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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

TBR Day: Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot

At the beginning of the year I made myself a list of books that I WOULD read this year. Or else. Queen of Babble is not on the list. I'm having a hard time sticking to any list (or any challenge) because there are just SO MANY great books out there.

This is my TBR pile. The bottom shelf is non-fiction, until the mass markets at the end. The top two shelves are fiction. The books on top are the more recent acquisitions. JUST the books on top are about as many as I read in a year.































I plan to make myself weed the shelves soon. Sadly, these are not the only unread books in my home, the basement is full of books. There are boxes in the garage. There are books by my bed and books by my chair in the living room.

My name is Lisa and I have an addiction.

Ok, so this month's TBR Day post.

I choose Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot because I thought it would be quick and easy. I've been doing Jim Butchers for the previous TBR days, and frankly they are hard to review without spoiling some element of previous books. I've read a few other Meg Cabot's- The Mediator book 1, Every Boy's Got One, and Size 12 is Not Fat. Queen of Babble was easily identifiable as another Cabot. Here's the summary:

Lizzie Nichols, a fashion-history major, wants nothing more than to graduate college and then fly off to London to be with her boyfriend, Andy. But at her graduation party, Lizzie finds out that she can't graduate until she writes a senior thesis. And when she lands in London, Andy turns out to be a liar, gambler, and a fashion disaster. Lizzie, stuck in London with a nonchangeable ticket home, escapes Andy via the Chunnel in hopes that her friend Shari, who is catering weddings for the summer at a French chateau, can help. On the train, Lizzie meets a stranger, Jean-Luc, and spills everything that has happened, only to find out that he is the son of the chateau's owner. At the chateau, Lizzie continues to babble when she shouldn't, ticking off Jean-Luc, shocking his mother, and upsetting a bride. Will she ever learn to keep her mouth shut?

First, the characters. They are all pretty much a stereotype. Lizzie is a likable airhead, Shari is the feminist, Chaz is the laid-back philosopher, Jean-Luc is perfect, his girlfriend is a greedy, scheming snot. The chateau (a character in itself) is breathtaking.I liked them all, even Andy the ex-boyfriend. By "liked" I mean that they isn't a bad guy in the bunch, not even the bad guys! I really loved Jean-Luc, but really, who wouldn't?

The plot is good. Aside from a silly subplot about her senior thesis, I thought it was a sweet, believable plot. The senior thesis part seemed to be thrown in for the gimmick of starting each chapter with a sample of it. I pretty much didn't read any of them. It's a light, easy, read. There is nothing to think about or remember or worry you while reading. It's clear from the minute she meets Jean-Luc what is going to happen.

Having read 4 Cabots now, I feel like I know what to expect- a light, fluffy, predictable plot. Nothing complicated and nothing heavy. This book (and it's sequels) are marketed to adults but I think that teens would also enjoy them. They do include sex and references to it but nothing your average teen doesn't already know, and nothing scandalous. Overall, perfect for what it is, but never gonna make your top ten list.

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14 comments:

  1. Holy Cow! You do have an addiction.

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  2. I feel your pain. One of the things I learned this year is I cannot stick all year to a list I made in January. :-)

    Good Luck!
    Lezlie

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  3. I haven't stacked all my TBR books up, they are scattered, so I don't have a visual of how many I have. (Yours is quite impressive!!) However, I have them catalogued at LibraryThing, and so that number always leers at me!

    Anyway, I just finished my very first Meg Cabot book a couple of days ago - Size 12 is Not Fat. It was light and cute and I was wondering how her Babble books her. I'm so glad to read your review... I imagine I'll add them to my library list and get to them eventually. I like a nice, easy, predictable book more often than not! :)

    Happy Reading!

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  4. I love the photo! The ban challenge has gotten me in gear and I have organized my books to be read as well as how I am reading them...lol! By 2008, I have plans to get all of done. :) That's the plan...let's see how it works in real life.

    Also...

    Thanks for stopping by J. Kaye’s Book Blog. Your blog will be spotlighted there later on this week.

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  5. Ha ha! Well, you are in good company, Lisa! I think we are all a little addicted. Queen of Babble sounds like a nice light read--great for a lazy day when you don't feel like reading anything else on the shelf. Sometimes predictable isn't so bad!

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  6. Wow. You totally have me beat on the TBR pile. I thought mine was bad. Thanks for posting a picture, now when I look at mine I don't feel as bad.

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  7. I can relate! I have shelves of unread books, too. Yours are nice and neat!!

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  8. I don't know if you all are making me feel better or worse about the collection!

    Sadly, the ones on the shelves are alpabetical too- the ones that are vertical are anyway. The ones on top are just thrown up there by size as I frantically watch the pile grow...

    I found a few I could part with (I think) last night. I'm gonna post a list to make sure I'm not missing a gem, then send them off to paperbackswap.

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  9. This is my first visit to your site, and I love your photo of the books! It looks like my pile, which somehow has grown and grown this year. I can say I am reading more this year because of the challenges, but I'm not sure if I will finish many of them. I'm proud of my addiction! Like you, with two small children and working full-time, I want to read more, it's just not always possible to read as much as I want to! I do say to save your TBR pile, because you will read them one day. And I love the pictures of your kids, 'bug and pirate are very cute nicknames! We have Monkey boy and Princess over here...

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  10. I’ve heard lot’s of good things about this book and it’s author’s other books (I even own one) but I still haven’t managed to get around to reading any of them :( I think I may have started Queen of Babble at one point and didn’t feel like finishing it. My TBR pile is huge too. I think I have 140- 150 books I need to read that I own… and I just got back from the library.

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  11. Thanks for stopping by, Susan. The pirate used the be the monkey, but that was more our name than his. The Pirate it much more fitting.

    Ladytink, I'd have library books too, except I have a fine...

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  12. Oooh! You and I must have similar tastes in books...I saw some authors I like to read as well from what I could see in the picture. Don't feel bad because my TBR pile is huge as well PLUS I have an enormous TBR list ;0)

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  13. You are not alone... =)

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  14. Love the bookshelves!!! I fully admit that most of the books I own are unread. It's because right now, I'm going through my TBR list pretty hard, and reading what's available to me at the library (we're not planning on living in this area forever, so I want to take full advantage of the fruits of the local library!), so I'm collecting books from thrift stores and storing them for future reading. They will be read one day soon!

    And this house is so full of books. Books coat every surface like dust in an antique store. I'm being run out of my house by books. But I'm okay with that. ;)

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