Thieves by Trey Smith (CBR-IV #19)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #19/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 340
Genre: Nonfiction


Because of my media-related job, I have had to work with several televangelists in the past -- including Mike Murdock, the subject of this book. I don't really care for the guy, so when I found this book online I had to read it. Mike Murdock is a televangelist who believes in "seed faith". Or basically he has one sermon - give me X amount of money and God will make you a millionaire. Blah blah. 


Trey Smith grew up with Murdock's son, Jason. Both had pretty severe drug problems which they subsidized by stealing jewelry from Murdock's massive closet full of riches. Also in the closet? A 300 pound safe, which they assumed to be full of cash. They joked around about stealing it, but one day Trey decided to go for it (without Jason's involvement). 

The book is FULL of crazy accusations against Murdock. I can't attest to how true everything is, but Smith swears from the beginning of the book that everything is true. I'm going to assume from the fact that Murdock hasn't pulled the book and sued for libel that there isn't much he can do about it if it's the truth. It's pretty damning stuff too -- everything from lesbian porn to company hookers to a pet lion. It was pretty interesting stuff, and sadly not too surprising if you've ever heard the guy talk (he likes to brag...a lot).

The only issue I had with the book was that it was just a little too long. There was a good chunk of stuff about Trey's drug and legal issues that didn't have anything to do with Murdock. It was interesting, but I mainly read the book to read dirt on a semi-famous televangelist. 

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (CBR-IV #18)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #18/52
Published: 1999
Pages: 289
Genre: Fiction


Chuck Palahniuk books are kind of hard to review. They are the closest thing I can imagine to being inside the mind of a crazy person. They always start out disjointed and then once you start piecing things together, they start to make a little more sense. But still -- mind of a crazy person. Survivor is more of the same formula. 

Basically, you're inside the mind of a crazy guy who used to be in a religious cult where most of the members killed themselves. He survived, but now he's hijacking a plane to commit suicide. Then the story goes backwards and tells us what happened between the cult and the hijacking. From there it's a just a scrambled mess of craziness.

I wanted to like this book. Kind of like I've wanted to like every Palahniuk book I've picked up since Fight Club. But I couldn't have cared less what happened to the guy in this book (I can't even remember his name for the life of me!). For such a short book, it shouldn't have been such a chore to read. It wasn't BAD -- Palahniuk is a very gifted writer -- but I wish he'd find a new schtick, because this one is getting kind of old. And it really pains me to say that.

The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman (CBR-IV #17)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #17/52
Published: 1992
Pages: 172
Genre: Nonfiction/Self help/Christian


I read this as part of a group study my husband and I go to with some other young married couples. I normally an not a huge fan of self-help type books, but I was surprised to actually learn quite a bit by reading this one. 


The premise is pretty simple - everyone is primarily dominant in one or two of the five love languages. The five love languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. My primary love languages are Quality Time and Acts of Service. My husband is Words of Affirmation and Physical Touch. The book explains each of these and how to better understand someone who has a different love language than you. It's very simple, but not something people tend to pick up on their own. 


Although this book is for married couples (or would work for anyone in a committed relationship), a lot of the ideas can branch beyond that to help you deal with all sorts of other people in your life -- family, friends, co-workers -- not just your spouse or significant other. 


It is based on Christian principles as well, but the primary message is pretty universal and could utilized by just about anyone. It's a very short read, but full of really good information. Highly recommended for anyone in a relationship or anyone just looking to get along with or understand others a little better.

Mortified: Love is a Battlefield by David Nadelberg (CBR-IV #16)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #16/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 285
Genre: Nonfiction/Humor


I also picked this book up for a dollar at the used bookstore (best store ever). It looked interesting, although I didn't find out later that this is technically the second Mortified book. The first involved general awkwardness of preteens and teens. This one is geared towards awkward young love. 


Basically, it's a collection of people's old journal entries and poetry. Usually from when they were teenagers. And we all know that teenage journal entries are pretty cringe-worthy to look back on -- especially if they involve a teenage romance (or infatuation). 


Anyone can relate to at least one of these stories. Whether it's the boy who writes love letters to his girlfriend referencing Rose and Jack from Titanic or the kid who found her unsent celebrity obsession letters. I don't even want to know what I probably wrote in the ten letters I sent to Jonathan Taylor Thomas when I was 12. 


The book was pretty humorous and I liked the little blurbs that the writers wrote as the looked back on their angst-ridden journal entries. It's a short, quick read that I'd recommend to anyone who ever had a journal when you were younger. 

