Special thanks to Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm for the super header.


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tuesday Celebration

So last night our ice dancing pair won the gold medal. It came pretty much down to the wire. Their performance was GORGEOUS. Just beautiful and smooth with never a falter or pause when going from one move to the next. The Americans who got the silver were also very good, the Russian? Well, I guess they are good but it was the ones with the weird Australian Aboriginal costumes so I wasn't too impressed. We stayed up until after midnight so we could see them get their medals. Very nice. You could tell anyone though from Russia or anywhere in Eastern Europe. Shredded chiffon and sequins out the wazoo. They would make good third rate strippers in Vegas (even the guys) as they already have the outfits. Most of the skaters from North America and Europe were much more refined and let the skating do the talking not glitzy costumes. I did manage to get some reading done though in the last day or so.

Tails and Teapots by Misa Izanaki (45 pages)

Yes, I'm still reading the stories about the strip clubs. I think this is the last one I have. Frankie who works as a bartender in the club is dumped by his boyfriend on Christmas eve. He's depressed but his Mom sent him a weird teapot from Japan for Christmas. He takes it up to his apartment and when he peels some paper off it, it turns into a tanuki which is a shape shifter raccoon dog thing that was trapped as a teapot 200 years ago. He's really cute but Frankie's not interested in any "wishes" so the tanuki leaves. Frankie goes down to the club and decides to drown his sorrows by finding a hot guy for the night. He sees a cutie who comes on to him and they go upstairs and get freaky. In the morning he wakes up to find his date with ears and a tail. Ack. He freaks which causes Aki to hide under the bed in his fuzzy form but they talk it out and decide to give it a whirl. The end. To be honest I liked this one more than the others about the threesome. So just a little tale about another couple at the club. It was it was.

Can't Hurry Love by M. Jules Aedin (? pages - shortish)

Vincent is an Easter bunny who gets himself in trouble at work by screwing a satyr in the supply cupboard. As punishment he's sent to motivate "on strike" cupid Charlie. Charlie is surly and basically ignores him for weeks until they finally get an assignment. They get to go to earth and get a lesbian couple together. Things go wrong in the case and Vincent gets in more trouble than he thought possible, can he get his fuzzy tail out of it. This was a VERY funny story. I chuckled and smiled all the way through but there were some poignant moments too. Vincent takes the phrase "fucks like a bunny" to heart, but after hanging around Charlie for a while he starts to wonder if that's all there is and he tries to be good, but it's hard for him. And the reason Charlie is refusing to do his job comes to light and maybe he has good reason. So while it is very funny and light there are also some more serious themes running through it. But on the whole I enjoyed it a lot and loved Vincent. The cover is adorable too.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Lynn Lorenz (89 pages)

I won this book this week at Wave's. Yay me. Scott lives in a homeless shelter in New Orleans and has since before and after hurricane Katrina. He works at Tiffany's Waffle and Wing place where they are like his family, Miss Tiffany keeps an eye on him and some of the regulars from the drag bar are his friends. One morning he is mugged by a junkie and as he's about to get beaten a large black man saves him but takes him money. Tony lives in an abandoned house and has no job but refuses to sell drugs or himself in memory of his Grandma. Tony lost his family in Katrina. He feels bad for taking Scott's last $5 and after earning a little money unloading trucks he gives Scott his money back and walks him home to the shelter. Scott then agrees to move into Tony's house with him and they start a relationship.

This was a very interesting book as you are dealing with two essentially homeless young men (20) although Scott has a savings account at the bank and works 12 hour shifts with tips so he's not broke. While Tony's house has water, there is no electricity and it's boarded over. The only niggle I had was going over the time-line. Scott is mugged on Saturday morning, actually meets Tony on Sunday afternoon and moves in with him the same night and they declare their love on about Tuesday night. Whoa. What I liked was how wanting to be with Scott made Tony a better guy, he went to the fruit market and started offering to work rather than stealing and he started a relationship with one of the vendors. Scott was also the more aggressive sexually in that it was his idea to go to the drug store and get condoms which kind of shocked Tony. Not that he was inexperienced but wasn't so open about it. So what about the timing thing? This book had me laying in bed this morning thinking about this so Lynn obviously did her work and it stuck with me. These are two young guys, both abandoned by their families, both homeless and lost and looking for a connection, so yeah, no time to waste pussyfooting around and dating for 3 months, who knows what can happen, you've seen your life nearly snuffed out in seconds. I could also see Scott wanting out of the shelter, even if it's to an abandoned house where he doesn't have to live with a bunch of other people. So perhaps from that perspective it seemed normal for them to move that quickly. It made Tony start to think about having a real apartment and a home, not a squat somewhere, they kind of brought out the best in each other. So I enjoyed this book and as I said, it made me think about how different life experiences affect the decisions you make. So if you're looking for a book with a different vibe to it, I recommend it. Oh and the cover is prefect even if Scott was skinnier.

Rules Were Made to be Broken by Lenore Black (? pages)

Aaron and Dale have been best friends since age 8. Aaron took over his parents sporting goods store when they retired and is working himself to the bone. Dale works when he needs beer money and is getting annoyed that Aaron doesn't want to party any more. He gets a call from Dale saying he needs help in the middle of the night. He goes over and finds Dale handcuffed to his bed with his wallet stolen. He manages to get him free but when Dale suddenly realizes that Aaron has the hots for him he turns the tables and handcuffs Aaron to the bed and has his way with him. It's a very humerous book as Aaron has many rules as to how he should behave around Dale so as not to give away his attraction. He's never told Dale he's gay and Dale is a total slut. The only thing I found a bit odd was that when the chips are down, seems Dale is not so straight and has had some gay sex experience but Aaron was clueless. So there was a bit of suspension of disbelief there, that if they were THAT good of friends they didn't notice either thing, but still, they were a cute couple and it was a feel-good read with lots of humour to lighten your day.

