Book Review Friday: Junk food, horror and young adult fiction

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Here are some book reviews taken from the local blogosphere.  Enjoy and happy summer reading!

Health and Nutrition

Weight Matters gives two thumbs up to Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss.  "Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Michael Moss has laid out the foundation and blueprints of the inevitable future raft of class action lawsuits targeting the food industry for knowingly and scientifically designing products that encourage their over-consumption despite their known and well understood risks," reads the review. "As for my endorsement - simply put - if you eat food you should read this book."

Horror

Ottawa horror writer Mandy DeGeit gives a glowing review of Cannibal Fat Camp by Mark C. Scioneaux and David C. Hayes.  Here is a synopsis from Mandy's post:

Miles Landish has a “huge” problem. Miles loves food. He eats when he’s hungry and eats when he’s not. Aside from the excess weight and health problems, his love of food has made him a social outcast. His appetite is so severe he can’t control himself if he knows there’s food around. When the high school principal catches Miles in a not-so-flattering moment amidst a trail of stolen lunches, Miles is referred to a doctor who sells Miles on the idea of attending a fat camp called Camp Tum Tum.

At first glance Camp Tum Tum is like all other fat camps. Every camper is overweight, subjected to controlled calories, lots of exercise and in Camp Tum Tum’s case, complete seclusion on an island.

Lose weight or lose weight, there are no other options here. At least until the counsellors are found dead, leaving the campers in charge. The only thing on their starving minds is: “LET’S EAT!”

How many hours do people read a day in different countries?

Interesting post from the Ottawa Sun column The Bookworm that answers this question.

Young Adult Fiction

As usual, readers of young adult novels have several posts to look at.  A Glass of Wine gives mixed reviews to Splintered by A.G. Howard, i.e. the characters are hard to relate to, while everything else is quite good.

Feeling a Little Bookish recommends Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith. "[T]his book is anything but lighthearted," says the post. "It actually deals with mental illness and a young girl's descent into an episode. Kiri is a young pianist who is left home alone for a few weeks. One of her first nights alone she receives a call from a stranger saying that he has her dead sister's items for her."  This call starts a chain of events that takes Kiri on a tailspin.

Emilie's Book World also has good things to say about When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney, a novel about a young man named Danny whose mother dies.  "When he gets a letter from his mom's property manager in Tokyo, where she had been going for treatment, it shows a side of his mother he never knew," explains the review.  "So, with no other sense of direction, Danny travels to Tokyo to connect with his mother's memory and make sense of her final months, which seemed filled with more joy than Danny ever knew."

Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf gives two thumbs down to Life’s a Witch by Brittany Geragotelis.  "I received this book for reviewing purposes, and I thank the publishers for the opportunity but I really couldn’t get through it at all. I am not going to read the next book," says the review. 

Lost at Midnight Reviews was more upbeat, calling That Summer by Sarah Dessen "awesome."