Because of Winn Dixie

by Kate Dicamillo...it was a great book. My goddaughter told me about this book as have several other people both kids and adults. It has been on my to read list for awhile now...I have never seen the movie. I loved the characters. I especially liked that one of the main characters was a LIBRARIAN!! I always like that...although the stereotype was a little off putting. A young girl finds a dog in the grocery...and what happens next is something you need to read for yourself. Read this to your children, read this yourself...it is a great story.

Eleven, Second Chance and 40 Days to Personal Revolution

So, what a combination of books this time....I should say right away that I lost interest in Second Chance by Jane Green. I have liked a couple of her other books...but I was either not in the mood or bored with the topic...needless to say I made it through about half of the book before I gave it up...

Eleven by Lauren Myracle...a very cute book about a girl growing up, older sister, learning about friendships and friends, who are your true ones and who aren't. LOVED it...thought it was great to recommend to the middle school or grade school age...what is great is there are TWELVE and THIRTEEN as well which I am sure are just as good. However, don't confuse Lauren Myracle's other books...ttfn, ttyl and l8r g8r with the previous books...these are great if you want to learn texting quickly...but are not really intended for all young audiences. EXTREMELY popular with teens...maybe not so popular with parents...and you know how I feel about it...they can read whatever they are interested in, I don't think it will change who they are or what they believe in!

And Finally, 40 Days to Personal Revolution by Baron Baptiste...I am reading this book and re-reading it as I embark on a 40 days of yoga practice at my local gym. I love this book because it takes some of the mysticism out of yoga and relates it to us regular folks without being too out there! I have read it through once...and part of my practice will have me rereading it throughout the next 6 weeks!

Freak

By Marcella Pixley...so, where you the person in school that everyone picked on for being too different? Miriam Fisher used to be best of friends with her older sister Deborah, but now Deborah is pretty and popular and doesn't want to be seen around her younger sister. This was a short read...I finished in a little under 45 minutes. I LOVED it!! Miriam is likable and different enough and she does have a great friend. Her protagonist is a girl named Jenny (a girl that takes after several girls I knew in High School)...the relationship between them, Miriam and her sister and then the relationship Miriam has with Artie, a boy who comes to live with them for his senior year is incredible...I recommend this to both teens and adults!!

Rumors A Luxe Novel

By Anna Godbersen...okay, just as great, scandalous, and racy as the first one. I recommend this if you love the GOSSIP GIRL books and/or TV show! I know this takes place in 1899 but trust me the twists and turns of the relationships and people in this novel are just as racy and the outfits are too cool! I am anxiously awaiting another one in this series...and I may go back and rethink what I thought about Libba Bray's trilogy. I read most of the first book and while it was OKAY...I wouldn't say that I LOVED it. Maybe I will go back and give it another chance. After all the clothing was cool in that series as well! These definitely remind me of a more racy version of the Phillipa Gregory and Phyllis Whitney books I read as a teen!

The Shack

by William P Young....Where do I begin? I was recommended this book by several friends and library patrons. So...the back of the book states (according to Amazon.com) Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!

So, I wondered if this book would be similar to THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho, which was recommended to me by several people a few years ago. I read it...and while it definitely had some religious overtones...it could be read as an independent story. And, I would recommend reading it if you haven't already! This book definitely is not like that. This is definitely the book for you if you need a boost in your faith, or have been plagued with questions about why there is tragedy in the world...it is definitely a Christian based book...so other religions aren't necessarily discounted...but they aren't necessarily embraced either.

So what did I think? If you are easily offended...quit reading now!

I have had a tough relationship with religion...I grew up in a strict, nondenominational Christian home...when I say strict...I mean long hair, skirts, no makeup, no dancing of any kind, no instrumental music of any kind and especially not of a religious nature...could only sing religious songs...with the instrument of your voice. No mixed swimming, no drinking, no cussing, no drugs or sex of any kind...okay so not a bad lifestyle at all. I attended church services three times a week and often went to weekly gospel meetings. NOTHING could interfere with this...not school, not vacation, nothing. So, was I exposed to other beliefs, yes, I was, my parents felt I should be a believer because I believed not because it was expected of me...It is hard to explain it to people who haven't ever grown up in this type of background. Not to be confused with other restrictive Christian religions. And...from about birth to age 24 I was very much into it, was baptized, taught Sunday school...and then something happened...something that shook my faith to the core...I am not sure if I should explain that here...and in fact I won't, but in simple terms, I guess I would explain it as the world got hold of me and drug me out of the church...or something like that. And now, for as much faith as I thought I had at age 20, I am the opposite now. I wrestle with it constantly. I am not necessarily judging those who do embrace it...but I have difficulty with religion now,and have had difficulty for the last 15 years or so...maybe not so much with the idea of God...or Buddha or Allah, or anyone who is the higher power...but what our fellow man does with that idea. So, reading this book was like looking back into my past...and explanations of things that I already know are there...but written in a different fashion. A man who wrestles with his faith meets, the holy trinity...and that is explained as well. I am not sure what I expected to happen as I read the book...but it didn't suck me in and I wasn't feeling a renewed sense of faith when I finished. However, I will bet more than 80 percent of those who read it will feel that. I did like the part about the judging...people judging each other, God...it was a great chapter. So, I recommend this book to my religious friends...read it and embrace it! For the rest of you...you may or may not like it, understand it or even want to read it.

