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8 Years, 8 Members, 8 Books

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

For PaperBackSwap’s 8 year anniversary, we asked 8 members

to tell us about 8 books that have mattered to them.

Today we feature Linda (Angeleyes)

Books I love

Pick 8 books that are special to me. Are they crazy? Just 8. How in the world am I supposed to do that? I’ve read THOUSANDS of books and many, many, many have left some sort of internal “mark” on me. Many of which I can’t even tell you why. So I sat and pondered. Over the last 40 years which books have really “packed a punch” so to speak that maybe aren’t your normal books everyone has heard about. Well here are my 8. I hope you give them a read and enjoy them as much as I did.

Scuffy the Tug Boat and his Adventures Down the River by Tibor Gergely & Gertrude Crampton

This is the book that started it all for me. The very first book I remember and as a child my absolute favorite. I made my mom read it to me every day and when I learned to read I read it to her. When my son was born 19 years ago I passed my well-worn copy on to him. If only Scuffy knew what he started..lol I’m sure he would be proud. Scuffy also taught me that it’s natural to want to go out and explore the world but you don’t have to get lost while you do it.

The Secret of the Old Clock - Nancy Drew, No 1 by Carolyn Keene

By the time I was 8 years old a book was a natural extension of my hand. Everywhere I went I had a book. The local librarian knew me by name. One day she suggested I venture out of the children’s area into the “big kid” room and pointed me in the direction of the Nancy Drew books. I had never before read a series book and felt so adult-like. I found book 1 – The Secret of the Old Clock and promptly found a seat and began reading.

This book was different than anything I had read before. This time I felt like I was right there in the story. Nancy, her friend Helen, housekeeper Hannah and even her dad were my friends. My imagination was on fire. Navigating the twists and turns with Nancy, I reveled in how independent, mature and headstrong she was.

The story finds Nancy involved in a search for a missing will. She is assisted by her father, who is a noted attorney, and her friend Helen.. As her investigation progresses she not only finds herself at odds with unworthy heirs, but confronting furniture thieves as well.

2 hours later I was finished. I was so proud of myself and a lifelong passion for mysteries was ignited. Excited I pulled off as many Nancy Drew books as I could carry, checked them out and strutted on home. My dad saw me walking up the street towards the house and asked if I had cleaned out the library…lol. For years after that I could be found every Saturday walking to and from the library with my backpack and my arms filled with Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and The Bobbsey Twins books.

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Cruise &, Bob Mayer

I stumbled onto Paperbackswap in September 2007 with a very small repertoire of authors read under my belt. After exploring the site for a day or two I came across a book that looked kind of interesting and was different than anything I had read before. Excited to use my newly obtained credits, I ordered “Agnes and the Hitman” and within a few days it arrived. I jumped right in and read it while my teenage son played video games. I finished the book before he finished the game. I loved it ! The plot, the characters and the laugh-out-loud dialogue were perfect.

I am told I can be somewhat cranky and/or sarcastic so I felt Agnes was a kindred spirit of sorts. I mean when I read “… your ass is grass and I am a John Deere super-classic riding lawn mower with a V6 engine and a double cutting blade, do I make myself clear?” I laughed out loud. This is SO something I would say. My son asked me what was so funny and when I read it to him he asked if I wrote the book..lol

The premise of the story is things turn south for Agnes Crandall’s wedding catering business when a dognapper invades her kitchen holding a gun. Agnes wallops him upside the head with a cast iron skillet, knocking him thru a hidden door in her kitchen and killing him. An unexpected hero – Shane – arrives through a window to rescue her, only he turns out to be a professional hit man who was hired by his retired gangster uncle to protect Agnes. Shane’s uncle sort of forgets to mention that $5 million dollars is hidden somewhere in the house – thus the need for protecting Agnes. This leads to a string of hit men, gangsters, crazies and wedding guests searching for the money. And then there are the flamingos, the flamingo-themed wedding, and the flamingo-colored dresses. Not to mention the stripper with flamingo pasties. Oh and did I mention Agnes has anger issues?

There were twists and turns and every time I thought I had figured out WHODUNIT, the authors threw a monkey wrench in the mix and The HUMOR plus Agnes and Shane’s HOT relationship kept me plowing through the book to see how it ended.

