Sex Lives of Cannibals

The Sex Lives of Cannibals

By J. Maarten Troost

272 pages

8 hours and 35 minutes listening time

Grade C-

FINALLY! This book has been on my To Be Read list for AGES. And when I say ages, I mean AGES. Because I am one for covers, I picked this book up probably 4 years ago at the book store because of it's catchy title and it's interesting cover. I have moved this book from house to house, from room to room, and then eventually I succumbed to the truth that I was just never going to read it and donated it about 6 months ago. Well on one of my online book clubs, we did a buddy read, and this was one of the only books that my "buddy" and me had on our lists. So I went and found it on audio so I could finally do the almighty cross off the list.

As much as I wanted to like this book, because I really really really did want to like it, I struggled, and struggled. It took me a week and a half to finish an 8 hour audio book. After the first half, I started to get a little more into it. This couple, Maarten and Sylvia move to Tarawa, an island that seems to have been forgotten by the rest of the world. But their adventures are pretty neat.

The power is only on for parts of the day, there isn't hardly any water. The natives eat dogs and cats because there isn't any wildlife on the island. The islanders only listen to the Marcarena, and their customs are very strange. However the author's humor is very dry, which is usually something I really like. So I am not sure if it was the narrator that I wasn't 100% in love with or what. But it is a funny book, but I was kinda let down after all the years it took me to finally read it.

Big Boned

Big Boned

By Meg Cabot

280 pages

7 hours and 58 minutes listening time

Grade B+

Big Boned is the third book to the Heather Wells Mysteries), and this series, it's just plain silly. The whole murder mystery thing just got really really repetitive, seeing as Heather is once again mixed up in a sticky situation in "Death Dorm." As crazy unrealistic as this book is, I think that is the appeal is holds for me.

As much as I wanted Heather to annoy the crap out of me, as annoying as she was, I really couldn't not help but just love her. And I really really did. She was such a nice genuine person. And she handled really bad situations in the best way she could. It is also very strange how dedicated she was to her job at the dorm, I mean residence hall. But her dedication also kinda made me love her more.

So this book is quick, just like the other two. You don't really have to think. at. all. when you are reading this book. There aren't any "deep" parts, but it is a fun little series. Completely unrealistic, but fun.

Can you Keep a Secret?

Can you Keep a Secret?

By Sophie Kinsella

400 pages

10 hours and 38 minutes listening time

Grade B+

I need to take a brief moment and just say that I kinda really really love Sophie Kinsella. I first read Remember Me? a few months back and loved it, and then I found this one and fell in love with it too. I thought at first I might not like it because it sooooorta started off like Remember Me? but after about 30 minutes, I could see that it was headed in a different direction. And although there were similarities, like a flustered eccentric female Brit, it was so refreshing of a book. I literally laughed out loud listening to this book, which books that can do that automatically get a mark in my book.

Ok so maybe a little run down of what happens....

Emma, my flustered eccentric female Brit, takes a plane from Scotland back to London, when there is some serious turbulence. She FREAKS out thinking she is going to die, and then spills every. last. secret and detail to the man sitting next to her. Things like she doesn't like to wear thongs, she is not totally in love with her boyfriend, she puts OJ in her co-workers plant so it will die, etc. The secrets just keep getting crazier and crazier, and then, they land.

She gets off the plane and says good bye to this mystery man, and goes about her life. Shortly after, her company gets on high alert because the founder of the company is coming to check in and dun dun dun, the boss man, is the man from the plane.

Thats all you get from me regarding the plot, but I totally recommend this book to everyone because I personally think this author is amazing. I plan on reading everything else that she has written, with the exception of the Shopaholic books because I tried to listen to the first one about a year ago and got terribly depressed because I started thinking about my own bad shopping habits and debt like the main character had, and so I just turned it off.

This book, you won't want to turn off!

Size 14 is Not Fat Either

Size 14 is Not Fat Either

By Meg Cabot

368 pages

9 hours and 10 minutes listening time

Grade B-

These books are just silly. I started with Size 12 is Not Fat because honestly, the title was catchy and I liked the cover. The first book was cute and funny, and this book was the same but a little more over the top. As much as I liked it, it almost seemed like Meg Cabot was just trying a liiiiiitle too hard for this one.

