Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

Genre: YA fiction, realistic

Published: 2003, 224 pp.

Source: Audiobook, Netlibrary

Review: 4/5 stars

Bryce and Julie become neighbors when Bryce's family moves in across the street at the age of seven. The story is told through the alternating voices of Bryce and Julie from the time they are both in 2nd grade until 8th. Bryce tells us his story of his annoying, clingy neighbor while Julie describes how Bryce's blue eyes and glossy hair make her heart melt. We learn about their family relationships and their perspectives on the world. I came to really like them both but I especially liked Julie.

I listened to Flipped as an audiobook and I really liked it. I was slightly bored in the beginning but once I got into the story I was hooked. I loved how hearing the same story from two points of view helped me understand what was really happening. Sometimes I wanted the story to just keep going and I didn't care about the two points of view because I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. This book reminded me of that old Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Perkins movie, He Said, She Said. I loved that movie and I really liked this book. My daughter (11) read it but only thought it was okay. She was expecting more romance and was disappointed, but I thought it was great. There were a lot of really good insights that she just couldn't quite appreciate at her tender age. :) I haven't seen the movie made from this book yet but I definitely want to.

Rating: 1.1.2 There were a few words that I found a bit crude and vulgar but probably aren't considered real profanity.

Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Published: 2009, Audiobook

Source: Library

Review: 2.5/5 stars

I've read a lot of Mary Higgins Clark and there was a time when I would have said that she was one of my favorite authors. I don't know if she doesn't have "it" quite like she used to or if I'm the one who doesn't "get it" anymore. Just Take My Heart is Clark's latest bestseller in which a much loved star of the stage is murdered and her husband is blamed. Emily Wallace is the Assistant DA whose job it is to get a conviction. This is more of a courtroom drama than the usual Mary Higgins Clark fare so I'll give her credit for branching out but it just wasn't that compelling. The audiobook kept my attention and I was interested in the story but it fell a little flat. The ending was pretty predictable and even cheesy. If you want to read any of Clark's books I would try some of her earlier works. I remember them as being smart, suspenseful, and unpredictable. This one doesn't quite measure up.

Rating: 1.2.2

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson

Genre: Memoir

Published: 2006

Audiobook, 6 cds

Review: 3/5 stars

Even though I considered abandoning this book a few times, I ended up enjoying much of this audiobook. Bill Bryson tells stories of his childhood in the '50s and '60s growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. His memories seem remarkably clear for events that occurred when he was only 5 or 6 years old. It seems like many of these stories must have been exaggerated and enhanced a bit but they do make for pretty funny stuff. I laughed out loud many times.

There's also quite a bit of history including the testing of nuclear weapons, the witch hunts for communists, and the opening of Disneyland. These parts were interesting to some degree but could also get a little lengthy. He always somehow made these tangents applicable to his memories but they could have been a little less detailed.

This was an interesting view of a slice of life in America during the 50's and 60's. There were several laugh-out-loud moments but I didn't care for the spattering of harsh profanity and his sometimes obsessive quest to get his hands on pornography. If it weren't for those things I could recommend this book but, sadly, I can't. Also, if I had been reading this book instead of listening to it I think I probably would have abandoned it. It wasn't really compelling even though it did have some funny parts. I know this review is flip-flopping quite a bit so here are a couple of good reviews if you're interested.

• Book Nut's Review
• Library Queue's Review
• So Many Precious Books, So Little Time

Rating: 3.1.5 Includes several f-bombs.

Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Category: Romance

Published: 2004

Audiobook

Review: 3.5/5

I enjoyed this audiobook. It was my first Nicholas Sparks novel and it was pretty much what I expected--fluffy, romantic, kind of sad, a bit contrived--but over all it was an enjoyable read. I will probably read another Sparks book when I'm in the mood for this sort of thing again.

Rating: 2.1.2 This is a guess because I can't remember the details well. There is unmarried sex but it is only referred to, not described, as I recall. There was probably some profanity but nothing very strong.

Review Catch Up

There are still books that I read in 2008 that I haven't reviewed yet so I'm going to have to play catch-up with one long list of reviews. I prefer to post one review at a time but desperate times call for desperate measures. :)

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie was my second mystery by this legendary author. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first one I read but it was still pretty good. I do like mysteries. Sometimes I try to guess "who dunit" and sometimes I just enjoy the story. So far with Agatha Christie's novels, she has kept me guessing til almost the end. That's fun for me.

Audiobook

4/5 stars

I found The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck to be a very sad book. I'm glad I read it but it was not a happy book. It made me think a lot about money, pride, greed, women's rights, love and family. I think this would make a good book club selection.

Audiobook

Rating: 2.3.1

4/5 stars

Hallelujah by J. Scott Featherstone was our book club's selection for December. It probably wasn't the best choice for that month because it is a chunkster and only a few of us were able to finish it. We were not very impressed by the overall writing of this book. It's a little too sentimental and fluffy in parts as well as being repetitive but I did still like it quite a bit. Despite it's problems, I really liked learning about Handel and especially about The Messiah oratorio.

Rating: 1.1.1

4/5 stars

I listened to this audiobook while traveling. French Women Don't Get Fat is a book I'd heard quite a bit about a couple of years ago. I thought it would be interesting and it was. If you are the kind to be easily offended about the stereotype that most Americans are fat, then this book is not for you. When I listened to it I felt inspired to try to look at food in a different way. The author has some great ideas and I can see how they could be effective in weight management. They don't really work for me but that's not saying a lot.