I strongly urge you to give this book a try but make sure you keep a fan close and the liquids far (or you’ll be sure to spit them out all over the book from laughing..)

Every Woman Needs a Wife by Naleighna-Kai

Hey I want a wife too ! I ordered this book simply because of the title and it had me laughing out loud. I felt proud to be female when I went along on this ingenuously crafted novel with Kai.

When Brandi Spencer catches her husband (Vernon) of more than a decade with his mistress (Tanya), she decides to forgo the crying, kicking and screaming and to attack her husband where it will hurt him the most – by going after and taking his mistress! What woman does not need someone to take up the slack with cooking, laundry, taking care of the children, extracurricular activities, but what wife goes so far as to actually hire the mistress-with contract to boot-and moves the other woman into her home?!

In the midst of it all, both women realize that they have both been used and that Vernon deserves to be taught a lesson. As Brandi and Tanya scheme and plan how to get even with Vernon, they bond and a friendship is formed. Each woman also reclaims her self-worth and self-importance as she sheds baggage and horrible memories and experiences of the past.

A thought provoking read that made me laugh, cry, and say YOU GO GIRL ! at the same time, I kept thinking to myself, “I wonder if I would think of such a thing. What a fantastic response to such a horrifying situation”. And of course I could not put it down because every time I tried a new twist would come up that had me laughing even harder and thinking even more. I appreciated the fact the characters weren’t bitchy or catty but were intelligent and used intellect to “fix” their problems.

This book left me with a sense that anything worth having is worth fighting for. Of course when my BF saw me reading this and all he had to go by was the title I think he was a little concerned. That has since passed and he seems to be less fidgety but anytime I want to get him stirred up I pull out the book and sit it on the nightstand…lol.

My Best Friends’ Girl by Dorothy Koomson

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy sleeps with girl’s best friend. Girl finds out…..years later. And the world as they know it falls apart.

Told in first person prose, this is the story of forgiveness, redemption, motherly love and an understanding of the fragility of the human condition. From the moment that Adele Brannon and Kamryn Matika met in college, they were best friends. They thought nothing could come between them, but then Adele did the unthinkable. She slept with Kamryn’s fiancé, Nate. By the time Kamryn finds out, a few years have passed and Adele is the mother of a child named Tegan.

When the betrayal is revealed, Kamryn breaks up with Nate and walks out on her friendship with Adele and the goddaughter she adores

Years later, and after a series of unanswered letters from Adele, Kamryn finally responds to one that is truly a desperate cry for help, returning to London to a hospital room where Adele lies dying.

Kamryn reluctantly goes to see her and to her complete and utter shock Adele begs her to adopt her daughter, Tegan. With a job she loves, a hectic social life that does not include kids, kittens and motherhood, the last thing Kamryn needs is a five year child old tied to her designer apron strings. Especially not a child who reminds her so much of a time she would rather forget.

But upon finding a traumatised Tegan living in awful conditions with Adele’s vile stepmother and uncaring father Kamryn takes the bull by the horns and takes the child on.

The journey that ensues is emotional tale of love, friends, and the unusual forms that family can take; it was a page-turning delight that held my attention all the way through. This story reminded me of my best friend in high school who just happened to be black to my white. 28 years, 4 children, 2 ex-husbands 2 current “husbands” and a few life changing conditions between us we have learned of love, family and friends on our own terms. And I know that should one of us lie dying the other would “stop the world” for the other. Because that’s what family does.

Obedience by Will Lavender

I am a puzzle person. Give me a game of Tetris, or a Suduko or even a game of Freecell and I’m content. Give me a book with an infuriating, brilliant puzzle that compels continuous, non-stop reading from beginning to end to discover how everything winds up and I’m in heaven. Obedience is one of those books. It sticks with you for days after you finish it. Remembering what it was like to be an 18-21 year old college student, I remember how unsure everyone is at that age and how impressionable they are. This book plays on all of those uncertainties and shows just how easily manipulated we can be. This is not your ordinary thriller. There are no assassins, spies, or detectives, this thriller invites the reader to contemplate college relationships, professor-student indiscretion, the helplessness parents feel when their children are away at college, the role of graduate assistants, academic creativity, and more.

