Reading

That about sums up my favorite summer pastime. It's easy and fun to do while my baby is still pretty stationary. Shoot, it's even pretty easy to do while I'm feeding her, too! I always seem to have mile-long lists in my head of what I want to read, but summer is the only time I have to read them. In fact, my siblings and I have a book blog where we post books we've read and liked and stuff. I tried GoodReads once, but it seemed too much like a book-based social network, so I was mostly like . ..eh . . .Perhaps one of my big motivaters this summer were the prizes through the city library summer reading program. Oh yeah. =) Regardless, I would enjoy a good book anytime, even if it's not summer (although, I never have time during school).

Anyway, here are some things that I've read:

Recommended from my family book blog:

Delivering Hope by Jennifer Ann Holt. I cried hardcore during this book about the miracle, hope and love of the adoption process. Recommended by my sister-in-law, Whitney, who experienced many of these emotions first-hand.

A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick. This one takes place in New England where women of various backgrounds form a quilting circle. Their friendship helps them get through life's challenges. I liked this one, so I read the sequels, A Thread of Truth and A Thread So Thin. (Recognize a theme in the titles, maybe?) I like how the characters are so believable. These are chick books; lots of girly emotion.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford (who is coming to Provo City Library this fall!). Henry, a Chinese boy, befriends Keiko, a girl of Japanese descent, during WWII when the Japanese Americans are sent to internment camps. This was a sweet book about a topic that I hardly knew anything about.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver. A dystopian society where love is considered a disease, to which youth are given an injection cure. I really enjoyed this one and didn't even realize there was a sequel until my sister-in-law mentioned the series. I've since read the second book, Pandemonium. Not as great as the first, in my opinion, but still very enjoyable. I read another book by this author, Before I Fall, which was okay, but not as great as the Delirium series.

I actually liked Delirium so much, that I decided to read other Young Adult dystopian society books. I read:

Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie. Society has strict rules for everything, including your Match. I'm on hold for the third book in this series.

Divergent by Veronica Roth. In a society of factions, choices determine so much about your future. This one was a bit darker than the others, but I still stayed up late to finish it. I'm currently reading the sequel Insurgent.

I was apparently in the mood for young adult dystopian society things because I found the book, The Selection by Kiera Cass on a library book list. Very much enjoyed that one, and I'm on hold at the library for the second.

While all of these are fun reads, I would recommend NOT being in the middle of all of these series all at once like I currently am. Yeah .. confusing sometimes.

Speaking of library booklists, I lifted a couple of titles from the library webpage. Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The first one is about a lady who loses her memory every time she goes to sleep, so it's hard for her to realize that she's in a very dangerous situation. The second one, I loved! It's written from the viewpoint of death about a young girl in Germany during WWII. It's very different from any other book of read, and it just grabs you in. I definitely recommend it! I also read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Almost auto-biographical (yet still fiction) about a girl growing up in the poor side of Brooklyn. Not a super quick read, but I enjoyed it.

Every summer when I get on a reading kick, I like to read several Newbery Award books. (And yes, Newbery is with 1 r). I figure if they're good enough to earn this prestigious award, they must be pretty good. And they are usually quick reads, too. So this summer I read Sounder by William H. Anderson (a story about a boy, his father, and their coon dog), Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer (10yr old girl living in New York while her parents are abroad), The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (also recommended on the family book blog), The Witch of Blackbird Pond (also July's book club book), Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, Jacob Have I Loved and Bridge to Terabithia, both by Katherine Paterson.

And I try to read books that I hear are really good, so I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (not my favorite book), The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis,  The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (very much enjoyed it!), Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (clever, but not my favorite), Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (again, okay for a short read but not my favorite. My brother-in-law says I don't read fantasy fiction enough).

Then, I'll read books that my sisters have read like Closing In by Kerry Blair (typical LDS romance), Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (cute idea, but quite a bit of unnecessary language. I also read Remember Me? by the same author. Again, too much language, so I decided to quit reading her books.)

Miscellaneous: Bleachers by John Grisham (book on CD we listened to for our trip to Washington), Odd Hours by Dean Koontz (a book mom gave Jacob for Christmas last year that we haven't read until now), The Canary List by Sigmund Brouwer (a book I just randomly grabbed off of a shelf. Weird book, so I don't recommend it). And it's not summer unless I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which is one of the few books I actually own and read at least once every other year. (Still doesn't get old!)

That's 34 books so far. I got cool prizes through the library program: a book bag, M&Ms, Almond Joy pieces, a magnetic notepad, a book light, a flashlight, a Scrabble card game and erasable highlighters. But you really don't have to bribe me into reading . . ..