I.Love.Books.

I love to read. I've always loved to read. In fact there are some fairly embarrassing pictures of me (somewhere in my mom's house)  reading in the bathtub when I was little. (No, I don't want to talk about it). In general, when I was younger, the books I read were usually bigger than I was.

Fast forward 16 years and some days I hardly have time to pee, much less enjoy a novel.

Well, track out is a beautiful thing people. I've spent some time getting reacquainted with the public library. Now, I have a Kindle (although the screen is slightly warped after a minor incident involving a clothes hamper) and there is so much to be said for this little invention...especially when traveling! BUT there is just something about holding a book (paperback is my preference) and snuggling down in the bed or on the couch with a cup of coffee. Or sitting outside on the porch. Or floating on a floatie in the pool. Or waiting in a Dr.'s office. You get the point.

The genius of the matter is I live in between two libraries. One is very small- I love that the librarians already know my face. The other is HUGE- I love that I can find ANYTHING. So, depending on if I am feeling more Mayberry or Big City I can choose my destination.

It also helps that libraries offer free services. And, except for about a week and a half at the beginning of the month...I.Am.Always.Watching.Pennies.

Anyhow, because I am also slightly obsessive (just ask Crystal), I found a website where I can track my new reads. My goal is to read three books every track out (that's one a week). And in an effort to seem technologically savvy, I added my online bookshelf to my blog. (this is an electronic TA-DA.)

So, I said all this to say this...

No 1. If you went to a women's college (ahem...Meredith friends) read the book Commencement. It is very likely that you will find yourself reading about friends- or at least recognize some traits of your friends. It also highlights the public perception of a women's college steeped in tradition (tea parties, father daughter dances, etc) with changes and subcultures (feminism and homosexuality) all with a resounding focus on the relationships that are built, broken down, and recreated from the ashes. AH-MAZE-ING.


No 2. I've loved Jodi Piccoult since way before she sold her soul to Lifetime and started making crappy movies based on her books. But I was really excited to read her newest book, House Rules. It is about  a boy with Asperger's Syndrome - which fascinates me to the core. Piccoult always writes her novels from multiple points of view, so I was intrigued to see how she would represent a person with Asperger's. She drew her inspiration from a young lady with the diagnosis. The parts of the book from that perspective were my favorite- they were funny, they were infuriating, they were to the point. They represented the spectrum disorder with honesty and respect. BUT, overall, the book was a little underwhelming. I'm sure it will make a fascinating (yawn) sappy (ick) Lifetime movie one day.

So there you are, my professional report on books you probably never wanted to hear about. Hey, I was feeling literary today. I just found out that my sweet babies at school raised their average reading words per minute by over 30 words since the fall.

Who's the reading master now!?