Pledged by Alexandra Robbins (CBR-IV #15)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #15/52
Published: 2004
Pages: 384
Genre: Nonfiction


     I have almost zero interest in sororities, but I found this book for $1 at a used bookstore. I decided to pick it up because my best friend from high school joined a sorority in college while my small, private college had absolutely no Greek system whatsoever (we didn't even have a football team!). She got really into the whole sorority thing (and still is five years after college) and I guess I just don't really get it. To me, it seems like you're paying people to choose whether your good enough to be their friend. But she seemed to have a good experience that was almost nothing like the craziness in this book. Because of that (and so I don't get flamed by sorority girls), I completely understand that what I read is NOT a representation of all sororities. The author even states this at the beginning of the book. Just to clarify again, I fully understand that there are good, decent sororities out there....they just aren't really represented in this book because, frankly, that would be boring.


     I read this book knowing almost nothing about how the Greek system works besides random tidbits I've heard from my one friend (the only person I really know that was in a sorority). The lingo was always strange (Spring Sing? Jump week? Bigs and littles?) and I never really knew what any of it was. Thanks to this book, I now know what all that crap is. Sigh. More useless knowledge, I guess. 


     The book follows four girls who are in college sororities. Their names and schools have been changed for privacy, but supposedly their stories are completely true. I think the college is supposed to be somewhere in the South, where apparently sororities are a HUGE deal. Like, could make or break a future job interview big deal. And they weren't kidding. Most of these girls take the whole sorority experience very seriously. 


     In between the personal stories of the four girls, there is some interesting information about the history of sororities and how they work. I thought this was probably the best part of the book. It was very informative and interesting. I didn't really care for the stories from the girls because 90% of it was drama over guys and dating. I guess getting a date is really important to sorority girls. However, I don't really care if they find dates, so this part was mostly filler to me. 


     Overall, it was interesting to see how sororities are run and to see some of the shocking statistics, but I could have done without the dating drama. Sometimes I felt like Robbins specifically chose certain stereotypes to follow (the black girl who grew up poor, the rich white girl with her dad's credit cards, etc.). It made the characters seem more like caricatures than real people.

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan (CBR-IV #14)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #14/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 401
Genre: Horror


      I generally don't care for vampire books (or werewolves or zombies or any sort of "creature horror"). But I do love a good earth-destroying virus story, so I figured I could give The Strain a try. After all, I did really enjoy The Passage and it's a vampire virus book. Ultimately, The Strain let me down despite the good reviews I read. 


     The plot started out promising: a plane full of people lands in New York and just stops on the runway. Everyone inside is dead and there is no appearance of any sort of panic or struggle. Okay, I'm intrigued at this point. Except the rest of the book never really lives up to the exciting mystery they present in the beginning. 


     There are a few characters that try and figure out what happened on the airplane, but honestly, none of them were fleshed out enough for me to really care about them except for the old man who owned a pawn shop. Setrakian was in a concentration camp during WWII and realizes that the evil master vampire that he saw over in Europe has now hitched a plane ride to New York (in a giant black coffin, no less). He's been following him ever since and I'm pretty sure no one in New York would have figured anything out about this case without him. Frankly, I'm surprised anyone actually listened to him because his story is pretty outrageous. 


     I guess the story was just a little too campy for my taste. The vampires turned people by shooting a worm/tongue thing out their throats and their blood was milky white (which just made me think of the cyborg guy from Alien.) While I can appreciate that the authors didn't want to go for cliche vampires, in my opinion they got a little TOO creative to the point where they were like  cartoon characters created by a 12-year-old boy's imagination. 


     Mostly, I was just underwhelmed and ultimately bored by this book. I didn't care about the characters or what happened to them, so I have no interest in reading the rest of the trilogy. It's too bad, because I really wanted to like this book. 

Fully Loaded by Blake Crouch (CBR-IV #13)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #13/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 230
Genre: Thriller/Short Story 


     Blake Crouch is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. His books are great thrillers and he's always offering free/reduced price e-books (not to mention his e-books are generally less than $5 regular price). Previously, these short stories were only available separately, but now they're offered in this short story collection.

     Since there are ten separate stores in this collection, I'll just comment on my favorite/least favorite:

-The Meteorologist was probably my least favorite. It's not that it wasn't any good, but it wasn't really a thriller. It was about a guy who chases extreme weather conditions in his RV. It wasn't even as exciting as the plot sounds. It was mostly about him and a woman he meets.

-Serial was probably my favorite. I've read it before (it was co-written by J.A. Konrath and was included in one of his collections) and it really plays to both Konrath's and Crouch's strengths. Crouch is more of a thriller writer while Konrath knows how to bring on more of the horror aspects. Serial follows what happens when two serial killers target each other. It's an insanely good read.

-Shining Rock was also one that stuck out to me. A couple goes camping in the woods when a weird guy shows up. I won't give anything away, but some interesting things are revealed that completely flip who you want to make it off that mountain alive.

     I thought it was a great book! I look forward to reading more by Blake Crouch in the future.