SMASHED

Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas. Okay, I read this because I am on a roll reading memoirs of people experiencing total chaos! I was told I should read it and I have always been a little curious about the book. I really liked it...not because it was happy or uplifting but because it talks about someones descent into a relationship with alcohol. She starts experimenting at 14 years old and by college she is drinking and blacking out and getting into all kinds of trouble. I think kids at 14 should read this, even younger. When I was that age I wasn't even thinking about alcohol, but I grew up in a house where none was ever around, my parents didn't drink, my grandparents didn't drink...when I was introduced to alcohol at 16 I said no, my friends respected me for it and I didn't really think about alcohol much again until I was in my 20s...24 to be exact. I spent two years drinking EVERY day...which looking back on it now seems odd, but I think I reached a point in my life where I couldn't deal. And...as abruptly as I started, at 26 I stopped. Okay, I still drink, but not excessively and not with the same emotions I did in my 20s. What is most inspiring about the book is that at some point she does decide that this isn't really for her and that she should stop...and how she does it. I think parents of kids should read this as well...maybe to prepare themselves for what could be...and the way that a kid can pull the wool over a parent's eyes no matter how much the parent thinks they know their kid. This book definitely brought up some demons in my past...and maybe it will for you as well. I think it is something people should read...and maybe discover that you don't have to be an alcoholic to abuse alcohol.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

by Sophie Kinsella...okay just finished this book today. LOVED IT!! I think this is another guilty pleasure like some of the other books I read...GOSSIP GIRLS, THE LUXE, etc. I am not quite the shopaholic that our character Rebecca is...but there was a time when I did my own damage shopping too much and so I could relate. I thought this was an interesting fiction take on Save Karyn's real life problem! When I heard they were making this into a movie I KNEW I had to read it first. Okay, so this is SOOOOO Chick Lit...but fun and definitely worth the time to read. Now, will I continue and read the other books in this series, probably not...but who knows! I did borrow this book from the library and as fate would have it...my husband left the windshield wiper fluid in the back of his car...I threw my bag in the back of his car and TA DA...I ruined a library book and will be paying for it this week! This will add to my laundry list of other ways I have had to replace a library book...one went in the tub...one got lost in the car...and I found it 3 days after paying for it...and my other favorite...eating while reading, dumped an entire Pepsi on a book. So yes, even Librarians pay for books!

Peter and the Shadowthieves

By Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson...read by Jim Dale. Okay, just finished listening to this one today. Started it about 2 weeks ago...didn't get as far as I would have liked. Took it on the road trip to Seattle with me...and made my husband and brother-in-law listen to it with me. Turns out they were interested in it as well. Again...it is a retelling of Peter Pan...or in some cases a completely new telling. I met one of the Darlings in this one!! And...it was just as good as the first one. I have been told to read a couple other retellings of Peter Pan, and I promise to get to them! I am anticipating the third book in this series but probably won't get to it for a little while! I listened to it yesterday and today while cleaning and taking down the Christmas decorations! It definitely helped keep me motivated! I should listen to books more often when I am working around the apartment!

The Luxe

by Anna Godbersen...okay, I must confess I read this book because it is being CHALLENGED (for those of you not in the Library world, this means that someone read this book and has asked for it to be removed or reconsidered from the Library collection). So, of course my interest was definitely piqued. All of the reviews I read recommended it for young adult readers and didn't really say anything negative about it...so I had to dig deeper. Anyway...I was 48 pages into it before someone lit a cigar or cigarette...which was one of the concerns....this book takes place in 1899...a time when most people were thinking more about how they appeared to others and less about health. Okay...so this book is a turn of the 20th century book with a lot of themes similar to GOSSIP GIRLS (a little more modern version of the same group of people). I must confess I LOVED this book...I can't wait to read the next one...and I never would have picked it up had it not been challenged at all. Interesting. As a teen I would have TOTALLY read this book. I was into the bodice ripping romance, historical romance, doomed lovers, etc at 16 years of age. I will also share that reading about sex at 16 didn't influence me to HAVE sex. But the sex scenes aren't particularly explicit and while there is drinking, partying, etc...I would say this was par for the course in this time period. The thing that REALLY hooked me was that it seems that each chapter starts with a quote from something from that time period, whether literature, magazines or newspapers from that era. I thought that was especially cool. This has made me curious about the reference to drinking, smoking, drugs and sex in many of the classics and literature that we tag as something everyone should read! So...I am on a hunt...do you know if your favorite classic or piece of literature has references to any of these things? If so, please share. I have to say that when I read something, this is not what sticks out in my mind...it is the plot, the characters and the outcome...anything that happens extra I sometimes don't notice as much...maybe I should.