Monday, May 30, 2011

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman Narrated by Jenna Lamia




This book had me captivated for all 10 hrs and 4 minutes of the audio version. Since I have trouble reading with my eyes, I usually do not want to go through the book myself without it being audio, but this book was so good I have downloaded the digital copy for my Ipad (because the print can be blown up) so I can listen to the Narrator and read along.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a book about a young girl from Ohio who is born into a blended Yankee and southern family in the 1950's. CeeCee's mother is from Georgia, an ex pageant queen who on the surface seems like she has lost her nut, her father who is from Ohio is distant and travels so much his character is portrayed very little in the development of the story but has a large impact on the main character.

When we begin this book, Ceecee is a loner who's only friend is an elderly neighbor (Mrs Odell) who has been her sitter since she was an infant. Ceecee has a lack of friends but plenty of onlookers to her life within her small town in Ohio, because of her mothers "eccentricities". But what we find out throughout the development of this plot is that maybe her mom isn't so crazy after all, maybe it is just a true case of being homesick for the south. There is an old saying, you can take the girl out of the south but you cant take the south out of the girl. In this book this saying is screamed from all the pages. It speaks of the southern culture and how the northern people are lacking in the community area of southern culture.

Being a Yankee from birth myself, who moved to the South in my teens like Ceecee did I fully understand this sentiment. I remember my youth in the north, but my southern youth is what warms my heart. Strong women, warm hearts and the power of community togetherness is powerfully prevalent in this book. I loved every word, nuance and chapter.

This book has captured a culture better than any other "southern" genre that I have read thus far ever could.

If you have yet to read, or listen to this book it is a must have. Check it out on Audible.com by clicking the ad.

Happy Holidays! Download a FREE audiobook today!


Jenna Lamia has captured the characters in this book in such an amazing way, she is quickly becoming my favorite Narrator for books with southern charm.

This book is great for anyone looking for a light read that has laughter, tears, warm fuzziness, and a lesson in how it really does take a village to raise a child, as well as community is priceless.

Happy reading folks!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Sleepless nights = great reads


For the last few days, because I have been sick, I have either not slept at all because I coughed myself awake or my head hurt so much that I couldn't get restful and relaxed enough to gently drift off. So I decided to listen to a great book on my Audible app. I had started the Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly yesterday but continued listening, and am still listening as I write this blog post. I thought I wouldn't like this book, because I am not really a person who listens or reads mysteries that much. Sure in the past I loved mysteries, but in the last few years I have gotten into fantasy and period pieces more than mysteries.

I have to say this book has been a pleasant surprise, I wont give it away, but after the first chapter the book captures you, and you get into the plot twists and turns so much that you find yourself wondering how in the world Mic will ever get himself out of the mess he created by his lax 2 years prior and now turning full circle on him with a new client.

The writer has captured not only my imagination, but also my curiosity for the life of defense lawyers and their clients. The Narrator Adam Grupper could have done a better job on the narrative, as he is nearly a bit monotone at times, I feel like he is my first grade teacher reading a book to me that she/he had no real interest in. I have decided to buy the soft cover of this book to see how it reads without a narrator, as the book itself has great writing, Grupper just takes away from the wordsmithing a bit.


Happy Holidays! Download a FREE audiobook today!

Friday, May 20, 2011

So many books, so little time

According to my Audible.com app on my Ipad I have spent 17 hours and 26 minutes at the time of this post on listening to books today alone. All I can say is WOW! I didn't realize that I had this much listening power in me. I suppose part of my HUGE listening habits in the last few days could be attributed to the fact that I have been sick in bed. But since my listening habits have changed and I have consumed 7 books in 4 days, it began my brain contemplating on how fun it would be to have someone to discuss the books I have either read or listened to in the past and the ones I plan to listen to or read in the future.


Part of this thought process is because I have gone through so many books recently that I am running out of books to read or listen to, and I believe that a community of people can refer great books that may otherwise never get play. So I decided to build a community of my own.

So here I am creating my own community of book lovers, in hopes that I will not only gain new books to read but that I will also gain great conversation over the books I have or will enjoy as well as the books that my community of fellow book lovers enjoy.

Somehow in the midst of completing all these books I have not only completed much of my classwork for my psychology classes but also helped other classmates with their work, and slept enough to begin healing from a double ear infection, sinus infection and horrible allergies to cicada's.

What books have I read you ask?
At the time of this blog I am halfway through a book called Free the future of radical price by Chris Anderson (that I got free on Audible.com) go figure a book called "Free" that is actually free. (interesting concept)

This morning I completed Push by Sapphire (better known as Precious from the Oprah Winfree book club, later turned movie)

Late last night I completed a book by Emma Donoghue named ROOM. If you have yet to read or listen to this book I have to say you are truly missing out.

Before this book I completed Red Riding Hood by David Leslie Johnson introduction by Catherine Hardwicke. If you have yet to read this the last chapter will throw you for a loop, not just in content but also..... oh shoot just read it no spoilers here.

Oh and my list goes on;
The help by Kathryn Stockett soon to be a movie that will be in theaters this August.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Roots of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kid (the book was as usual much better than the movie ever thought to be.)
Stiff by Mary Roach (interesting twist on what happens to cadavers after they are donated to medical schools)
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (one could say I like this author)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (MUCH BETTER THAN THE MOVIE)
For Colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is not enuf by Ntozake Shange (movie and book both moved me to understand a part of my world I didn't understand before.)

So with all the books I have completed and all the books I have yet to complete I have earned the following Audible badges;
Stenographer (Silver)
Social Butterfly (Gold)
Weekend Warrior (diamond)
Repeat Listener (silver)
All Nighter (diamond)
Marathoner (diamond)
Undecided (silver)
Flash 80 (gold)
High Noon (diamond)
Binge Listener (gold)
7 Day Stretch (silver)
The Stack (silver)

Happy Holidays! Download a FREE audiobook today!


I have yet to earn the following;
Procrastinator
Mount Everest
Audible Obsessed

So one could say that I listen more than I read, this would be true because when you listen you can close your eyes (when you don't fall asleep because of it) and be transported into the story just like a movie without pictures. When you get a good narrator like Jenna Lamia you can be transported by the reader into the book as the fly on the wall, just like when you were a child being read to by your parents and grandparents and found yourself in the midst of where the wild things are. The magic is brought back to the book and the experience.

My daughter (18) on the other hand still has to read the book, have the sound of the pages turning, the smell of old paper and the feel of the book weight in her hands. What can I say I am old, and getting lazy, and I like the convenience of listening, as Audible has not only an Ipad app but also and Iphone and Android app. The wave of the future is the App world. Oh and many of my books I get free because I am a member of Audible and every now and again they toss members a free book or two, to try a new author.

Enough for now, I need to get back to my current book, Happy Reading to you all and let me know what you are reading.