As I was talking to a friend of mine who I consider to be considerably above average when it comes to All Things Cool, he mentioned that he had been obsessed with music all his life, and in fact, he hesitated to say, he had sort of let it direct his life. As I pondered this (most things he says are worth pondering) I realized that I was like him in a way--but with books. Growing up I adored books, I ate, slept and drank them. Events in my life--styles I followed, personalities I took on--can all be traced back to books I was reading at the time. I remember my friend Cara and I agreeing that finishing a book was like ending a part of our lives. We would engage ourselves in these novels to where we didn't recognize the real world around us and when the book was over...what then?? Withdrawals and a serious reality check. I have, since then, (thankfully) learned to control this emotional emersion into the fictional world (as well as non-fiction-which I have recently found to be entertaining, much to my surprise) yet I still find myself pulling things out of these books and adopting them while being highly entertained and still able to move on with my actual Life after the last page has been turned. So the point of this entire ramble is to tell you that I have decided to start a book club. And perhaps throw in a couple lists of highly recommended books that have molded my life-just a little :)
First- Books I adore and recommend
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn- Betty Smith (extra good)
2. A Seperate Peace- John Knowles
3. Ella Enchanted- Gail Carson Levine
4. The Little Prince- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
5. A Great and Terrible Beauty series- Libba Bray
6. The Secret Garden- Frances Hodgson Burnett
7. The Two Princesses of Bamarre- Gail Carson Levine
8. The Sunflower- Richard Paul Evans
9. Double Date (series)- Rosamond Du Jardin
10. The Phantom Tollbooth- Norton Juster
ps. Try reading The Secret Garden with the Charly soundtrack (instrumental tracks) in the backround-seriously-try it.
These are just ten I could think of on the top of my head, I'll make another list when other gems come to mind
and for this week's Book Club Book:
There's a Pizza Back in Cleveland by Hope Campell and Mary Anderson
Happy Reading!
