Insatiable by Meg Cabot

I really enjoy going to hear authors speak. I’ve only been to two author talks, but I have liked both, so, yes, I think they are a fun thing to do. It might not be a glass of wine and a good book while everyone in the house is sleeping, but I get to dress up and usually I get to go dinner and, most importantly, I get out of the house. So, when I found out Meg Cabot was speaking, I jumped at the chance to see her.

I liked Meg Cabot immediately. She was energetic and funny, and kind of looked like Tina Fey (she did have short brown hair and glasses, but I also just read Bossypants, so I may just have Tina Fey on my brain). The reason Meg Cabot decided to visit our little city is to promote her newest books Insatiable and its sequel Overbite. Because she told us all about the books and their storylines, and this cute little dog she named Jack Bauer, I had to buy Insatiable. Just a little side note here: Jim did take my credit card away, so when I spent my money on the book all I could think was, “Okay Cabot, this book better be freaking good or you are going to get an angry email from me.” Sixteen dollars is a lot for a girl on a budget.

Now, I have definitely read my fair share of vampire books. I had to read the Twilight series because my friends and students were so into Twilight that I had to see what the buzz was about. I will not tell you what I thought about the books because this is supposed to be a review of Insatiable (if you would like to know, you can ask my fourth hour AP class from last year. I think we talked about the book for an entire hour).  I have also read the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse books as seen previously on this blog. Naturally, I was a little skeptical of yet another vampire book, let alone a book I bought with my budgeted cash for the week. But, I loved it.

The main character Meena is a type of psychic, but she can only see how and when a person will die. I think most of us would really like a psychic power, but I’m not sure I would enjoy having this particular type of psychic ability, yet this fits the darker tone of this book. She meets a mysterious dark and handsome man and they fall instantly in love, only he’s a vampire. So, there are a lot of similarities between this book and the two previous books. However, Cabot did something different. She weaves in historical facts into her storyline: Back, way before you were born, St. George slayed a dragon, but dragon means Dracul in Romanian and Dracul stands for Dracula and voila, a story is born. Insatiable really is soft core Da Vinci Code for vampires. I actually wanted more vampire conspiracy theories and historical facts thrown in, but this might also be because I’m a huge nerd. Back to the storyline,  Meena’s mysterious dark man is not only a vampire, but he is Dracula’s son, so he is the most wanted vampire of all vampires, Lucien. He is sought after by the Pope’s (yes I did say Pope) own vampire fighting forces, and they will stop at nothing until all vampires are eradicated. The book was entertaining and suspenseful, and even when Ava walked past me with a super stinky poop diaper, I ignored her for a few minutes (go ahead and vote for me as mother of the year). I HAD to finish the book. I will definitely be picking up Overbite from the library… in a few weeks. I’m number eight on the reserve list, so until then, I can reread Insatiable because I own it and even has my name in it signed by Ms. Meg Cabot.

Can You Make a Scary Face by Jan Thomas

Alright mommies, daddies, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, nanas, and papas, or anyone who has a child they love to read to, this book is one of Ava's favorites.
"Stand up!" "No, I changed my mind, sit down." These are some of the first lines in Can You Make a Scary Face. This is an interactive book, so it is especially great for kids who can follow directions (I would say around 2 and up). Ava loves pretending she has a bug on her nose and has to wiggle it off, she loves to do the pretend that bug has flown in her mouth, and even more, she loves to make a scary face and growl. Her face is more smiles than truly scary, but it's so cute when she acts out the book. I love that it is simple and fun and that Jim will act out the book too, which makes for a really funny video and great blackmailing. Yes, my husband will do the chicken dance to get the bug out of his shirt, but I think he would let Ava paint his toenails pink if she wanted to; she has him so wrapped around her little finger.
We don't own this book, so I have to check it out from the library nearly every time we go. In fact, we read it so often that she has the book nearly memorized and can say it anytime she wants. Maybe I should just buck up and buy the book (because we don't have enough strewn throughout our house). Now go make a scary face... "Aaaaah Not that scary!"

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Dear library,

I don’t think you realize just how much I truly want Erik Larson’s, In the Garden of Beasts. I think that if you realized how much I enjoyed The Devil in the White City then you would know that I must read In the Garden of Beasts to really feel as though my life is complete.

Sincerely,

Brooke

 Review:

In case you haven’t heard of Erik Larson, his writing style is similar to In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, probably one of my favorite books of all time. Larson has the remarkable ability to weave in facts about history by telling a story, so instead of reading a reference book on facts about the Chicago World’s Fair, I’m actually reading the story of how the Chicago World’s Fair was created and how a serial killer was able to get away with killing numerous women during this time period.

Yes, I did say serial killer. Now I see that I’m peaking your interest instead of making you yawn. The only reason I stumbled upon Erik Larson and his vivid and amazing writing was because I was looking for some nonfiction pieces to share with my students. The library happened to have book discussion kits over this book, so I checked one out and started reading. And then I could not put the book down.

There were times when I would skim over chapters about the creation of the World’s Fair just so I could get to Dr. H. H. Holmes and his various ways of “taking care” of people. While reading this book, I actually started to question my own morality. Really, what kind of person am I to really want to get to the “good parts”, when in this instance, getting to the good parts meant reading about a serial killer’s escapades? However, I think it had more to do with Larson’s writing then my own morality, because I was so involved in Holmes’s morality or really immorality.

This book was written in 2003, so I’m sure I’m a little late to the game, but Larson’s new book In the Garden of Beasts has gotten a lot of hype this summer. Currently I’m number 47 on my library’s reserve list. Hopefully the library will come to its senses soon and I will be delving into the history of Germany during Hitler’s reign.