Three students at Indiana’s Winchester University are taking a philosophy class — Logic & Reasoning 204 — and have been given their only assignment for the term – locate a hypothetical young girl named Polly. Fail and she will be murdered. The professor feeds his students information about Polly’s family and friends and provides details about her actions just prior to her disappearance. He states that “the best way to learn logic is to decode a puzzle.” By solving the “Polly puzzle,” they “will learn to think, and induce, and carve out the blight of lazy thought.”

The students begin to discover similarities the assignment has to a real case of a missing girl in a neighboring town that’s gone unsolved for several years. And their professor even wrote a book about the case. As the three of them dive deeper into the assignment, they begin to question their professor’s word and believe that the case of Polly is actually real. When some clues begin to relate directly to their real lives, things get even more disturbing.

As the students encounter more mysteries, clues, and people – a strange warning from the dean, his cheating wife, a graduate assistant with a weird tattoo, campus police phone calls after forwarding emails, photographs, and the professor’s book – they decide to travel to the town of the real life missing girl where more strange characters await.

My son recently described his reading experience of “Obedience” as “a story that traps me to the point I can no longer stop reading. My choice is gone. It’s like rolling down a hill at such a high speed that you can’t stop. You’re enjoying the thrill, but praying the ending will be a good one and this book is awesome”. I don’t think I could have said it better myself.

The Secret Life of Cee Cee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

I’d been on a cozy mystery reading binge for about a month and I decided to branch out and see what else my TBR pile had to offer. “The Secret Life of Cee Cee Wilkes” hmmm.. I’d received this book from a swap and at the time decided to keep it on the “I’ll get to it someday” shelf. Well, what the heck. Today was as good day as any. I got my drink, my snack and the book and ventured outside to soak up the sun and read for a while. A few hours later I was as red as a lobster (oops, I forgot the sunscreen !) and my mind was blown. This book was phenomenal! It pulled at my heart and didn’t let up until I read the last word. The mistakes that we make when we are young haunt us into our adulthood. We pray that our children don’t make the same ones and don’t find out about ours.

16 year old Cee Cee is seduced by a handsome older man, Tim Gleason, and is manipulated into helping him and his brother with the crime. Left to guard the prisoner at a remote cabin in the woods, events transpire that force Cee Cee on the run with a newborn infant in tow. Unable to bring herself to leave the little girl with her father, Cee Cee makes a decision to raise the child as her own. Years pass. Cee Cee, now known as Eve, has created a pleasant, comfortable life for herself and thinks she has moved far beyond those days in the forest — so far that she has almost forgotten that they ever happened.

The fantastic story of a young girl who gives up her entire life to finally telling the truth to save the man who manipulated her so many years ago, it really makes you think about what choices you would really make in difficult situations. I found myself tearing up at how her decisions affected her family and wondering if I would have the guts to make the decisions she made. This book put a knot in my stomach but I convinced I’m a better person for it.

Trapped by Chris Jordan

Rarely do I read a book that leaves me with that cold shivery feeling but “Trapped” is one of those books. Long Island single mom Jane Hartley is frantic when her sixteen-year-old daughter, Kelly, a survivor of childhood leukemia, disappears from her bedroom one night. To Jane’s frustration, the police believe that Kelly ran off willingly with her boyfriend, Seth. Unaware that her daughter even had a boyfriend, Jane soon discovers that Seth is no boy. He is an adult—a man who, after meeting Kelly on the Internet, took the teenager on one thrill-seeking ride after another. From motorcycles to skydiving, Jane’s little girl has been hiding some dangerous secrets.

Like mother, like daughter.

Adamant that Kelly is not a runaway but, rather, is being held against her will, Jane hires ex-FBI agent Randall Shane to follow the trail of her missing child. But every step brings them closer to a cold-blooded predator lurking in the shadows… coiled around Jane’s shameful secret…waiting to strike.

