Books, Books, Books!

{images clockwise, from top left, via here, vintage books, carefree log*, and le flash}

I love books! Bookstores are among my favorite places... My husband and I often spend our date nights at Half Price Books. My kids and I love an outing to the library. Simply put, I'm a sucker for books. I read a variety of genres, but my top picks would be memoirs (other people's lives are so facinating!) and self reflection books (I suppose my life is interesting too). 

I tend to have two books going at all times, one is generally for pleasure and the other is an improvement type book. Occasionally I dive head first into a stack of books at one time and find myself overwhelmed by the information and desire for more time to read (I'm not the fastest of readers). Right now is one of those times... I'm in the midst of 4 books, and I'm clamoring to find the time I'd like to devote to each one. Here are the pages that have my attention at the moment:

To satisfy the parent in me, I'm reading Honey For A Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt. Oh, how I'm loving this book! The first half of the book goes into the benefits of reading to your children and encourages reading together as a family. The second half of the book lists great literature for kids of all ages. 

As a family we're reading Doll People by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, and we are all thoroughly enjoying this one. It's a mixture of mystery, fantasy, and adventure, telling a story of an 8 year old doll girl who's been living in a doll house for over 100 years. My daughter wakes up asking to read more of this and both my husband and I are right along with her. The time together as a family is priceless.

For me, I'm reading Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'm only finishing up chapter 2, and it's already got me on a self-reflective journey. I can see how this book could work is so many people's lives.

And just for fun, I'm reading Jodi Piccoult's Mercy. I'm not sure what my review will be of this one. I've read 4 of her books. I've loved 2 (My Sister's Keeper and Plain Truth) and strongly disliked 2 (The Tenth Circle and I can't remember the name of the other). I've just started this one, so we'll see.

Oh, and you know what? I was wrong. I'm reading one more book, so make that a total of 5. My sweet, little toddler (who is prone to throwing fits and holding his breath until he passes out) has got me quite into Love and Logic Magic For Early Childhood. I value the Love and Logic philosophy of giving kids choices, so I'm hoping to pick up some pearls to help with my spirited little guy.

I've been using Goodreads to keep track of my books I've read, as well as books I'd like to read. It's a neat site to see what others are reading and recommending... Kind of like a social book cataloging system. 

Do you have any books that you recommend, for when I make it though my current stack?

I recently finished this memior and really enjoyed it: The Best of Friends: Two Women, Two Continents, and One Enduring Friendship by Sara James and Ginger Mauney.

Happy Tuesday to you!