on the screen.

When in comes to movies I didn’t love Seven Pounds (way too much thinking) I won’t be watching the Time Travelers Wife, or Inkheart (because making a movie about a book like that is just wrong) and don’t even get me started on Harry Potter…

But I did really like this book. So much so that if it becomes a movie I’ll never, ever watch it.

Would I recommend it? Yes

Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic

We are once a week library regulars, we know the librarians, they know us and 95 percent of all children’s books are returned the next week. Even good books are hard to read every day multiple times for more than a week, but Duck Soup was an exception.

It’s a funny book, best read with a bit of flair (we did lots of yelling) and  guaranteed to be kept from the library longer than usual without being lost under the couch!

Would I recommend it? Yes, we’ve also had Duck at the Door and enjoyed that one as well, but this one is better!

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

I sat down with a piece of left over Christmas chocolate (alright two pieces) and a Diet Coke (so it was really four pieces)  to read a chapter of the new Janet Evanovich book (but one was a coconut one so you can’t count that) and before I knew it I was immersed in rude monkeys, cupcake obsessions and supernatural events.

Next thing I knew the book was done and Clara was awake.

So much for a productive nap time.

Would I recommend it? Only if you like laughing.

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown and Felicia Bond

“By the big red barn in the great green field, there was a pink pig who was learning to squeal…”

Sorry, I see the book and the words just start rolling off my tongue, I can’t help it!

Ivy loved it as a baby and I read it so many times I accidentally memorized it. Then when Clara started reading books we pulled it out with the rest of the board books and it took about two times through before I had all the words back again.

Someone tell me why I was never able to master my times tables but I can memorize kids books on accident!

Regardless* of my math ineptitude this book has my favorite sort of sing song rhythm to it, making it easy to memorize (if you are into that sort of thing) and fun to read out loud.  As if that wasn’t enough to make one little book lovely the girls seem to really enjoy the super detailed illustrations (can you see the hose on the barn in the picture?).

Would I recommend it? Yes, both the kids and I agree on this one. Besides, I have it memorized and I don’t hate it, it’s got to be good.

*I was going to use irregardless in this sentence but thought I’d better look it up to see if it meant what I thought it meant. My dictionary had this to say about it:

…”The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however.” … “Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.”

So I did…

…but every time I’ve read though my draft I say irregardless in my head.

Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb

This is a fantasy book, hopefully that won’t put you off, they are my favorite genre so while this is the first that I’ve read since starting the blog there are bound to be more of them.  Robin Hobb (who also writes books under the name Megan Lindholm neither of which are her real name!) is an awesome writer but let me try to explain what I loved best about this book.

This is the first book in the Tawny Man trilogy which is a trilogy that follows The Farseer trilogy.  Sometimes when you start reading trilogy’s that follow trilogy’s (and for those of you who don’t read much fantasy that isn’t uncommon) by the time you hit the first book of the second trilogy you have a list of characters that goes halfway down your arm and you hardly get to hear about some of your old favorites. Or there are authors who just keep cranking out books and by the time you reach book 12 you have three thousand characters an entire world of intrigue, plotting, religions and wars that only really serious fans can possibly keep straight and then you up and die before the last two books are finished leaving it up to a different author to finish up for you. And if you think that is some crazy story I made up check our Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books, The Eye of the World is the first, and a great book, just don’t say I didn’t warn you!  On the other hand reading Fool’s Errand was more like sitting back down with old friends.

Would I recommend it? Yes, but first you really need to read Assassins Apprentice, and then Royal Assassin and then Assassin’s Quest, and I promise they are worth it! Also I’m sure her Liveship Traders trilogy factors into all this somewhere but they are still on my to read list.