Book: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynne Barnes, Narrated by Amber Faith

Published November 2013 by Listening Library|Run Time: 7 hours, 28 minutes

Where I Got It: audible.com

Series: The Naturals #1

Genre: YA Paranormal Thriller

You can find The Naturals on goodreads and Jennifer Lynn Barnes on Twitter, tumblr, and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But, it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie. 

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides-especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms close. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive. 

Think The Mentalist meets Pretty Little Liars-Jennifer Lynn-Barnes’ The Naturals is a gripping psychological thriller with killer appeal, a to-die-for romance, and the bones of a gritty and compelling new series.

What I Thought:

The Naturals is really interesting!  I’m really glad I listened to it, and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.  I really can’t wait to see where things go.

I really like the idea of exceptional teenagers with really interesting abilities in a classified program working on cold cases. Barnes did a great with holding my interest, and I like that all the kids can work together on cases because they all have something to contribute.

I really liked the mystery through out the book and how there were chapters from the killers perspective.  I had a general idea of who could be, but even I was slightly surprised at who it was and was really surprised at the reason why.

I want to randomly talk about the narration, because I have some thoughts on the chapters from the killer’s perspective- it came through well, but because I listened to it, it always took some time to adjust to that perspective.  I think I would have found that more interesting if I had some way to distinguish it, because while Faith did a great narrating. it was a bit hard to distinguish it from the rest of the book.  It was just different enough that I could tell the difference, but I kind of wish there were more of a difference in the audio book.  Still, I’m glad I listened to it, because Faith did do a great job narrating, and because it just worked really well as an audio book.

I liked the characters and I’m glad they have different abilities.  I really liked some of the teamwork that came out when the working on the serial killer case, and I hope we see more of it in the coming books.  I also liked that it was perfectly normal for some kids to have such abilities as the ones seen in the book, and that they were treated pretty normal.  And not weird or anything because of their abilities.

I was really reminded of both The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting and Mind Games by Kiersten White, so if you liked The Naturals, you’ll want to check those books out.  Or if you liked The Body Finder or Mind Games, you’ll want to check out The Naturals.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked The Naturals and I can’t wait to read the next book!  It’s such a good mystery and I couldn’t stop listening to it. The Naturals gets 4 stars. 

Book: Gulp: Adventures Of The Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

Published April 2013 by Tanor Audio|Length: 8 hours, 21 minutes

Where I Got It: from audible.com

Series: None

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction- Science

You can find Gulp on goodreads & Mary Roach on twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The irresistible, ever-curious, and bestselling Mary Roach returns with a new adventure to the invisible realm we carry around inside. 

“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of—or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists—who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.

What I Thought:

After listening to Stiff, I knew I wanted to read her other books, so I decided that I would give Gulp a try.  It’s definitely interesting, and I love how Roach is so enthusiastic about what she’s learning.  It really comes across well, and her enthusiasm makes me excited to listen to what she’s learned.

I really like how each chapter is about a different topic, and each chapter flows into the next chapter really well.  There are so many things I wouldn’t normally think about, and she does it in a way that manages to not gross me out.  (Well, most of the time).

Like, there’s a lab devoted to researching saliva.  I had no idea such a lab existed, but it makes sense that there is such a place.  And a lot of eating is smell (not tasting), which goes right to emotions and feelings, but not words, which is why smell is so hard to describe.  And our jaw?  It’s really strong!  Plus, we can detect a grain of sand that’s super-duper small.

I totally wish I remembered how small it was, but it’s pretty dang small.

Being able to chew and swallow is really important.  Chewing is really satisfying, and there are people who would rather be mute than tube-fed.  And there’s an entire chapter on pet food and all of the research that goes into it.

She makes a topic that does have the gross factor interesting and entertaining, and that came across really well in the audio book.  I actually liked Zeller as a narrator, and I really felt like it was Roach talking to me.  It came across much more for me in Gulp than it did in Stiff, and it kind of makes me wish Zeller had narrated Stiff.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Gulp!  As much as one can like a book like Gulp.  I love how Roach asks questions I wouldn’t even think to ask, and her interest and curiosity and enthusiasm makes me interested in something I don’t tend to think about!  Gulp gets 4 stars.

Book: Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach, narrated by Shelly Frasier

Published February 2004 by Tantor Audio|Run Time: 7 hours, 59 minutes

Where I Got It: audible.com

Series: None

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction- Science/Medicine

You can find Stiff on goodreads & Mary Roach on twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

An oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem.

For 2,000 years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure—from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery—cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors’ conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

What I Thought:

Stiff is definitely one of the strangest books I’ve ever read or listened to!  But in a totally good way because it was fascinating, and I couldn’t listen to it fast enough.  What’s super-interesting about Stiff is that it’s not something you normally think about.  I know you can donate your organs and body to science, but it’s not like I spend time thinking about all the people who donate themselves to science or what happens to the body itself after death.

One of the things I found really interesting was the chapter about the crash-test cadavers.  I know there are crash-test times, and I never even considered the possibility that cadavers are used.  It makes total sense that a dummy can only tell you so much, and that cadavers would be used to see how the crash simulations impact an actual human body.  And even how airplanes can be made safer by studying how it affects the human body.

There are so many interesting little tidbits throughout the book, and while it might not be a good book to read when you’re eating, it’s not a book that will make you squeamish.  I would know, since I have a tendency to get grossed out by stuff, and I didn’t find Stiff to be like that at all.

It’s actually pretty entertaining, and Roach has a way of making it humorous and interesting while also being educational. Like, there’s a best preserved body contest.  I think it’s hosted by an embalming company.  Or the research done by a university that has a field of decomposed bodies to better understand how different things affect the stages of decomposition.  Or even the plastic surgeons who were practicing some techniques on severed heads, and how it’s a good way for them to practice because there’s less pressure than during an actual surgery on an actual person.

It is astounding to me, and achingly sad, that with eighty thousand people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more then half of the people in the position H’s family was in will say no, will choose to burn those organs or let them rot. We abide the surgeon’s scalpel to save our own lives, out loved ones’ lives, but not to save a stranger’s life. H has no heart, but heartless is the last thing you’d call her.

This is definitely one of the things that as stayed with me and jumped out at me when I was listening to Stiff.  I knew for sure I wanted to donate my organs before I even read Stiff…and I like that it came up naturally.  Then again, it’s not hard to with a book like this.

So, I listened to Stiff, which in itself is odd, because I don’t normally listen to non-fiction.  Still, it’s fun enough to listen to, and if I did listen to more non-fiction on audio, I think I’d go with something like Stiff.  The narrator was okay- not completely amazing, but she wasn’t completely horrible either.

Let’s Rate It:

Stiff is definitely one of the more interesting books I’ve listened to in quite a while.  It’s an odd topic, for sure, but Roach made it really fun to listen to, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot about something I don’t normally think about.  Stiff gets 4 stars.