Books, Books, And More Books

You might notice a few things have changed around here. I got tired of my old template for my blog. I have also changed the name. When I first designed my blog, I did it as an easy way to share pictures of my kids and stuff with our family who live all over everywhere. Hence the name "Steve & Allyson's" blog. I felt a name change was due since A) Steve has never posted anything on here what-so-ever and B) it has kind of evolved into mindless ramblings on my part and C) my last post was about pantyhose and I am sure my husband wants no part or credit for that. I have also added 3 new page elements all to do with books. My sister Kristy added one to her blog and it is "On my nightstand" and pictures the current book she has, well, on her nightstand. I was also reading my cousin Kathy's blog yesterday and she was talking about books and well, by golly I got all excited. I love books and I love to read. I am always reading 3 books at once. I started a book club in my neighborhood about 4 years ago and so I read a new book each month for that. The book this month is "The Wedding" by Nicholas Sparks. I have to tell ya. I never ever ever EVER planned on reading this book. Too much hype and I just wasn't interested. But it was selected by others as our book club book for April. And I must say, it is so good. Who knew? I guess all them millions of people who made such a big deal about it and gave it so much hype in the first place knew. Oh well, live and learn. I am also always listening to a book on CD in my car. Right now that book is "Rachel and Leah" . I also read to the kids and the book we are currently reading is "Ida B. ...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World". Kathy asked for recommendations for books so I thought I would take a minute here to recommend some of my favorite. These are some that we have read in my book club that I have really enjoyed: Eat Cake and Julie and Romeo Get Lucky. Carry On Mr. Bowditch which is a juvenile book but I loved it. The Kite Runner which is about 2 boys who grow up in Afghanistan-good,good,good, Mrs. Mike from which I learned not to judge a book by it's cover, The Hiding Place which was an excellent book about the Holocaust- you know how most books about this subject matter are depressing, this one is actually very uplifting. Girl With A Pearl Earring is excellent and I have read all this authors other books (hey, I just found out she has a new one I haven't read yet!) and they are wonderful also. They are all historical fiction. Follow The River is a great book. It is a true story about a frontier woman who gets kidnapped by Indians and escapes and makes her way home. It starts out gory but if you get past that you will NEVER NEVER NEVER forget this book. One of my favorite books we have read in book club is The Time Travelers Wife. Sounds science fictiony, but really isn't and I loved it! I am warning you that is does have some language and adult situations so it might not be the book for you. Kristy I know I have talked to you about this book before and you said you didn't think you could read a book about time travel but I know you would LOVE this book if you read it. Oh, and Rebecca is another one of my favorites but it takes a while to get into it. And my favorite book of all time that I have read at least a dozen times since I was about 12 years old is A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. The book we just read last month in book club is The Goose Girl which is very good. I recommend listening to it on CD because it is not just a person reading it, it is acted out by different actors and it is very well done. And I also really like the Women of Genesis series by Orson Scott Card. Ok so there are a few of my suggestions. Happy Reading.