I did a TON of reading this month. Or it feels like I did, anyway. James and I finished three books, I listened to an audiobook, and I finished five other books. Whew!
Books that James and I read:
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
James LOVED this. I was not such a big fan. I know, I know. I loved Pippi in the movies as a child, but for some reason she bothered me. I didn't like the constant lying and the constant trouble she was getting in or causing. Those are the exact things that James loved about it, though. He thought Pippi was hysterical. I'm glad I read it, and it was good, I just got hung up on whether or not I should be reading a book where the main character isn't following rules I'd like James to follow. :) She does have a sweet spirit, though.
Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
and
The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett
These are both sequels to My Father's Dragon. James LOVES these, too. If you're looking for a great starter book for reading to little ones, THESE books are for you. I bought the first one and then Santa brought us all three in one. They are quick little stories about a boy who rescues a baby dragon. In the sequels Elmer flies the baby dragon, Boris, home and then helps to save Boris' family. They're nothing exciting, and they are VERY elementary so nothing that older ones would like, but they are sweet little starting off reading books.
Books that I read:
White Shark by Peter Benchley
Y'all know I will read the weirdest of weird books. This one falls into that category. I LOVE Jaws by Peter Benchley so I bought this for about a penny on Amazon last summer thinking I'd LOVE it, too. And I did...sort of. The story telling was fantastic. However, I read another review that said that this book had also been published under the name Creature, and that would've been SO much better. I felt totally misled by the title the whole time. If I'd read it as Creature I wouldn't have felt misled at all and I would've enjoyed it more. Great story if you enjoy sci-fi! Just know it is NOT about a great white. Something begins attacking people and animals in
Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwige
This falls into the "if you like sci-fi" category, too. (This was my audiobook.) This book follows a biologist, Oz, as he tries to make heads or tails of attacks by animals on humans that are happening all over the world. In zoos, in jungles, in homes animals are randomly attacking humans and Oz is trying to make sense of it to stop it. Definitely a great, suspenseful novel. It held my attention!
The Selection Stories: The Prince and the Guard by Kierra Cass
and The One by Kierra Cass
These are both part of the trilogy that I've been reading {including The Selection and The Elite}. The Prince and the Guard are short-ish stories that Cass wrote for fans who wanted more. I have to say that I have LOVED this series. I recommended it to a group of women the other day and then got embarrassed and worried it wasn't "good enough" literature, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. They're definitely young adult, but they'd be great beach reads! I couldn't put any of them down. {The One came out at the beginning of May so it's not in paperback yet.} They remind me of Cinderella + Hunger Games + The Bachelor. :) I know that sounds crazy. They are also not at all trashy, so if your teenage daughter wants to read them, they're perfectly safe.
Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lysa TerKeurst
This one I didn't enjoy so much. Ugh. I don't know why. It was long. It wasn't exciting {I shouldn't expect it to be, I know}. It was just...not great. There are some great points in it, don't get me wrong, but it was loonnng to read about TerKeurst's struggles with tempation - especially food. I've heard wonderful things about this author. She gets lots of praise from lots of people, but this book in particular didn't do it for me. SO. I have another one of hers that I'll try and then we'll see whether I'd read anymore.
Books that James and I read:
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
James LOVED this. I was not such a big fan. I know, I know. I loved Pippi in the movies as a child, but for some reason she bothered me. I didn't like the constant lying and the constant trouble she was getting in or causing. Those are the exact things that James loved about it, though. He thought Pippi was hysterical. I'm glad I read it, and it was good, I just got hung up on whether or not I should be reading a book where the main character isn't following rules I'd like James to follow. :) She does have a sweet spirit, though.
Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
and
The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett
These are both sequels to My Father's Dragon. James LOVES these, too. If you're looking for a great starter book for reading to little ones, THESE books are for you. I bought the first one and then Santa brought us all three in one. They are quick little stories about a boy who rescues a baby dragon. In the sequels Elmer flies the baby dragon, Boris, home and then helps to save Boris' family. They're nothing exciting, and they are VERY elementary so nothing that older ones would like, but they are sweet little starting off reading books.
Books that I read:
White Shark by Peter Benchley
Y'all know I will read the weirdest of weird books. This one falls into that category. I LOVE Jaws by Peter Benchley so I bought this for about a penny on Amazon last summer thinking I'd LOVE it, too. And I did...sort of. The story telling was fantastic. However, I read another review that said that this book had also been published under the name Creature, and that would've been SO much better. I felt totally misled by the title the whole time. If I'd read it as Creature I wouldn't have felt misled at all and I would've enjoyed it more. Great story if you enjoy sci-fi! Just know it is NOT about a great white. Something begins attacking people and animals in
Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwige
This falls into the "if you like sci-fi" category, too. (This was my audiobook.) This book follows a biologist, Oz, as he tries to make heads or tails of attacks by animals on humans that are happening all over the world. In zoos, in jungles, in homes animals are randomly attacking humans and Oz is trying to make sense of it to stop it. Definitely a great, suspenseful novel. It held my attention!
