Nature Girl

While in Washington Mrs Titan and I decided that we needed an audiobook. Without the XM, a six hour drive with bad radio was killer. Also, I never found a station in Seattle I really liked, which is weird considering it is/was the home of Death Cab for Cutie, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Modest Mouse, Pearl Jam, and Minus the Bear. I'm sure there are good broadcast stations there, but I never found one.

We headed to a mall to a Borders (I'm not a fan of Borders, but that can wait for another post). Looking through the audiobooks section is always kind of disappointing for me. The selection is usually quite slim and the books that I am interested in usually cost somewhere around $35, which seems like quite a bit of money for a book that I could buy for $10.

We finally settled on Carl Hiaasen's Nature Girl. We picked this for three reasons:

1. It was cheap, only $15.


2. It was short, only 5 hours, instead of 12 or more.


3. It was being read by Jane Curtain

Also, I think I heard something good about Carl Hiaasen once, but I might be making that up.

Well, Jane was pretty darn good. I was amazed that just about every character had a unique voice. I could tell almost everyone apart just by her voice, which was great. I have not listened to a ton of audiobooks, but Jane was quite good at reading.

As for Hiaasen...well, that's another story. It's not that his writing was bad, it's just that it was unbelievable (and this is coming from a guy who reads comics and sci fi!). The story centers on Honey Santana, a single mom living in Florida who gets so frustrated by a telemarketer calling during dinner that she tricks him into coming to Florida for an eco tour. The fact that he falls for it is just weird.

While they are on tour in the Everglades they run into a wannabe Seminole and a slutty and desperate college coed Hi again Googlers! who are having their own Everglade adventures. Hiaasen weaves four or five different stories together and bring everyone together before the whole thing ends. My biggest disappointment: no alligators! Come on! It's the freaking Everglades!

It's not terrible, just far-fetched. It is a trashy, pop novel that is easy to listen to (and read, I imagine). While it didn't make Carl Hiaasen my favorite author, I also didn't hate it. I wanted to find out what happened, and I laughed at a few scenes. I doubt I will read any of his books, although I would consider listening to more if Jane Curtain.

More Jane!