27 comments:

Chris said...

Yay, Canada!!! :)

*adds Can't Hurry Love and Breakfast at Tiffany's to TBB*

I managed suspension of disbelief in Rules Were Made To Be Broken. :) I'm definitely looking forward to more from Lenore Black!

Tam said...

They are both really good Chris in very different ways. Rules was a fun book and not mean to be taken too seriously, so I just enjoyed it and let the minor stuff flow over me.

K. Z. Snow said...

I hate to say it, Tam, but I thought the Americans' performance was better -- just as smooth, but more complex, energetic, and passionate. The Canadian couple turned in a superior showing the night before, but I wasn't as wowed by them last night. Nice to see the home audience so thrilled, though.

Maybe I'm just getting tired of figure skating. The skiing events have definitely been boring the snot out of me, so I suspect my interest in the Olympics is on the wane.

Tam said...

Ah well, they were pretty close. My daughter just sent me a link to a stars on ice type thing coming to town, so I guess that was a not so subtle hint. LOL

I'm looking forward to arials skiing that's always fun. I've lost interest in women's hockey. Really, it should not be an Olympic sport. Sure we're guaranteed a gold but seriously, when only one or two countries are contenders its a throw-away.

K. Z. Snow said...

Agreed, the skate was close. I'm just glad the Russians didn't get the gold.

Yeah, the aerials are more entertaining than the downhill, jumping, and cross-country events, but I still don't think there's much left that's going to interest me. I'm burned out on women's figure skating, and, what's more, I really don't want to see the South Korean chick win. (Be sure to tell me, though, if she wipes out! *g*)

Jenre said...

So glad you liked Can't Hurry Love as much as I did! Yay, let's spread the love :).

That Lynn Lorenz story sounds like it might be a great read.

I've got a different Lenore Black book on my TBR pile which I'm going to read before I add any more. I really liked her Advent story but one book at a time is my motto for new authors.

Ha! My veri word is 'chesti' - why, yes I am :).

Kris said...

You know someone who doesn't know you all could be a little freaked out by the turns this discussion took from ice skating, to books, to Jen's boobs.

Me? I was more like 'oh, here we go'. Heh.

Tam said...

Lynn's book was very good Jen. Quite different and I'll be honest, I'm not keen on books about homeless people or people very different from me because I can't relate to them, but I think setting it in New Orleans post-Katrina changed that and I was able to see why they were where they were in their life. The fact that I woke up this morning and was still thinking about it meant it struck a chord with me even with the "insta-love".

Perfect word veri Jen. LOL

Tam said...

Ah, that's the normal way things go in my world Kris. LOL Tangents are us

Anonymous said...

That win last night was truly deserved!

I want to read the Lorenz book. *sigh* I bet my to-read list hits 1,000 before August!

Tam said...

I just read the Russians are saying they were the best and they deserved the gold. Can you say sour grapes? I'm all about having confidence in your abilities, but when you lose you lose. LOL

Good luck with that list. :-D

Janna said...

The ice skating couple looked gorgeous! :)
Overhere we are mourning over the 10.000 drama...

The last 3 books are being added to my to-buy list. They sound like good, fun reads!

K. Z. Snow said...

"I just read the Russians are saying they were the best and they deserved the gold. Can you say sour grapes?"

Is there in a Russian-accented echo in that auditorium? Shades of Plushenko. Sheesh. Pretty soon they'll be saying the Berlin Wall was an architectural masterpiece that should never have been torn down.

Tam said...

LOL Too true KZ. They really haven't taken well to the concept that they are no long a sporting powerhouse.

Janna, I saw your explanation of what happened. How heartbreaking for him. I see you still got the bronze but it's not the same.

Okay, I'm needing a xanax already and the hockey game hasn't even started. LOL They just said Germany has NEVER beat us, so if they do, some hockey ass needs a good kicking.

Janna said...

Nope, bronze is not the same. Especially not for Sven who got nothing...
I'll keep my hockey fingers crossed for you :)

Janna said...

Okay, that was one quick goal :D
I'm off to bed now, can't keep my eyes open, but will keep them fingers crossed :)

Unknown said...

Even though I'm American, I still teared up when the entire stadium sang "Oh Canada" during the gold medal ceremony. Of course, I cry at just about anything. The other day it was a commercial that got me going.

Tam said...

They won Janna. Well, unless the German's scored 7 goals in the last 5 min. I'm watching skating now.

It was pretty special Stephani. I can get pretty chocked up over things too. I know Canadians are not really known for being overly patriotic but I've been on Parliament Hill on Canada day when 150,000 people are singing it. Ack! Give me a tissue. LOL

Lily said...

Hooray for Canadian Gold!!


I just read Rules Were Made to be Broken and liked it. I really enjoy Lenore Black's style.

The Izanaki books just don't appeal but the other two sound good.

Tam said...

The Izanaki books are very different with the Japanese mythology thing interwoven. Not to every taste. The other three were excellent reads though.

Janna said...

Congrats on the ice hockey win, Tam!

And I tagged you for a meme, I hope you like...
http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-very-own-book-boyfriend.html

Chris said...

Harkening back to my first comment, "Yay, Canada!!!"

Tam said...

That was cute. Try THIS ONE.

Last night our womens skater did amazing. Not that her performance was that outstanding, although she didn't fall, but her Mom died suddenly only 2 days ago and she's skating for her. It was really touching but on too damned late.

Tam said...

Thanks for the tag Janna. I'll work on that today.

Chris said...

LOL - that was great!

Janna said...

Thanks for playing along, Tam!
Those vids were fun :)

Chris said...

Oh, the outtakes from that video were cute, too!