An extremely fast paced, highly emotional thriller brilliantly done with enough red herrings mixed in that I was constantly second guessing myself; the connections between various players can be shocking, secrets are revealed and mysteries solved. The killer is made even more frightening in the fact he is completely insane and has some very strange ideas about kinds of magical abilities he believes he has. And we all know sometimes the most powerful weapon is in, fact, the mind. After reading this book alone on a Saturday night, I had the overwhelming urge to go and spend some quality time with my teenage son, just to make sure he was safe. (He of course probably thought I was nuts but what the heck, you only live once, why not embarrass the heck out of your child when you scare yourself half to death…lol)

Tags: Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, Members, Milestones
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Member Memories: Our Love of Books | 6 Comments »

8 Years, 8 Members, 8 Books

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

For PaperBackSwap’s 8 year anniversary, we asked 8 members

to tell us about 8 books that have mattered to them.

Today we feature Greg (Vostromo)

In recalling eight books that have made particular impressions on me I’ve realized I’ll be repeating myself to a large extent (which won’t surprise anyone) because I’ve spoken about them in this or that Forum post through the decades — which fact only serves to confirm how much these several works have meant to me. Limiting something so important to only eight is supremely difficult — I have over twelve gigabytes of Amber Heard pics alone! — but there’s something to be said for narrowing focus so severely: I don’t know what it is, but maybe somebody will tell me.

(1) The biggest impression of all has to be granted to the unremembered and likely unidentifiable children’s novel about stock car racing which is the first book I recall selecting from a library for myself for no reason other than pleasure. Whatever caught my eye about its spine — colors, fonts, words, who knows — it started me “reading”. If I ever was able to find it again I’m sure it would prove embarrassingly old-fashioned, obvious and square, if it weren’t for the fact that I don’t care, since it was a door I stepped though into a world wider than I will ever be able to fully navigate.

(2) Tie: and not books but stories: Jacques Futrelle’s “The Problem of Cell 13” and Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger?” These stories revolutionized my concept of “entertainment” from a one-way street to a tangled monster highway roundabout. They revealed, though I was too young to consciously grok the fact or its full ramifications, that just as you can’t step into the same river twice, you can’t read the same story, because you are part of it: what do you mean there’s something after the story ends? how can something continue after it’s over? how can you make me the author of a story I’ve already read? how can you stop with a question mark?

(3) Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” showed me that the world within a story was sui generis and all that mattered was that it made its own kind of sense — and that the resonant poetry of the imagination was every bit as real and meaningful as the hardest fact.

4) Thomas McGuane’s “Ninety-Two in the Shade” made clear the difference between story and plot. The plot is the rivalry between charter-fishing concerns -– be still my beating heart! But the story is how love, honor, greed, choice and consequence can or can not make a world out of individual souls.

(5) Moby freakin’ Dick! Melville’s mad masterpiece taught me that the classics are classics for a reason, and that your teachers sometimes know what they’re talking about. That a single work could be read with absolutely no attention paid to its subtextual meaning, or with attention paid only to its subtextual meaning, and be fully satisfying either way, showed me just how much could be accomplished by true artistry with the written word.

(6) Studs Terkel’s “Working” because it made me feel OK to be just a tiny part of a huge planet, limitless in imagination and feeling, limited in realities and possibilities, one not of many but of all.

(7) John Updike’s “Rabbit, Run” — just that one, not the sequels — because I was intensely struck by how well it captured the timeless, eternal struggle between love and happiness, and ever-flexible, ever-changing boundaries between the two. Special mention for the more specific but still passionately felt echoes of “The Maples Stories” (a/k/a “Here Come the Maples”).

(8) Finally, a story about storytelling, about which the less known beforehand the better: William Kotzwinkle’s brilliant, chimeric “Fata Morgana“. As I said in my Amazon review: if you cannot enjoy this book, you’ve let yourself get old.

Tags: Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, Members, Milestones
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Member Memories: Our Love of Books | 7 Comments »

Book Lover’s Week – How reading books might just get you a pony!

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

by Mary S. (kilchurn)

I honestly can’t remember the first book I encountered. Ask my mother though, and she’ll tell you that she read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to me every night for over a year. That’s probably why now, over 35 years later, I can recite that poem by heart. According to mom, I made her give Peter Rabbit the same treatment (although I only remember parts of that story, not word for word). I know that I read or had read to me, many, many books during my toddler years. I loved the time spent with my grandmother as she read Little Black Sambo to me (over and over).

