I am currently reading all of the following...
Horns
A Time to Kill
The Far Pavilions
and
Wives and Daughters
Its a strange place I find myself in. Usually I can't stand to read more than one book at a time. So how did I get to FOUR? I couldn't tell you. But it made me think about how interesting and varied everyone's different reading habits are. How many books do you guys usually try to read at once?
(Note: I didn't make The Far Pavilions picture bigger on purpose, but so far it is my favorite of the four...and possibly my favorite of the year so far. We'll call it a fortunate mistake.)
Dangerous Times
I used to be a member of BookMooch a long time ago but all that sending books out all over the world started to make my bank account look a little unhealthy so I donated all my points to some charity and quit my account for good!
Well, I have returned to the addiction, put up 14 books tenderly selecting the option that people ask me if they are from abroad. Naturally putting up 14 books all at once is a mistake, I knew it was of course but I'm as addicted to giving books away as I am acquiring them. I already have 8 points. I need to go down the post office tomorrow and mail off some books then wait until I have some more cash to mail off some more.
Oh dear.
1. Harry Potter series
Seriously. I know they're everyone's favorite books...but its because they're AWESOME. I could probably spend like 3 days just talking about all the ways these books are wonderful and all the reasons I love them. If you haven't read them...you're stupid. If you have, then you understand.
2. Anne of Green Gables series
Such gorgeous books. Anne was my first book love, and she continues her reign at the top. I love her so much. I read these books over and over again and love them just as much every single time. Also, don't tell Fiona, but Anne could kick Cassandra's (from I Capture the Castle) boo-tay.
3. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
A beautiful love story with a fast-paced and interesting historical fiction plot. I think this book has something for everyone, and it is one of my favorite books to push on unsuspecting victims. Of course the series is still continuing and is now ridiculously long...who cares. This one stands alone pretty well, you don't have to commit yourself to all 5 years of Outlander series reading time at once.
4. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
I list this in my top 5 because A) I need a classic in here so I don't look like a dummy B) I like it better than Pride and Prejudice and I love telling people about how Mr. Thornton could take Mr. Darcy in a sexy hero competition any day (bring it on!) and C) it just really is darn good.
5. A 3-way fantasy tie between The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, the first 3 books in the Kushiel trilogy by Jacqueline Carey and the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
They are all fantastic, brilliant, and epic. They're all monumentally different from each other. I have a gargantuan author crush on Patrick Rothfuss (ask anyone), the Kushiel trilogy is radically different then anything else I've ever read, and Brandon Sanderson has already pretty much set himself up as an all time great epic fantasy author.
I have read so much good stuff in the past year though...I always want to add them to the list. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Soulless by Gail Carriger, and Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost all get Honorable Mentions.
I sincerely love and admire Edgar A. Guest and shall share a poem of his with you this lovely Monday.
Ballad of Woman's Lot
These are matters of mome small:
Whether the soup be burned or no,
Hair in papers when visitors call,
Bills too high and the purse too low,
Is it for children a proper show?
How can steak for the meal be got?
What to do for a stone-bruised toe?
Yet all are part of a woman's lot!
Man would flee from these troubles all:
Wehre do the new baked cookies go?
Thumb prints smeared on the parlor wall,
Stockings to mend and buttons to sew,
What of the clock, is it fast or slow?
A new cloth spoiled by an inky spot,
A baseball knocked where the zinnias grow,
Yet all are part of a woman's lot!
Into a megrim a man would fall
If he had worries like these to know:
Roller skates left in the dim-lit hall,
Books to be placed in a perfect row,
Birthday and wedding gifts to bestow,
Care of platter and pan and pot,
A victory garden to water and hoe!
Yet all are part of a woman's Lot!
Envoi!
Prince, the braggarts who loudest blow
Would faint through weather be cold or hot
Were life such troubles at them to throw
Yet all are part of a woman's lot!
