Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Reading

I am always trying to read too many books at once. I let them go for awhile, pick them back up, give up...Last year, I started reading the Little House books. Ben's mom got him a set on ebay to put in his classroom library and I pulled them out to put back for Sarah. I don't think I ever read them as a kid. I read the first two last year. Every time we get these snow storms I think of the winters in the first two books. I really do love the simplicity of the Little House books and hope I can finish them one day. 
Ben got me Little Women for Christmas. I haven't ever read it. I am probably 1/5 of the way through it. I was reading a chapter every night in bed, but I got so tired and stressed with my thyroid and all that I have taken a break. Little Women and the Little House books are books that I wish I would have read a long time ago. I read all the time when I was growing up. I can still remember always going to Walden Books in the Hot Springs mall to get new books, or even buying them at our tiny IGA grocery store. I really remember these Boxcar Children books. I read them along with all of my friends.
The Babysitter's Club books were huge when I was growing up. I donated my entire set to our local library and I wish I still had them. My friend Amber still has all of hers!
I probably liked the Sweet Valley books better than Babysitter's Club. I'm not sure. I loved them all.
This book below gets five stars from me! I have come across a few people in my life who are also Madeleine L'Engle fans. I think we are kindred spirits in some ways because of this! We read this as required reading in the fifth grade. I have probably read it 5 times. I read it again every few years. There is a part in the book where everyone is the same, doing everything the same at the same exact time. Bouncing a ball, I think. It's eerie.
And I just love this book, Many Waters. I always took it as a sort of parallel to the Great Flood. Amazing.
I don't know why this book stood out to me, but it was wonderful. I remember reading it in high school:

I think my friend Amber (my true reading buddy in school) liked these R.L.Stine books more than me, but there was definitely a time when I was hooked on these.
When I was in college, I read a lot of the books for Oprah's Book Club. I am not really an Oprah hater or supporter, I am just neutral there. One book I really liked and was surprised that I liked was
I also can remember that I liked White Oleander, The Pilot's Wife, The Bluest Eye, Where the Heart Is (loved it), and Midwives. That doesn't even begin to put a dent in her huge book club list, but those are the ones that I have read. My dad let me read his book:
Ca-reepy. I have since read a few more Koontz books and I tend to like the ones that are more sci-fi than gory murder books. I am not a fan of those at all. I liked the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson-those are really good. I liked the first Twilight book a whole lot, but can't say that I loved the last two, because it seriously took me for.ev.er. to read them. That says something. One of my favorite birthdays was when my lifelong friend, Jan, put a coffee mug and a copy of The Secret Life of Bees on my front porch. I had taken a personal day off of work and I sat in bed and read the whole book. That was seriously one of the best days of my life.

I have found that as I am getting older, I have a really hard time finding something to read. I pick up a lot of junk. It's really difficult to find a good book! I spend so much time reading blogs, too, so that takes up a lot of my reading time. I probably read about 20 blogs. I have so many memories of reading and enjoying it so, so much, and I wish I had more time, or made more time, to sit down and really enjoy it. I guess I am thinking more about it now that I am home for a few days! Hope you enjoyed this break from my reguarly scheduled programming of the show that is Sarah

2 comments:

  1. I have always been a huge reader and have read a lot of what you have listed (btw try odd thomas for a good Dean Koontz) I use the site Goodreads.com it allows you to rate books and look at what your friends have read and how they ratted them. Mike got me a nookcolor for christmas and it has been great. I always have books on hand to read. if you sign up for goodreads invite me as a friend.

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  2. Love the blast from the past books! I sure do still have them all(including SV and SVH..lol even have a few of the college ones). Elise is has read two of the old Sweet Valley mysteries and the first BSC book. She loves RL Stine's Goosebumps series. Andi had a few and then Hunter gave her all of his.

    Hooray for reading!

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