It, again, is a murder mystery book staring the famous Heather Wells, her roommate Cooper, and her ex-fiance super star Justin Cartwright. The murders start, and Miss Wells joins in the chase to find out who the murder is.

I found myself laughing at parts, but really, Heather Wells thought process is a little jumpy. One minute she is thinking "Well they might have used a carving knife to stab that person....." and the next thought is ".....ooooh, a carving knife, that means maybe there might be a cake around here that will be covered with cherry pie filling, and honestly, everyone loves cherry pie filling." So yes, it is very random, but it's cute, a fast read, and is very light, minus the murders.

No I must finish Big Boned which is the third book in the series, because I tend to like to finish the series once I have started them....except that one book, what was it called? Aw yes, the Queen of Babble series, which ironically is written by the same author. Well I guess, sometimes you have a winner, and sometimes, you have a boring book. But this series, well, it's definitely not boring.

The Truth About Forever

The Truth About Forever

By Sarah Dessen

400 pages

12 hours and 14 minutes listening time

Grade A++

OH I just loved this book! I thought it was one of the cutest books that I have read in a really long time. The main character, Macy, reminded me so much of my BFF Christina, that it was scary. It is probably why I liked the book so much, because it made me feel like I was with her. Although the story was nothing like her life, Macy was just so much like her. And Christina, if you read this book and don't think it is like you, then just know, it really is :)

The characters were just so lovable in this book. Not one in particular, but all of them. And it always holds a great place in my heart if the book makes me laugh, smile, cry, causes some sort of anger and then makes me feel good afterwards. As a matter of fact there were like three parts in this book that which I was listening to it at work I almost jumped out of my seat and yelled "YES! FINALLY!" And there were also other parts when I just wanted to slap Macy's mom in the face.

But in the long run....GREAT book. Well done Sarah Dessen, you have found yourself a fan for life.

That Summer

That Summer

By Sarah Dessen

208 pages

4 hours and 38 minutes listening time

Grade C-

Ok here is the skivvy with this book. It was cute, it was a YA, and it was a very quick read. I thought it was cute how the main character wanted everything about her life to go back to the way it was "that summer" when she felt everything was perfect. I liked how she grew and learned that things just weren't as they seemed.

As cute as this book was....it was forgettable. I really love this author, and I plan on reading all of her books, because the latest one I read that I will be reviewing later tonight as well The Truth about Forever, was wonderful. But this one, really was forgettable.

So if you want something really really light for the beach....this would answer your calling. If you are looking for life changing....that it is not.

Young Las Vegas

Young Las Vegas

By Joan Burkhart Whitely

236 pages

not available on audio

Grade A+

A very good friend of mine told me about this book, and seeing as him and I were both born and raised here, I figured that I would check it out. I am second generation Las Vegas native. You don't find many of us here anymore. I will tell you a few reasons why you don't find us here. Because most natives learn early on, that Las Vegas is a really hard place to be happy 12 months out of the year. It is ridiculously hot here in the summer. This book describes when the original auction for land was held it was in March, and by August of that year, most of the residents had left due to the heat. I don't blame them. Without AC Vegas is almost impossible to bare. Pools weren't build here until sometime in the 20's. And they created "AC" by putting ice blocks in front of fans.

The best part about this book was that so many of the people mentioned have buildings named after them. William Beckley was a prominent man in society with his chain of clothing stores, and the elementary school I went to was Will Beckley. Another prominent figure K.O. Knudson was shown in a picture performing a play in Lee Canyon, and the middle school I went to was K.O. Knudson.

I was able to see pictures of the high school that my dad, uncle, aunt, and husband all went to as it was being built and read stories about Mrs. Frazier that was on the school board and she was the one that pushed to get the school built. There was many of days that my dad would drive my brother and me around his old high school and he would point out Frazier Hall.

It is just so amazing to read of all the different parts of town and their evolutions. I totally recommend this book to anyone that is native to Las Vegas, well hell, anyone that wants to learn about it. Las Vegas is an incredible town, but honestly, how this town was able to flourish with this heat I will never know.

