Funny Quote:

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. ~P.J. O'Rourke

A Definite Must Read

So, this is my first post; and I need to tell you, I am not amazing when it comes to writing, so please excuse the many grammatical errors.


First things first, I love you Rachel, but she lied to you all, I was not reading the Harry Potter books as Rachel posted on the side of this blog. This I realize was my own fault. She called to ask what I was reading and I was frustrated that day and very rudely told her I didn't know (sorry Rachel, again, I love you!) So what do ask, was I reading ? A book that is now in my top 5 of good books!

That's right, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. My mother was the one who suggested this book to me. I started it on Wednesday night and finished it last night. Having only 2 hours during Alex's nap time and an hour or so after Alex went to bed, I didn't want to put it down. It's about a German girl in Nazi Germany; told from deaths point of view.

I loved it!! I could barely read the last few chapters, because of the tears in my eyes. It is a definite must read.

The Book (as usual) Was Better

Just Read:

Update: I just found out today, completely by accident, that the author of these two books are married. Imagine that. Like attracts like, I suppose.Do you ever finish a book that you've been reading so fast that you feel like you read right off a cliff and are now just floating 100 feet in the air? And the momentum you have from reading this really interesting, great, touching, sweet story is the only reason you aren't plummeting to the earth? I finished The History or Love by Nicole Krauss about 10 minutes ago and that's exactly what I feel like. I loved this book. It is a story of an old Jewish man named Leo who has been in love all his life with a woman named Alma; a woman who he knew as a girl in Germany who left for America when they were teenagers and she was pregnant. The story intertwines with other stories, like the story of a girl and boy who lost their father to cancer and their mother to grief. And the story of an author who never knew his real father. I loved the way they all got a chance to narrate their portion of the story giving the book layers. Sometimes the book was blunt and to the point and other times it was almost like reading poetry. Great book. I would recommend it to anyone.

The History of Love reminded me of another really good book I read a few months ago by Jonathan Safron Foer called Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. It's the story of 3 generations of men. The Grandfather, who escaped Nazi Germany, the father, who died in the 9/11 attacks, and the grandson, who, in an effort to find the answer to a clue he thinks his father left, discovers his father as well as his grandfather. Sometimes the book is through the eyes of the grandson, sometimes through the grandfather. It was a different way to look at the tragedy of 9/11. I liked how sometimes, instead of words, the author actually put in pictures to convey the sadness of the little boy. I would recommend this book as well.

Just Read:

Gift From the SeaI knew a little about this author when I started. I knew she was a pilot, that her husband was the first man to fly across the ocean, that her oldest son, while still a baby, was kidnapped and murdered. But nothing else. I thought the book would be her reflections on those things but she barely mentions any of them.

The "story" is made up of stages. Each stage a different kind of sea shell symbolizing a different stage in life. It was written over 5o years ago; before the Internet, before cell phones, and during the first generation of "liberated women" yet she can already see what nobody realized would happen, that women would be so overworked trying to use all the "modern conveniences" AND measure up to a man that they no longer found joy in the simple things like a sea shell or spending time alone or nurturing her family, or that we would be ashamed if we did.

I really liked this book. It's short (I read it on one sitting in about and hour and a half) but what she has to say, even though it was written over 50 years ago, still seems true today. I'm all for being liberated, I think my opinions and choice are no less important than a man's. But I loved how she tried to say that "yes, let us be equal, but lets remember who we are. I am a women, I am supposed to nurture my children, husband, and those who are downtrodden, but just because I want to do those things don't think I can't be strong and smart."

In essence: Gender roles are important, we need them or we can get too caught up in "being equal." Who cares if my husband has never cleaned one of our toilets. That shouldn't make anyone mad. I've never mowed our lawn...

Just Read:

Loved it:

Loved it: How did I go so long without knowing about the Scarlet Pimpernel? I feel kind of cheated. Stupid English teachers...)Liked it: Were it not for the references to my all time favorite books ever (the Anne of Green Gables series) I would have not like this book at all. But, alas, any fan of Anne already has one foot in my friendship door. All time Top 10: I read To Kill a Mockingbird last night for the second time. The first time I read it was about ten or so years ago. My then English teacher, Mrs. Schneider, has us read it painfully slow; picking apart every chapter with worksheets and reflections and group discussions. Because of how long it took to read back then I was expecting the book to be at least 700 pages long. Imagine my surprise when I finished it in 3 afternoons? It kind of makes me want to go back and reread a few other books also dissected by Mrs. Schneider such as Raisin in the Sun, Silas Marner, Count of Monte Cristo, Rebecca, and Huckleberry Finn.Anyway, one thing my memory did not fail on was how much I loved it (that and the ham costume, I’ll never forget the ham costume). I love Scout. She is one of my all time favorite characters. I’d forgotten what happened to Tom Robinson in the end and the part about Mrs. Dubose and Jem reading to her. Or about how Dill wanted to marry Scout when they grew up. I wonder if they did. I know they are just characters, but I kind of want to know where Jem, Scout, and Dill were 20 years later. I’ll bet they were Civil Rights Activists.