It wasn’t until I turned 8 that books took on a new life for me. My next door neighbor got a horse and like all 8 year old little girls, I was enthralled. I begged my mother endlessly for a horse of my own. After what I am sure was an exhausting session of my outlining why I deserved a horse, my mother wisely (or so she thought) told me I could have a horse after I turned 10 and after I had learned everything there was to know about them.

Thus began the “reading for a reward” phase of my life. I ended up going to the one place in my small town where I could find information. The library. I cannot tell you how much time I spent in the Mary Willis Library Non-Fiction section (636.1 to be exact – the HORSE section). I know for a fact that I checked out some of those books so many times that the back and front of many of the book’s checkout cards had my name all over both sides. I should probably also mention that our World Book Encyclopedia H volume opens to the Horse article when you pick it up.

In reading all of those horse books, I stumbled upon young adult “horse” fiction and the works of Walter Farley. I read The Black Stallion first and Alec Ramsey became my hero – I wanted so badly to be him. Not only did he get to travel, but he also got to keep the horse.

photo by Mary - Her name would have been Misty

Marguerite Henry introduced me to Misty of Chincoteague. The story of Paul and Maureen Beebee, who desperately wanted to own Phantom one of Assateague’s illusive mares resonated with me – I wanted a horse almost more than my next breath. So much so that when my mother and sister and I visited Chincoteague during Pony Penning, I used all of my allowance to enter a drawing to win one of the foals, I was going to name her Misty.

These stories of children and their bonds with horses gave me hope that one day I would have a horse of my own. I still have my original copy of Farley’s Man O’ War, one of the few “keeper” books from my childhood. Stormy, Misty’s Foal, Sea Star: The Orphan of Chincoteague, King of the Wind, and San Domingo: The Medicine Hat Stallion also made their way into my Marguerite Henry collection.

Later, I got my first job at the library that had become my horse haven. One of my tasks was re-shelving books that had been returned. During the daily routine of re-shelving books, I noticed “horse” books in the grown-up section of the library. (Keep in mind that to me at that time a “horse” book had a horse picture on it. Bluegrass by Borden Deal and Valley of the Horses by Jean Auel taunted me from the upper shelves. Much to my chagrin, my mother felt that the content was too grown up for me and I was told I couldn’t read those until I was older. Like most kids, I disobeyed and ended up sneaking reads of Bluegrass during downtime at the library. I learned a lot about adult relationships from that book as well as a lot about the horse racing business.

During the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, I told my mother that I wanted to read Valley of the Horses. I remember well the day I went to the big city library to check it out. That night I sat curled up in my rocking chair and reading until the sun came up. I saw myself in Ayla. Both of us had been separated from the only life we’d ever known. Her story inspired me to accept our move from the small town where I grew up to the big city of Atlanta. Her story has become a touchstone for me and even today reminds me that no matter how difficult things become, that I can persevere.

In college, I found romance novels. I read Johanna Lindsey almost exclusively until my junior year. The romantic tales brought comfort to me when I was hundreds of miles from home. They were a great escape from the realities of Composition 101 and British Literature 102.

After moving back to Atlanta, I became infatuated with my family history; my Scottish heritage lead me to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Like so many other readers, I fell in love with Jamie and Claire.

Later, I was sucked in by Robert Jordan’s world building in his Wheel of Time series. I had never thought to try fantasy before, but on a friend’s recommendation I bought the first book in the series, The Eye of the World, in 1998. It sat on my shelf for over two years until we entered the “time without television”. I picked it up and didn’t come up for air until I was completely caught up with the series.

Nowadays, I read fiction for pure pleasure and escapism. JD Robb’s futuristic homicide detective, Eve Dallas is one of my favorite characters. I love how a little part of her changes in every book and sometimes I wish that we all could make that one step forward to become better people.

JR Ward’s stunning vampires in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series are my ultimate fantasy. I never thought I’d want to live in a world inhabited by the undead, but if Caldwell, New York were real, I’d happily be a resident.