The Selection Stories: The Prince and the Guard by Kierra Cass
and The One by Kierra Cass
These are both part of the trilogy that I've been reading {including The Selection and The Elite}. The Prince and the Guard are short-ish stories that Cass wrote for fans who wanted more. I have to say that I have LOVED this series. I recommended it to a group of women the other day and then got embarrassed and worried it wasn't "good enough" literature, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. They're definitely young adult, but they'd be great beach reads! I couldn't put any of them down. {The One came out at the beginning of May so it's not in paperback yet.} They remind me of Cinderella + Hunger Games + The Bachelor. :) I know that sounds crazy. They are also not at all trashy, so if your teenage daughter wants to read them, they're perfectly safe.
Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lysa TerKeurst
This one I didn't enjoy so much. Ugh. I don't know why. It was long. It wasn't exciting {I shouldn't expect it to be, I know}. It was just...not great. There are some great points in it, don't get me wrong, but it was loonnng to read about TerKeurst's struggles with tempation - especially food. I've heard wonderful things about this author. She gets lots of praise from lots of people, but this book in particular didn't do it for me. SO. I have another one of hers that I'll try and then we'll see whether I'd read anymore.
The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful by Myquillyn Smith
I've read Myquillyn's (The Nester's) blog off and on for several years. Her style is mostly not my style at all, but this book rocked me. I'll share more about it later (I got it from BookLookBloggers so I owe them a review), but it is excellent and couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me. I spend a LOT of my time worrying about how our house looks (from it's state of cleanliness to how we've decorated). I'm particularly bothered by it now because most of the things in our rental house are not OUR things. We've left the things that I picked out and bought in our house to try to sell it (y'all...it has to sell soon, right? it's been almost a year), so we're living with all of our extra furniture and things people have loaned us. Myquillyn is so wonderful at expressing how it is OK to let go of perfection. It's not attainable. Not to ANYONE. If you've been considering the book, GET IT. I'll share all my thoughts later!
Let me share this, too, in case you're a Georgian and didn't know. If you have a library that is part of the Pines Library System, you can go HERE and enter your library card information and you have access to TONS of e-books and audiobooks. Not everything is there, but LOTS of great books are available.
I would love to hear what you're reading. I have SEVEN books on my nightstand right now to finish in the month of June. Gone with the Wind, Wheat Belly, Life of Pi, Grace, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone {with James}. Hopefully it will be sunny and not too hot outside so I can read and the boys can play in the pool and water table!
I've read Myquillyn's (The Nester's) blog off and on for several years. Her style is mostly not my style at all, but this book rocked me. I'll share more about it later (I got it from BookLookBloggers so I owe them a review), but it is excellent and couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me. I spend a LOT of my time worrying about how our house looks (from it's state of cleanliness to how we've decorated). I'm particularly bothered by it now because most of the things in our rental house are not OUR things. We've left the things that I picked out and bought in our house to try to sell it (y'all...it has to sell soon, right? it's been almost a year), so we're living with all of our extra furniture and things people have loaned us. Myquillyn is so wonderful at expressing how it is OK to let go of perfection. It's not attainable. Not to ANYONE. If you've been considering the book, GET IT. I'll share all my thoughts later!
Let me share this, too, in case you're a Georgian and didn't know. If you have a library that is part of the Pines Library System, you can go HERE and enter your library card information and you have access to TONS of e-books and audiobooks. Not everything is there, but LOTS of great books are available.
I would love to hear what you're reading. I have SEVEN books on my nightstand right now to finish in the month of June. Gone with the Wind, Wheat Belly, Life of Pi, Grace, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone {with James}. Hopefully it will be sunny and not too hot outside so I can read and the boys can play in the pool and water table!
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4 comments:
Always fun to see what others are reading. I am currently finishing up The Nester's book as well. Have so many in my stack to read. If you loved Made to Crave, Lysa's other book, Unglued is wonderful!!
Thanks for the kid recommendations! I just reserved the My Father's Dragon trilogy at our library. My son is also four and reading at night is one my favorite things with him.
We read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last month and tried The Great Glass Elevator but couldn't get through it.
I HAVE to check out My Father's Dragon for Garrison. It sounds perfect. We've done Magic Treehouse so now I'm trying to branch out a little. And I think I would definitely love The Selection series. Right now I'm so busy and so tired it's really hard for me to find time to read. I am reading through the Gospel of John but that's about it. I feel like my opportunities to read are so few and far between that I should be reading my Bible. My daily quiet time before the boys wake up has definitely suffered since our littlest arrived.
"wasn't "good enough" literature" is exactly how I feel when I recommend some of the books I really like to people :)
Also I love that you read such awesome books to James! I can't wait for that part of being a mom!
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