Audiobook

3/5 stars

Our book club read How Angel Peterson Got His Name together with Hatchet by the same author, Gary Paulsen. In Angel, Paulsen tells several stories of his growing up in a small mid-western town where he and his buddies pulled some really crazy stunts. This is the kind of book that pre-teen and teenage boys love but makes their parents worry. All I can say is that Gary Paulsen is lucky to still be alive today. It was interesting to read these books together to get an insight into the author's life.

3/5 stars

Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Content Rating: 1.1.1
Category: YA, fairy-tale, fantasy
Published: 2008
Audiobook
Review: 3.5/5


Princess Ben is another in a growing list of embellished/expanded/reworked fairytales. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those who like Shannon Hale and Gail Carson Levine books. Ben, short for Benevolence, has been raised very differently than a normal princess would be and doesn't understand what is required of her to behave as royalty should. Her aunt tries to teach her how to behave properly but Ben is very stubborn and self-centered. Ben is the narrator so she doesn't say this about herself but you start to realize after a while that although she is funny and likable, she also has some character flaws. That's the thing that sets this book apart from some of the other fairytale books I've read. Ben is not the normal princess that we usually find. I've wavered back and forth between giving this 3.5 and 4 stars. I've finally decided on 3.5 but I'm not exactly sure why. The romance part of it was a little underdeveloped, I think, but it's worth reading if you like this genre.

Skeleton Coast by Clive Cussler

Content rating: 1.2.3 (to the best of my recollection)
Category: Adventure
Audiobook

Review: 3/5

This is not the kind of book I usually read or listen to but since there is not a huge selection of audiobooks on CD's at my library, I have to take what I can get. I ended up quite enjoying this one. I don't think I would have finished it if I had been reading the book but since I was listening and doing housework/driving at the same time, it kept my interest. By the end I was thinking that I'd like to listen to some more of Clive Cussler's books. This book is part of the Oregon Files which chronicle the stories of a technologically advanced ship called The Oregon. In this one, they are dealing with sunken treasure, maniacal environmentalists, and guerillas in Africa. It's a fairly complex plot and though it took me a while, I quite enjoyed it by the end. There are lots of likable characters and the action moves pretty quickly. Like I said, it's not my usual genre but I still enjoyed it. I would say that it's intended more for the testosterone crowd, but plenty of women could enjoy it too.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

Rating: 1.2.2

Recommended audience: 9 and up

Category: Fantasy

(Audiobook)


This was a fun listening experience. Brendan Fraser is the narrator and he did quite a good job, giving each character a different voice and interesting accents. The book tells the story of a dragon who travels half-way around the world looking for a legendary refuge for dragons. He does this because humans are encroaching on the area where he and his fellow dragons have been living for a hundred years. I haven't read very many dragon books so maybe it's not that unusual, but I was surprised that this book was set in modern times. I usually think of dragon tales as being set during medieval times or some fantasy world that seems like a medieval time. This is a book found in the children's section and I can see kids eating this stuff up, but I did enjoy it too. I wouldn't call it great literature but it is a light, fun read.

Audiobooks vs. the written word

I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks lately. I just got an mp3 player for Christmas and before that I had been using my husband's old ipod. (I would prefer to continue using the ipod but its an older one that doesn't really handle motion well so it's hard to run with.) Has anyone else listened to many audiobooks? I've listened to many over the last couple of years and I've mentioned in reviews when the book has been one on CD rather than a physical book. I find that there is a different feel when I listen rather than read. I think I prefer to actually read but I love being able to "read" a book while doing housework or other mundane activities. What has made me think about this is that I've been listening to Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith. He's the author of the very popular Ladies #1 Detective Agency and that series. This book is the third in a series--Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries. Isabel is the editor of a philosophy publication and she has little philosophical asides throughout the novels. While I really enjoy these audiobooks, I'm not sure if I would like to just read one. I find her little philosophical discussions interesting as I'm listening while doing the dishes but I'm not sure if I would get bored with them if I was actually reading the book. Does anyone have any experience with this? I heard someone say recently that she had tried to read Harry Potter a couple of times and just didn't like it but then listened to the audio of it and fell in love with the books. Of course, the Harry Potter audiobooks are exceptional so this may not be a valid example.

I have only listened to Alexander McCall Smith's books, I have never read one. Has anyone else read any of them and how did you like them? I prefer the Isabel Dalhousie books over the #1 Ladies Detectives but they're pretty good too. Both series are quite clean--there is talk of sex and some innuendo, very little violence, and very little profanity. The morals in the Scotland series (Isabel's) are not very good with very worldly views on sexual relationships, but I still really like the character's and look forward to reading another book in the series.

Anyway, the whole point to this rambling post is comparing audiobooks and books. In my opinion, listening to an audiobook is enjoyable but does not have the staying power of an actual book. I personally don't retain as much of the information when I hear it compared to when I see and read it. When I read words on a page, they seem to make an imprint in my mind to some degree, not like a photograph that I can visualize but an impression that is easier to recall later. Maybe this is only because I'm more of a visual learner than an auditory learner. Whatever the case, this doesn't stop me from listening to audiobooks and I will continue to do it. It allows me to read more books and I'm grateful for the opportunity. What do you think?