I guess what I am saying is that I can’t remember every being without books. From an early age they were and have remained an integral part of my life. While I started with every child’s dream of Christmas every day, my reading tastes have evolved over the years; but that is the wonderful thing about books – there are millions of them – with millions of different things to read about.

P.S. I did get a horse when I was 12. We had 5 wonderful years together before I left for college.

Ziggy and Mary

Tags: Book Lover's Week, Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Member Memories: Our Love of Books | 6 Comments »

Book Lover’s Week – Library Days

Saturday, August 11th, 2012

Michelle's book is Too Many Pockets by Dorothy Levenson

by Michelle H. (mishnpow)

Like I’m sure for most of us here at PBS, my love of books began when I was a child. I don’t specifically remember learning how to read, but I can deduce that it was the year I turned six.

My mom took this picture of me that same year, and this was typical of me at that point (and really, most points) in my life; reading whenever, wherever instead of doing most anything else.

Yes, I was the kid who got in trouble at school for reading too much. As a young reader, my favorite books were old friends I liked to visit again and again. I lost this habit as I got older and realized how many books I had yet to read, and I had to choose wisely because that pesky school kept taking too much time away from my reading.

When I was in 6th grade, I altruistically volunteered to work in my school library, and, of course, was able to legitimately have time to read if all the books had been shelved by the end of the period. It was during this sanctioned down time that I started my favorite book of all time; A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle.

While as an adult I rarely reread books, I’ve reread that book a couple of times; once when I was in college, and more recently when my children were old enough to read it. Each time, by the middle of the second paragraph I felt like I had been transported back to my elementary school library. I could almost smell the books and picture where I was sitting when I started the book.

Right now, I am reading Waiting for Sunrise by Eva Marie Everson. It is a reminder that unless we deal with our past, we can never really leave it behind.

I’m sure people who don’t love to read have things in their lives that trigger emotions in much the same way, but for me there is nothing as powerful as a book.

Tags: Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Member Memories: Our Love of Books | No Comments »

Book Lover’s Week – I’m a (Book) Lover, Not a Fighter

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

By Mirah W. (mwelday)

If there was ever a book nerd in this world, it would be me. And I’m totally fine with the label of book nerd. In fact, I’m quite proud of it. Maybe I should think about getting it on a t-shirt or a personalized license plate. Although, it’s probably pretty obvious. I don’t like to carry a purse unless it’s big enough to hold a book. I’ll read anywhere: the line at the post office, waiting rooms, while on the treadmill or waiting in the car for my husband to get done inside auto parts or home improvement stores.

I developed a book ‘problem’ at a young age. When my schools would have book fairs I would get so excited. They would give out these little newspaper-like brochures to advertise the books available during the book fair and I would scour the list for hours. I would try to maximize my purchase power and get as many good deals as possible. It was fabulous.

These days, PaperBackSwap.com is like my book fair. I’ve lived in some places with not-so-hot public libraries and no bookstores and PBS and my fellow swappers have been lifesavers for me! (I’ll just add this side note: thank you to all of the swappers who were willing to go through the extra step of completing a customs form to send me books while we were stationed overseas. You saved me!) Since books are almost as important as the air I breathe, I thought I would highlight a few of my most memorable reading experiences and favorite authors for Book Lover’s Day (Week).

I don’t know how old I was when my family went to North Carolina for a family event but I remember reading My Brother Sam is Dead during the drive. I can still feel the paperback and see myself in the backseat with my book. I cried and cried while reading it. I think it’s the first time I realized books could create such an emotional response for me.

During my senior year in high school my English teacher made us choose our own books to read for a book report. What did I choose? The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. My teacher was skeptical. It was at least three times longer than most books other students were picking. I mean, it was high school for crying out loud, it wasn’t cool to read books. I read it, I loved it and from then on I swore longer books were better books. I love a long book…getting to know the characters, investing the time, not wanting to part ways with fictional ‘friends’. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some doosies that are long and I don’t want to invest my time in them. I’m sorry Homer, you can go on your own Odyssey, I’ve got other things to read.

