Things...

Yay, thanks Lindsey!

This is going to be brief, but I just wanted to say that (as you may have noticed if you read my blog...) I have been reading a TON of books lately. A big part of this is that I've read a lot of children's/adolescent books, and we all know how fast those are to read. So, in the way of updating and also to give Lindsey some ideas of things that might be able to capture her interest, here is a list of my favorites/suggestions:

The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt

Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver (obviously not a kids' book--one of my absolute favorites)

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher (funny, interesting and sometimes crude)

Digging to America, by Anne Tyler (my second favorite after The Accidental Tourist)

Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson

the Fablehaven books, by Brandon Mull

The Westing Game, by Ellen Rankin

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow

The Ruby in the Smoke, by Philip Pullman

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

Totally recommend them all, and especially the ones in bold. Let me know if you read any of them! 

Books and such

So, I have a lot of new books. Particularly the beautiful set I got for my birthday of classics (some I have read, some I haven't). I also ordered The Princess Academy and Book of a Thousand Days used on B&N because I like the covers and wanted to have my own hard back copies. I got them pretty cheap too at about $6 each including shipping. I should be getting a few more random used books from B&N (can't remember what they are at the mo') and The Actor and the Housewife (Shannon Hales' latest adult book) which I am especially excited about and will read as soon as I get it.

I'm in the middle of reading The Outsiders and Home, a memoir of Julie Andrews early years. The Outsiders is probably going to be pushed to the back burner for a bit since I'm just not in the mood for that book right now. Julie Andrews will get finished soon, though. Lauren read it while we were on vacation...mostly because I was an awesome sister and drove most of the way home. It's good so far though and I would recommend it. She has a crazy family. I am curious to find out if there is a memoir of her career though because this book stops at about age 20 just before Mary Poppins and all that. I also purchased The Book Thief and need to finish reading that since I never did last year. I'm also starting to get a hankering for some Narnia so I might jump into Prince Caspian and maybe Voyage of the Dawn Treader, both are quick reads.

Mostly I want to get back into reading. I've been hibernating and pretty much just stopped doing a lot of the things I love to do. Reading being one of them. Also, I finished I Capture the Castle back in January and haven't been able to find something that grabs my attention since then. I LOVED that book. Here's hoping this summer will bring plenty of days reading in the sunshine.