reading

I love to read. I remember being so excited to start kindergarten because my mom told me I would learn to read in school. Reading came easily to me and I could often be found reading a book. My dad promised to buy me any book I wanted to read. I loved Dr. Seuss books. The Witches and Matilda by Roald Dahl were some of my all time favorite books. Shel Silverstein introduced me to poetry and The Giving Tree gives so many life lessons. I had a wonderful and unique reading/language arts teacher in 8th grade. I remember her giving a book talk about this book One Child by Torey Hayden. The way she talked about this book had every person in the class chomping at the bit to read this book. She told us it would make you sad, mad, and happy. I couldn't wait to read it. She had only a few copies of the book to share with us so we would have to sign up and wait our turn. Waiting is not my middle name. Impatient is my middle name :) So since I was impatient and couldn't wait to read it I told my dad about the situation. Then we were on the way to Barnes and Noble.

Now in high school my love of reading wavered. I wasn't a fan of being told what to read. I didn't agree with the choices, because some of the books didn't interest me whatsoever. Travels with Charlie by Steinbeck was boring. East of Eden was incredibly long and I thought I would never finish that book. I didn't like it either. Angela's Ashes was terrible, and I thought it was gross and inappropriate. I was utterly confused by Lord of the Flies. I had no clue what was going on in that book. Each year of high school I would consider taking regular English instead of honors based on the quantity of books we had to read. In the end I stayed in honors because that is where my friends were. I was rewarded in 12th grade with another amazing teacher who made British literature as interesting as possible, and I think I learned more in that class than any other English class I ever took.

There were some books that I was forced to read in high school that I really liked such as To Kill A Mocking Bird and The Great Gatsby although my 11th grade teacher nearly ruined TGG by constantly discussing the significance of Fitzgerald's choice in colors. That was the other reason my love for reading wavered. I didn't like the idea of analyzing why an author chose a particular color, action, etc. I kept thinking maybe he just likes the color blue! 

During high school I saw movie trailer for A Walk to Remember. I thought it would be a great movie to see. I mentioned it to a friend who informed me it was actually a book written by Nicholas Sparks. A quick trip to Barnes and Noble and the book was mine. I loved it and then was so excited to see the movie. Of course the book was 10x better than the movie. Thus began my rule of reading the book before seeing the movie. This rule has only been broken on a handful of occasions (Dear John is the only one that comes to mind). I know that if I see the movie first I have NO incentive to read the book.Back to Nicholas Sparks, I have read lots of his books. The most recent Sparks book I was The Last Song, because I saw the previews for the movie and I was sold. It was a really touching book and not his traditional romantic book. I saw the movie with my mom, Becca, Ryan, and some more family friends.

Becca sat by me and got to hear me say over and over again, "That's not what happened in the book." That movie combined with my comments about the differences between the book and movie was enough to cause her to read the book over a year after we saw the movie. Becca has never been a "reader." She wasn't the child who was in tears over not learning to read on the first day of kindergarten. School didn't come easy to her, and that is especially true with reading. Statistics say if a child is behind grade level in reading after the 3rd grade that it is nearly impossible to catch up. Becca started 5th grade reading on a 3rd grade level. Becca's very special and finished 6th grade reading on grade level. This summer she discovered reading again. It had been YEARS since she read an entire book and especially reading a book by choice. She read The Last Song, Something Borrowed, and she is currently reading Something Blue. She borrowed some of my Nicholas Sparks books so I am hopeful that she keeps reading. I read Something Borrowed years ago and I saw the movie back in May when it came out. I then read the sequel Something Blue  this summer. I like Emily Giffin's books, but both (Something Borrowed and Something Blue) had themes of cheating which I find so morally wrong that I don't want to read anything else from her unless someone can promise me that cheating isn't a part of the storyline.

Along with Something Blue, I read a lot of books this summer. I finally finished Little Bitty Lies by Mary Kay Andrews. I had started it the previous summer and I would take it with me anytime I had work done on my car. I struggle to find time to read during the school year so I made it a priority to finally finish it this summer. I also read Savannah Breeze (the sequel to Savannah Blues) and I want to read the last one Blue Christmas this Christmas. I loved The Fixer Upper almost as much as I loved Andrews' book Hissy Fit, because I love the term hissy fit and I have been known to throw a few hissy fits in my life.

I also started reading the Hunger Games trilogy. I had heard about the book. I had friends who highly recommended the book. I had heard the premise of the book and I honestly didn't think it sounded like something I would like. However, I trust their judgement so off to Barnes and Noble I went. As a side note, I found out the first book was one of the summer reading books for 11th grade English at BJ. I was way jealous. HG was a lot better than East of Eden! Upside to that was it helped me save 20% with my teacher discount card at BN. I have read through the first two books of the trilogy, and I love them! Peeta v. Gale? Peeta all the way. I started Mockingjay, the 3rd and final book, last night. I am going to find/make time to finish and read a book during the school year.

Other favorite books not already mentioned...
The Twilight series. I read through the whole series twice and I read Eclipse at least one more time after that. I read the series during a difficult time in my life and it brought me joy.
The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Very sci-fi which is not my usaul cup of tea, but once I got into to it I loved it and couldn't put it down.
The Series of Unfortunate Events. I had to read the first book for a children's literature class. I finished it in two hours and I was hooked. 12 books later I was done with the series.
Freckle Juice. It's always my first chapter book to read to my students. In 2nd grade a classmate wrote me a note (as part of an assignment) and he complimented me on my freckles. Before that I wasn't a big fan of my freckles, but after that I wouldn't trade them.
Junie B. Jones. I love reading Junie B. books aloud to my class! I yell everytime Junie B. yells, and the kids love it.
Ready Freddy. If Junie B. is for the girls, Freddy is for the boys. The Pumpkin Elf Mystery is the class favorite.
American Girl series. Samantha and Kirsten were my favorites. These books are about the only historical books I ever enjoyed.

Here's are the books I plan to read next...
Deep Dish and Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
The last book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series (Thank you Rachel for letting me know this even exists)
The Help I figure if the movie is so great the book must be better
Harry Potter....maybe. I might give in and try and read it again. I read the first 50 pages for a children's literature class. I didn't like it at all.
Redeeming Love...maybe. It's historical which is not my favorite genre, but everyone I know who has read it absolutely loves it.
I am open to any suggestions :)

P.S. There is nothing I love more than staying up late reading a great book because I simply can't put the book down and go to bed. Pure joy!