I'm usually awake well past 1 a.m. because that's when I actually find time to read for pleasure. You know, after a day of working, writing, blogging, responding to emails, taking care of the children, cleaning the house, helping with homework, and catching up on Mad Men/Homeland/Downton Abbey? Right.
My love affair with books and reading began in grade three (or four) when I read Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume. I was never without a book in hand, and I read Wuthering Heights when I was 14 and vacationing in England, thinking it was the perfect backdrop to the story.
Just like music soothes the soul, I find reading has the same effect, unless you're reading 50 Shades of Grey. Seriously, the amount of errors in that book were too many to count and also, it was pretty much the worst book ever written. Sexy? More like... shudder. Let's not get into all that I disliked about that book; read this awesome post if you want to know how I really feel about 50 Shades Of Eye-Roll.
I love picking up a book and getting lost in the story, but I hate coming to the end of a great book. I sometimes find it hard to start a new book right away, for fear that I'll forget the book I just finished. I have several favourite books I read again and again, though, because they're so great... and because reading them once just wasn't enough.
Here's a list of some of the books that have a special place on my bookcase:
The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) - This is one of my favourite books of all time. I love Paulo Coelho, and his writing is poetic. These are just a few of the quotes I love from the book:
"The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
“I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
A Prayer For Owen Meany (John Irving) - Irving is one of my favourite authors. The World According To Garp, The Cider House Rules, and A Prayer For Owen Meany are all favourite books of mine, and if you're like me, you won't be able to put down this book, not even to check twitter in between pages. It's really thought-provoking and very captivating... you'll be lost in this story from the very first page.
Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) - I actually can't read Angela's Ashes again, because it's too sad, but I remember everything about this book—it has really stayed with me and I recommend it to all my friends. It's worth the read, even though it's the most depressing autobiography I've read.
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”
Despite living a poverty-stricket life, and despite going through so much personal tragedy, Frank McCourt went on to become a teacher, and a bestselling author.
Water For Elephants (Sara Gruen) - I'm not into romance books, but this book was beautiful and touching and lovely, and well, you really should read it, and then you really should see the movie, because, well, Robert Pattinson.
Other books worth adding to the your home library, not including the Twilight series and The Hunger Games trilogy? (Don't lie—I know you have those books somewhere in your home!)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
The Stand (Stephen King)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The Help (Kathryn Stockett)
This is, of course, just a sampling of the book I love to read.
What books are in your top ten?
What book do you always suggest friends read?
What is on your night table right now?
My love affair with books and reading began in grade three (or four) when I read Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume. I was never without a book in hand, and I read Wuthering Heights when I was 14 and vacationing in England, thinking it was the perfect backdrop to the story.
Just like music soothes the soul, I find reading has the same effect, unless you're reading 50 Shades of Grey. Seriously, the amount of errors in that book were too many to count and also, it was pretty much the worst book ever written. Sexy? More like... shudder. Let's not get into all that I disliked about that book; read this awesome post if you want to know how I really feel about 50 Shades Of Eye-Roll.
I love picking up a book and getting lost in the story, but I hate coming to the end of a great book. I sometimes find it hard to start a new book right away, for fear that I'll forget the book I just finished. I have several favourite books I read again and again, though, because they're so great... and because reading them once just wasn't enough.
Here's a list of some of the books that have a special place on my bookcase:
The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) - This is one of my favourite books of all time. I love Paulo Coelho, and his writing is poetic. These are just a few of the quotes I love from the book:
"The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
“I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
A Prayer For Owen Meany (John Irving) - Irving is one of my favourite authors. The World According To Garp, The Cider House Rules, and A Prayer For Owen Meany are all favourite books of mine, and if you're like me, you won't be able to put down this book, not even to check twitter in between pages. It's really thought-provoking and very captivating... you'll be lost in this story from the very first page.
Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) - I actually can't read Angela's Ashes again, because it's too sad, but I remember everything about this book—it has really stayed with me and I recommend it to all my friends. It's worth the read, even though it's the most depressing autobiography I've read.
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”
Despite living a poverty-stricket life, and despite going through so much personal tragedy, Frank McCourt went on to become a teacher, and a bestselling author.
Water For Elephants (Sara Gruen) - I'm not into romance books, but this book was beautiful and touching and lovely, and well, you really should read it, and then you really should see the movie, because, well, Robert Pattinson.
Other books worth adding to the your home library, not including the Twilight series and The Hunger Games trilogy? (Don't lie—I know you have those books somewhere in your home!)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
The Stand (Stephen King)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The Help (Kathryn Stockett)
This is, of course, just a sampling of the book I love to read.
What books are in your top ten?
What book do you always suggest friends read?
What is on your night table right now?
Comments
The Virgin Cure by Amy McKay
Firestarter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte
and
The No Asshole Rule by Robert I. Sutton
And my request list from the library is long!
Top of my request list is:
Girl at the Lion D'or by Sebastian Faulks. Years ago I read AND LOVED Birdsong by him. I was looking for it to reread and discovered it was the second in a trilogy, "Girl" being the first. I can't wait to dig into those!
Great list. Mine is too long to mention on here but I talk about the books I love (and read and re-read) and the new ones I find and fall in love with all the time on my blog. I just finished The Art Forger and you should read it, it was completely amazing!!
Franny and Zooey. LOVE.
Love in the Time of Cholera.
The History of Love.