And then there’s Lonesome Dove. I tell you, Larry McMurtry was on to a good thing with that one. Sorry if this is all sappy but I think Lonesome Dove changed my life. I felt like a different person when I finished it. After reading it I felt like I’d been let out of some bubble I had been living in. I saw the world as a vast place with different people and different ways of life and I was fascinated. I’ve read it numerous times and every time I cry at the same parts. I know what’s going to happen but I get so involved it’s like it’s a new experience for me each time. Now, that’s a good book, people.

Geez, I could go on and on with this so I’ll just touch on one more author. Where would I be without Jane Austen? Jane’s my girl. I feel like if she was living today I’d totally be her stalker. She was ahead of her time and is an inspiration for me. You know the question people ask at interviews that goes something like: If you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who would they be? Jane would be sitting at my dinner table. I’d even butter her bread for her. Her books are just as relevant today as they were when she wrote them and I can’t get enough. She should probably be a topic of her own blog post because if I really get started on Jane this thing will be a dissertation.

For me, books are an escape. They’ve been an outlet for me for many years and I can’t wait to see what books I will read in the years to come. Whether I am walking through Bath with Anne Elliot, watching the battles of the Revolutionary War, feeling the heat of the Australian outback or going on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana there is always an adventure to be found. And I’m all about a good adventure.

Tags: Book Lover's Week, Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Member Memories: Our Love of Books | 1 Comment »

Book Lover’s Week – Encourage the Young Reader

Tuesday, August 7th, 2012

by Susan G. (crazydoglady)

As a teenager my life was not always the most enjoyable. My mom was divorced from my stepfather, my younger brother (3-1/2 years younger) was in a lot of trouble all the time and my baby brother (7 years younger) had a sleep disorder that made him stay up all night and be a nightmare to get up for school in the morning. Since my mother worked a mandatory fifty-two hours a week plus the extra time she felt she had to put in to be sure the store was run with the efficiency she required, I spent a great deal of my time caring for my brothers, cleaning and cooking.

Books were my safe haven. I would spend hours sitting on our back porch reading and dreaming that I was living the lives of all the characters in these books. I read every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mystery, but quickly outgrew the draw of the young adult series.

Agatha Christie became one of my all time favorites. The Orient Express was the first one I read. After that, I was hooked on mysteries forever. Her writing style took me a bit to get use to, but once I hit the forth chapter, I was rocking.

After reading all of her stories, I scoured the library for every mystery I could find. Still to this day, I look for the mental stimulation and puzzles that Agatha Christie offered me during a time of need.

It hurts my heart when I hear a young person state that they hate to read. I recall how I was never bored, never without something to do and always had a friend hidden between the pages of the current book I was reading.

I have a cousin whose son told me he does not like to read. So I created a reading challenge. I find a book I think will intrigue him, read it, mail it to him and then he must send me daily messages about where he is in the book and what the book is about. We have some awesome conversations. It is funny, he still tells me he does not like to read, but gets very excited when we talk about the book he is currently reading.

We have shared The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini, and the Theodore Boone series by John Grisham. I have enjoyed each of these and my cousin has been very involved in the discussions.

I may not instill a deep love of reading in him, but I feel I am instilling the appreciation of a good story.

I hope that each of you get to share a love of reading with a young person. There really is no better accomplishment!

Tags: Book Lover's Week, Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Member Memories: Our Love of Books | 1 Comment »

Book Lover’s Week – A Life Filled with Books

Monday, August 6th, 2012

by reacherfan1909

Seems like a simple thing, just read every day. Not just the internet, or a newspaper- a book. A habit formed young and never broken. I grew up with two parents that read, so having books around was natural. Dad read mostly sporting magazines and the occasional non-fiction book. Mom was the mystery fan. Earl Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason didn’t just exist on TV, but between the pages of books. The very first book I remember was Donald Duck and the Witch. I made my parents read me that book every night – and I mean EVERY night. I had it memorized, so they didn’t dare skip a page. (They tried!)

So I asked my older brother what book – not the little kids books, but a REAL book, he remembers first reading. He vaguely recalled working away at the Hardy Boys, books on dinosaurs and such, but the first real books he remembers were Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe. For my sister-in law it’s The Happy Hollister’s at Pony Hill Farm (it had a PONY on the cover!) and Ken Ward in the Jungle, and then, like me, she was reading Nancy Drew. I still remember Mom proudly presenting me with The Secret of the Old Clock – and another generation of mystery fans was born. I moved on to Edgar Rice Borroughs’ John Carter of Mars series, while my brother went to Tarzan and his Pellucidar series. But we’d also grown addicted to TV series like Maverick, Bourbon Street Beat, 77 Sunset Strip, and a dozen other ‘must see’ shows.