I can't wait for the next book about Las Vegas that I put on hold at the library.

The House of Night Series Books 1-7

The House of Night Series:

Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed, Hunted, Tempted, Burned

By PC Cast and Kristen Cast

A bunch of pages

Many hours of listening

Grade A-

Two weeks, and seven books. I was so excited to get to book seven thinking that I would be done because this series has consumed my life for the last two weeks. However, book seven is not where this series stops and to my utter shock and horror, book eight will not be out until January 2011. FOR SHAME!

Anyway, this series is about vampyres. Not to be confused with your normal vampires. The neat thing about these vampyres is that you don't get bitten to change, you get marked by a tracker. You are then marked with crescent moon tattoo on your forehead. You are then called a fledgling. The other great thing about these vampyres is that everyone knows about them too. They aren't a big ol secret and most of the famous people in the world are vamps.

So anyway, Zoey gets marked and heads to the House of Night, the vamp school. It is there that she meets a bunch of other fledglings such as Stevie Rei, Damien, Shaunee and Erin (the Twins) Aphordite and Stark, and then her life changes. For.ever. Zoey finds that she isn't your average fledgling and her friends are pretty special too. The only thing that I had a hard time with in these books, is that conveniently they always seem to know what to do in a pickle.

I cannot tell you where one book starts really and where the next ends. I literally devoured these books, staying up way passed my bed time, reading on any and all breaks, and giving Matt totally silent car trips as I couldn't put it down long enough to even talk to him in the car.

They are action packed with somewhat predicable outcomes, but I have not been so attached to a series since Harry Potter. This is in no way in comparison to Harry Potter, but I really could not put it down.

So here is your warning.....if you start these books, be prepared to devote a week or two.

Size 12 is Not Fat

Size 12 is Not Fat

By Meg Cabot

368 pages

10 hours and 5 minutes listening time

Grade C+

Catchy title right? I thought so, and that is how this book ended up on my reading list.

This has to be one of the oddest murder mystery books I have ever read. It was cute, and I liked it, however it was just flat odd. Why do you ask? Well because of the fact that the main character, Heather Wells, is an ex pop star, turned dorm room (I mean residence hall) advisor. See Heather fell on some hard times when her record label dropped her, she walked in on her fiancé with another woman, and then her mom ran off with her manager stealing all her money. So she takes up this job at a residence hall at New York college. Everything seems to be going as well as they can be, when all of a sudden, dun dun dun, girls in the residence hall are being murdered.

Heather takes it upon herself to find out what is really going on, which is all fine and dandy, except she has the most random thoughts during each really intense part. I found myself thinking, why the hell would she be thinking that when this is going on. She was a little annoying in parts, but all in all I think Heather was a good character because she really was a strong person.

This is the first of three books in this series, and I hate to say it, but I will be finishing the other two mainly because I just want to see what happens to Heather in the long run.

If you are looking for a quick, light hearted (besides the murder part) beach read, this would be your book.

*****************************

On a couple of side notes.....

1) I will be reviewing the Twilight Series this week. I have a few cutesy ideas on how I wanted to do it, and now is the time to apply my ideas. In this review I will also do a short review of each of the movies to go along with the books.

2) I got Youth in Revolt the DVD delivered to me last week, and seeing as I read the book earlier this year, I thought I would try out the DVD. I couldn't even finish it. I turned it off not even half way and sent it back. Lame.

3) The House of Night series, that I was NOT going to read at all has taken over my life. I have been reading them in paper as opposed to audio because I am finishing them faster than I can move up on the waiting list at the library. It is a sick sick addiction. As a matter of fact I started them two weeks ago and I am on book 7 of the series. I really kinda hope this is the last one because if it isn't and I have to wait for another I might literally go crazy. Anyway, when I finish book 7 I will be doing the review for these books as a whole series because I have been reading them so fast that they are all running together for me.

And that is where I have been lately, instead of writing reviews for the books I have recently read, I have been laying on my couch reading the House of Night series. Thank you cousin Shauna for getting me started :P