Good Reads

I heard someone say one time that life is too short to read a bad book. Boy were they right about that. I recently started going to a book club. The last book we read for the club was Christmas Jars by Jason Wright...Two thumbs down, people, two thumbs down. The only good thing about the book is that it did help me get into the Christmas spirit a little bit. I've been having trouble getting into the spirit of things this Christmas season, not sure why. But luckily, this weekend I was able to get a little excited about the holidays, thanks in part to my mom's fantastic Christmas decorations. She always does a great job filling the house with lots of cozy Christmas decor. Okay, lemme see, I'm digressing away from the purpose of this post. Well, since I had the unfortunate experience of reading a bad book this past month, I thought I'd re-read some of my favorites to get the bad taste out of my mouth, so to speak. So here are some of my all-time favorites and why. If you've never read these, I urge you to try 'em out, 'cause they're great and won't be a waste of time, promise.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This book is cool 'cause it has a really captivating story, and it's about time travel, awesome. Henry travels through time involuntarily and meets up with Clare, who doesn't travel through time. The problem is that Henry really digs Clare but can't keep from traveling through time at really inconvenient junctures in their relationship. And no, this story isn't like Quantum Leap, in case anyone is thinking that. Anyway, this isn't just another sappy love story. The character development is great, and the author manages to seamlessly transition from one time period to the next.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

This book is about a boy who is charged with murder and how he and his family deal with that whole thing. It's written beautifully and shows how families need to stick together to get through hard times. It's also about the bond between brothers, faith, and the strength you can gain from the love your family has for you. Read it!

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

This book's hilarious. It's a collection of short stories, and each one is so much fun to read. All the stories are taken from true events in Sedaris' life. The writing is really witty and very, very funny. I'll definitely be re-reading this one, for like, the 20th time.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Here's Lukey reading Chronicle. Sorry you can't see the cover art. Luke's super advanced for his age and let me know that next up on his reading list is Love in the Time of Cholera, another one of Marquez's books. And there's Maya catching up on some reading of her own. Right now she's reading a couple books from the Barney series, even though I told her that Barney is sooo ten years ago. She didn't seem to care though. Okay, Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a trip. The story is about murder, weddings, lies, revenge, love, hate, crazy people running through town squares, etc. And for those of you who don't like long books, this is a must read, 'cause it's only about 140 pages long.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

I'm sure you've probably read this one before. But if you're having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit, like me, you should think about re-reading this. I think this is my favorite book about Santa Claus and the spirit of Christmas. The animated adaptation of the story they made a couple years back with Tom Hanks creeped me out a little, but I'm still a huge fan of the book. And the illustrations are so cool.

Happy Reading and Merry Christmas!