That’s when it happened. The end of our world as we knew it! The TV died. It was a tragedy of such enormity and epic proportions, it was unthinkable. That’s why we owned TV tables!!!!!!! No 1940’s B mysteries on Saturday afternoon. Worse, no watching Star Trek, a series all my classmates talked about constantly! Our parents united, there would be no new TV. We should go out and play or read.

Wait a minute, since when was reading an issue? Sending us to our rooms as punishment was a waste of time. We had books. I’d read all of Agatha Christie by the 6^th grade, when I also discovered ancient history and archeology thanks to Leonard Cottrell and The Lost Pharaohs, The Bull of Minos, and The Warrior Pharaohs. As alarming as it seems today, I actually READ Gods, Graves, and Scholars by C. W. Ceram in 7^th grade – which cemented an interest in ancient Egyptian history and archaeology, particularly the 18^th and 19^th Dynasties. My brother began collecting ancient Greek and Roman coins and reading the history surrounding them.

Still with no TV. So one summer, at the ripe old age of 13, I decided to try my hand at cooking. Since Mom thought cakes were born in a box with the Duncan Hines label and Bisquick quick breads were advanced cooking, it became me and books in the kitchen. Mom headed for the sofa and another Perry Mason book rarely to be seen in the kitchen again. I added a lot of cookbooks to my shelves.

We went 2 years or more with no TV in the house, as unthinkable then as it is now. It did serve a purpose. Our TV addiction broken, my brother and I have been reading books our whole lives. Books were Christmas and birthday gifts. I got A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price (by my own request) for a gift one year and many books on Egyptian history and archeology. And all these years later, every Christmas, we still exchange books.

When he bought his modest 1827 house in the eastern Berkshires, the first thing my brother did was build custom cabinets in the living room with storage below for his TV and the top 2/3rds bookshelves. He actually collected and re-read all of the Hardy Boys, buying the books published in the 50’s and 60’s so the stories would not be updated. (Ebay can be a wonderful place) And like our mother, he’s a big fan of American history – he better be given where he lives! King Phillip’s War by Eric B Schlutz served as a guide to creating a scenic and historic drive through the Connecticut River Valley and Berkshires for his brass age car group (cars built before 1915 and driven on tours).

For many years I kept a lending library at work in a spare bookcase right outside my office. Anyone could borrow or take books and return them or add their own. Twice a year I’d clear the shelves and give the books to a veteran’s home. But when I left corporate America to work for myself, I quickly had the books piling up despite my best efforts at giving them away by the case to neighbors. Still I have too many books. Despite two huge floor to ceiling bookshelves packed solid with books, it’s beginning to look like some demented book hoarder lives here. Throwing away books, unless damaged beyond use, is simply not in my genes.

A house without books looks barren to me. If I were rich, it wouldn’t be a media room I’d add, it would be a library. Stacks of books are everywhere around me, some read and ready to ship out in swaps. Some collecting for shipping to my brother and sister-in-law. And way too many on Mt TBR. Favorite re-reads sit on my nightstands.

Books have brought more than knowledge and entertainment in my life, they lead to travel to see things for myself. My love of English and Egyptian lead me England and Scotland and a few years later to Egypt, Greece, and Turkey – a trip that remains a highlight of all my travels in the world. When I walk through museums, I know more about what I’m seeing and where it fits in history. When I visited new countries, I read up on them and their history and customs. They set us dreaming, or maybe just teach why you need to sautéed onion and garlic, or how to prepare a garden for planting or build a stacked stone wall. Practical or fantasy, they’re treasures and a love of reading is a great gift to give your kids – even if they do have hysterics about being, “THE ONLY KIDS WHO DON’T SEE STAR TREK!”

But favorite books, the ones we read again and again, and great books aren’t always the same thing. Lists of favorites that are also great reads are so hard to cull to a few, but here are some of mine:

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey