What To Do If You Hate the Book You Are Reading

We've all been there. You've picked up a book with high hopes--it's the latest bestseller, a beloved classic or a friend's passionate recommendation. Yet, as you flip through the pages, you feel a sinking realization: you hate it. Maybe the characters are shallow, the plot drags, or the writing style doesn't resonate. Instead of powering through in misery, it's time to take a step back and reassess. Here's how to handle this situation and make your reading journey more enjoyable.

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Books I'd Recommend to Friends

I'm a voracious reader. Always have been. I love our local public library. And honestly, it doesn't have to be my current local library, I just love all local libraries! I have lived in a handful of different places in my life and I can distinctly remember every single library in every single place I've lived. Being surrounded by books makes me happy. If I hear a conversation about books, I have the hardest time not diving in. I take notes when people tell me what they are reading and I jump in and share my favorites too. This end of the year book recap has become a reader favorite here at RachelTeodoro.com and I look forward to sharing my favorites with you. I'm sharing all the books I read this year, and breaking them down into categories. I even made a running list of books the were recommended to me, but that I just thought were meh, so you can use your own discretion on those! So get out that list and take some notes...you'll find some good ones to read in the coming year. I promise!

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10 MORE Books I Always Recommend to Friends

I feel like maybe I missed my calling as a librarian. One of my favorite questions to ask people is "what are you reading?" I read a lot of books. I always have. But sometimes when I get asked about books I draw a blank. Does that ever happen to you? A few years ago, I created a list of 10+ books I always recommend to friends and that list has exploded! It's been shared and read and pinned hundreds of thousands of times. I thought it was time for an update! Here are 10 more books I always recommend to friends. 

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How to Find What to Read Next

Have you just finished up a series you’ve been reading? Maybe you are looking for a good book and don't have time to waste on something you can't get into. Like Goldilocks, it can be a challenge to find the perfect book. However, there are so many great ways to get some help on where to find your next best read! If you’re looking for inspiration to help you discover what to read next, here are my top picks!

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Top Beach Reads and Tips For Picking a Great Beach Read Book

During the summer months, I spend a lot of time on the beach. Having the perfect book to read while soaking up the sun is a must for me, and having a great beach read is essential in every beach bag I pack. After all, why waste your time in the sun with a boring book? Because people know I'm a reader, I often get asked about my top picks for books. It' beach read season and these are my top beach reads I'd recommend!

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Top Books To Read in the New Year

I have always been a reader. I loved silent reading days in school and as a kid, I remember buying a hammock at a garage sale, hanging it up between trees in our backyard, and curling up for hours with the girls from the Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High. If I hear a conversation about books, I generally join in and take notes. I love hearing not only what others are reading, but what others are loving! And since we don't all have a lot of extra time, I want to recommend books that people will love and want to take the time to read. So I put together a list of my top favorite books that I read this year. There is not a single book on this list that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. Welcome to the top books to read in the new year, Rachel edition!

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7 Ways to Find More Time to Read

Reading is not only a great and inexpensive hobby, but it’s also a great way to relax and unwind at the end of a long day. Whether you prefer to dive into mystery, romance, or just reread the classics, it can be hard not to get lost in a good book. However, it can start to feel like there is never enough time to get lost in reading these days when it comes to time. Here are a few ways to help you find more time to read, no matter how busy you are.

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Create a Reading Nook for Kids Using What You Have

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Activate. I have read to my kids since they were young in an attempt to create life-long readers. It's getting harder and harder now that books have to compete with hand-held screens but I'm doing my best to try! Summer is the perfect time to encourage reading since study after study has shown that children who don't read over the summer decline or stagnate in their reading abilities. You don't want all that hard work during the school year to be undone during those dog days of summer now do you? So I'm sharing how I created a reading nook in my home that is encouraging my kids to pick up a good book and curl up for the afternoon. There is nothing fancy about it and I'm showing you how!

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20 of the best books that will encourage your elementary age kids to become readers

The days are ticking by. There is a countdown going. We have barely a month to squeeze every bit of fun out of this summer that we can. In no time, the kids will be heading back to school and I will start substitute teaching again.

Last year, I started subbing at the kids schools and I really enjoyed it. One of my favorite parts of being in the classroom is reading. I love reading and have since I was quite young. I love being able to encourage that love of reading in the kids that I work with. Part of being able to do that, is knowing what books are kids favorites. Having success with a good book usually encourages that kiddo to seek out more books and that my friends, is how you get a kid to develop a love of reading.  Kids also love series. If they read one book by an author and love it, chances are, they will read everything by that author. I have created a list of the top 20 favorite books for the kids that I work with the most...elementary aged children.  I promise you, these books are kid approved and are sure to become favorites of your children.

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Dr. Seuss Curious Crandalls nightlight

Our family are huge Dr. Seuss fans, so when I saw this 15 minute craft lightning challenge, I jumped right on board!

One of our favorite books by Dr. Seuss is the Sleep Book. I love the part about the Curious Crandalls. Those Curious Crandalls sleepwalk on hills with assorted sized candles.  They stay asleep even with dripping wax falling on them!  But not to worry, there is no dripping wax from these candles.  They will make the perfect nightlight for your littles after you read the Sleep Book and they head off into dream land.

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Must read books in 2015

I'm a sucker for a good book.  I have a beach trip coming up, which means ample opportunity to catch up on some good books.  I'm always looking at lists that have people's favorite books on them, and since these lists are helpful to me, I thought I would offer up my favorite reads, in case that was helpful to someone else looking for a good book.

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Books I read this summer

You would think that when it takes 30 hours 

{one way}

to get to your destination that you would have a fair amount of time to read.

I prepared long lists of books to read on my flight to Africa, 

downloaded what I could 

{for free}

on my nook, and got audio books for my iPhone.

I had no idea how enticing the little TV screen on the back of the seat of the airplane could be!

Thankfully, I'm not much of a movie watcher, so there were seemingly limitless titles for me to veg out on.

I even watched some movies based on books that I had read.

The books are always better.

But alas, if you think my brain totally went to mush this summer, you would be wrong.

I did read a few things and while I started several books I didn't finish, 

the list below are the books that I would recommend.

from left to right, top to bottom

The One and Only by Emily Giffin

The Signature of All Things by Emily Gilbert

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Atlas Girl by Emily Wierenga

When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett, John Perkins, Brian Fikkert

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Interrupted by Jen Hattmaker

If you haven't read these books yet, you should.

You will love them.

Anything you don't see on my list that I should add to my reading cue?

I'm always looking for a good book to read!

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Share a book with Holy Craft. Things I've been reading and suggestions for books I should add to my list

It's been a few months since I shared with you what I have been reading.

I'm a big reader and with a trip in a few weeks with some girlfriends {to Hawaii!!!} I will need some help from you to add a few titles to my "to read" list.

Because I'm a giver, I thought I would share with you some of my favorites first and then you can comment below and share with me some of your favorites.  'k?

I've compiled a list of 10 books that I have read in the past few months that I think you should read too.

1. Orphan Train This book is my new go to book that I recommend to anyone who asks. I loved it!  It's a good mix of historical fiction with a story of today.  It's a story of an unlikely friendship and second chances.  You won't be disappointed with this book. 2. Living the Gospel in the Grey This book is a fantastic encouragement for how to live evangelism.  This book is written by our former campus pastor and isn't bogged down with theory that can get overwhelming but real life examples of living out the gospel. 3.Astronaut Wives Club An interesting look at the wives behind the spacemen, though not as in depth as I would have liked.  While it says that it's a true story, it doesn't seem like any of the wives were actually interviewed during the writing of this book but rather facts were gathered from research that she did.  Interesting none the less, though don't expect to know any more about the wives than what you would assume a wife of an astronaut would have gone through or been like. 4. Orange is the New Black This is a memoir of a woman you would least expect to find at a woman's prison serving a year.  It was interesting to me to get an inside look at a minimum security facility and the relationships that were formed while serving her time. 5. Loving Frank  Frank Lloyd Wright was an interesting man and while I learned a bit about his personal life, I found that I actually liked him less the more I got to know about him.  While this is fiction, there is fact mixed in to the story line. 6. These is My Words This book is written like a diary over the course of 20 years.  It is another book that I have taken to recommending to anyone who asks.  I loved the story of survival, love and coming of age and got even more excited to find that there are two more books in this series.   7. Luke the gospel of amazement I am reading through this book with a group of friends as a sort of Bible study.  I love the way that Michael Card looks deeply at the context of the gospel of Luke, and uses historical details to interpret and understand the gospel of amazement.  If you can get through the preface {or skip it}, it's an incredible read. 8. One Way Love I have spent the past few months tackling legalism and going back to the heart of Christianity and the radical truth of the gospel.  This book is a wonderful look at grace and why we should be sharing grace with others. 9. Dad is Fat This book is written by a stand up comedian with five small children.  It's a great look at parenthood, and if you are in the thick of raising small children, you will easily relate. 10. Kisses from Katie As a parent, this was an extraordinary look at how we can support our children when they have been called to a different success then we envisioned for them.  It's the story of a young woman who is living a life of obedience for God and at the age of 22 had adopted 14 young girls in Uganda.  It's about breaking out of our comfort zones and looking at life outside of the United States.  It's a challenging and inspiring read. Have you read any of the 10 I mentioned? What did you think? These are a few of the books on my nightstand or in the que at the library: Boys in the Boat Happy Happy Happy Kicking and Dreaming Sarah's Quilt Star Garden Tell the Wolves I'm Home Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Jesus > Religion Now it's your turn. What would you recommend? I would love to add a few titles to my list.

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My picks for the 12 best books for boys

I'm a big reader.

In fact, I've shared with you a ton of my book recommendations over the past few years, but I don't think I have ever shared with you my recommendations for books for kids.

We do a lot of reading in our house

and it's translated into kids who love to read.

My youngest son {8} has been on a huge reading kick, so I thought I would share with you a few of the books that we have read together and some that he has read on his own.

All kid tested!

All would make perfect gifts this holiday season.

So pin this, and get your list started!

1. Treasure Hunters by James Patterson was a page turner.  My son would ask multiple times a day to sit down and snuggle just so we could read a few chapters.  Treasure Hunters is a story of four siblings raised on a boat whose parents are under sea treasure hunters.  The Kidd kids work together to solve the mystery that their father left them before being swept off of the boat in a storm.

2. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is probably one of my all time favorites!  I read it out loud with my son, we passed it on to my husband and then to my daughter.  Ivan is a story that has been inspired from a true local story of a silverback gorilla that was locked in captivity for 27 years.  It's told from Ivan's perspective and it's an interesting look at the relationship of humans and animals.

3. Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems is a story about a monster who isn't so good at being scary.  It's a picture book, but one we don't get tired of!

4. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke is a story of two orphaned brothers who run away to Venice and find a friend in the leader of the lost children that calls himself the Thief Lord.  The boys enter into a life of petty crime and end up with a detective hot on their trail.  But not for what you would think!

5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney is a series that all three of my kids have devoured more than once!  It's a hard book to read out loud but it's a great book for the kids to get their feet wet with chapter books.

6. Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins...yes, the Suzanne Collins of The Hunger Games fame.  Gregor is a young boy in New York on a mission to find his father.  He falls into a grate in the laundry room of his apartment and falls into an underworld full of large bats, cockroaches and evil rats.  Through the series Gregor grows and matures as he faces new challenges and becomes a warrior in this Underland.

7. The Notebook of Doom by Troy Cummings is a new book series that we picked up last week at the Scholastic book fair.  Owen just ate the book up in one sitting, got the next book in the series from the library and finished that in record time too!  I just love a series that engages kids and gets them reading.  
8. The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon is a series that my husband and son keep coming back to.  My husband grew up on this series and my son is loving the many adventures that these brothers go on together.
9. Double Fudge by Judy Blume is one of my favorite books to read out loud to the kids.  In fact, I love the whole series!  Fudge is the hilarious kid brother of Peter Hatcher and the real life drama is something that all kids can relate to.
10. Holes by Louis Sachar follows a boy named Stanley who has unjustly been sent to a youth detention center where the boys have to dig holes all day in the hot sun as punishment.  It doesn't take long to figure out that there is more that is being looked for in digging these holes than just character improvement.  It's a great story with a fun twist on the curse that Stanley has been given by his Great Great Grandfather.
11.  Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park is hands down my favorite book series of all time!  The writing and improper use of grammar takes a bit to get used to as a reader, but once you can figure out how to read the books, Junie B. Jones is hilarious!  We can all relate to this outrageously sassy 7 year old.
12. The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal Iggulden is the complete book of skills every boy should know.  From building a tree fort, to tying knots and learning to fish, this book has anything and everything your little man needs to know or might be interested in knowing about!
Those are my recommendations. Hopefully I found a book or two you can add to your gift list for that favorite little guy in your life. Do you have any you would add?

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Books to Read

It's been a few months since I have done a Good Reads with Holy Craft, but I do have a few books that I would recommend for you. Get your lists ready! 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excecss I'm not a huge self help book reader.  I don't love to read devotionals just for fun, but the way that Jen Hatmaker writes this book makes for a fun quick read.  I would love to sit down and have coffee with her sometime!  It seems like we would be fast friends.  In fact, that's what it felt like you were reading.  A blog, written by a good friend.  This book will have you thinking about how you view your "stuff". God & Your Stuff We had a fantastic sermon at church about tithing.  Everyone's favorite subject!  And it had me instantly volunteering to teach some type of class at church on how we as Christians can be good stewards of our money.  I wanted to base it on my "Living Well on Less" series and found that this book was a good companion for that.  It was a great book for exploring the connection between our eternal souls and our earthly possessions. Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse I love this PBS series and have already recommended book one.  When I saw book two at the library, I snatched it up.  It's such a revealing glimpse into postwar London.  If you have watched the series many of the stories will be familiar to you.   The Secrets of Mary Bowser This book is super duper long.  I've had to renew it twice just to get through it!  At times the book drags on and probably could have been made into a series of books or even cut by a few hundred pages, but all in all, it's a really insightful look into the life of a freed slave during the time of  the Civil War.   Mary Bowser is a real individual who helped spy on the Confederate Army by pretending to be a slave. If you like historical fiction (the author took some liberties, so while it's a non-fiction character it's not all historically accurate) it's a fantastic book. My current read is Garlic and Sapphires  This is one of those books that got lost in the stacks.  It's older but totally worth the read.  It's an interesting look into the life of a food critic.  Ruth was a successful food critic in LA and made the move to New York. Ruth quickly realizes that anonymity is the key to a true food experience.  The red carpet gets rolled out for her when she poses as Ruth the food critic, but when she shows up in character, she has a whole different experience.  It's interesting to see the restaurant industry in a whole different light. What have you been reading? I want to add a few things to my request list at the library.

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Book recommendations for you

It's been a few months since I have posted my book recommendations. {If you are interested in seeing any of my past book recommendations click on the "reading" tab on my sidebar.}
Not because I haven't been reading, but because for the life of me I couldn't remember what books I had read!  Guess that's the problem with library books.  There isn't much of a trail!
I happened to be at Target today and walked down their "best sellers" aisle. If you ever want to know what to read next, just take a little detour down this aisle at Target. Seriously, it's what I do. My little stroll reminded me of some of the recent titles I have read and that I would recommend to you.   Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn For months people were recommending Gone Girl to me.  Being forever cheap, I had to wait for a few months to find it in my lucky day section at my library.  It finally was in {I was on the wait list, but I was number 567!} and I set aside the new J.K. Rowling's book {sorry, just couldn't get into it}, to dig into this book.
I immediately was engrossed.  While I am still about 100 pages from the end of the book, every little guess I had about "who done it" has flown out the window with twists and turns and surprising revelations.  As you can guess, it is a mystery novel written about a husband and wife who are experiencing marital difficulties.  The wife goes missing on the couple's fifth wedding anniversary and every clue points toward the husband's involvement.  It's a book that is hard to put down, and I know you will love it too!
    Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
A terrible accident forces a family that has been torn apart to come together and make a tough decision.  Family secrets, a father's obsession, a runaway son and an ex-wife are all brought together to make a hard choice that they will all have to live with in the end.  It will have you wondering what you would do in the same situation.
Where We Belong by Emily Giffin I'm not usually a fan of Emily Giffin's work but actually found myself engrossed in this novel.  A 36-year-old New York resident and TV producer is forced to revisit her past decision of placing her now 18-year-old daughter for adoption years ago.  Both women take a journey together to find out what they have been missing in each other's lives and have a chance to come to terms with where each of them belongs. 
  Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Just beyond the luxury hotels in Mumbai is a community called Annawadi.  Annawadi is a slum and during the book, you are introduced to several hopeful members of the community.  The glimpse inside the life of a garbage sorter and the injustices of the caste system are eye-opening.  It's a well-written book with painful real-life truths about this community.  
Just in case curling up with a good book doesn't sound as good as sitting down by the fire and getting lost in a television show, then I want to recommend my new favorite show to you. PBS has done it again {no need to have cable!} with the series Call the Midwife. Call the Midwife is an intimate look into nursing and midwifery in 1950's East London. The show follows a community of midwives that live with an order of nursing nuns.


I haven't watched Downtown Abby, but I'm told if you like that series, you will like this one.   So, what are you reading {or watching} now? Anything you would recommend?

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Summer Reading

So we are starting into week four of summer vacation and I have done my fair share of reading already.  Some are worth passing on, others aren't even worth the mention. But since it's my blog, I'm going to go ahead and mention them, because I can.

Let's start with my favorite read so far this summer. This book rivals another (more appropriate book and by appropriate I mean it doesn't contain so many F bombs) for the best book of the year for me. Earlier this year I read "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.
   It was such a great read.  I had a hard time putting the book down. I felt the same way about "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson.
   Jenny Lawson is better known in the blogging community as The Bloggess.
I was reading another blog a few months ago that wasn't recommending Fifty Shades of Grey (cuz lets be honest for a few months that's all people were talking about) but instead recommended this book.  Not being one to follow the crowd (and happy to see that someone else was recommending something to read besides porn) and also being the cheap person that I am, I put a hold on my library account for it.  Little did I know I would be 567 on the wait list (probably it was only 83, but still).  Seems like "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" is just as popular as Fifty Shades of Grey. Well, not really, but maybe if I say that it will give Jenny warm fuzzies.  Because let's be honest, as soon as I review her book she's going to be my new best blogging fan.
Anyway, loved this book.  Now it's not for everyone because there are an awful lot of F bombs, but if you can read past that (and also try not to let your kids read over your shoulder), then you will be in for a laugh out loud good read.  Like laughing out loud so that people thing you are mentally unstable kind of read.
Jenny's got a super random train of thought but I love that because just last night my husband and I were debating the difference between unicorns and Pegasus.  A discussion that quickly derailed into a debate about rub on or spray jock itch cream and the benefits and drawbacks of both.  So really, I'm thinking Jenny and I should have our own blog conference in wine country (read the book) and we would have the most random conversations together.  Plus also, I would probably do my best to increase her taxidermy collection. I do have a bear head named Rocky hanging over my fireplace.  Or maybe we could just buy her another 5 foot tall metal chicken.  We will name it Jay Z.
I also started (for the second time) "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O' Reilly.    After my trip to DC in January, I have a new love for Lincoln so I really wanted to like this book. Every time I would start reading this book I would fall asleep.  Every.Time. I felt like I was reading my 8th grade History book. I hated History. My husband read the book and loved it. So I asked him if I just kept pushing through would they stop talking about the civil war. Spoiler alert, they don't.  So I stopped reading it. It's not to say it's not a stellar read. Just not one I was going to finish.
Our library has a special section called lucky day. I explained it here but let me take a second to recap. In this super awesome front section of the library, there is a display of some of the most popular bestselling books with lucky day stickers on them. Most of these books have HUGE wait lists on them, but these special few books can't be held or renewed so if you find the one you are looking for, it's your lucky day. Usually, this is the first place I look for a new book. 
Which is why I read my next book "Wild" be Cheryl Strayed. It's a book about a single woman's journey as she hiked the Pacific Coast Trail solo in order to find herself after her mother died when she was only 25.
   I am not a hiker, but I really enjoyed reading this book. Just reading about Cheryl's outdoor adventures made me feel more outdoorsy myself. It's worth picking up and reading.
In High School my favorite author was Mary Higgins Clark. I could find her mystery books at garage sales (yep, I even garage sale'd when I was in High School) for a quarter and devoured them.   That is, when I wasn't reading Sweet Valley High. The problem with Mary Higgins Clark is that she is a very predictable author.  I eventually got really bored with her style of writing and stopped reading everything she wrote but I was intrigued when I saw her new book "The Lost Years" at our library.  So I picked it up.   
Long story short, Mary Higgins Clark hasn't gotten any less predictable.
I also read "The Lifeboat" by Charlotte Rogan.    It's a story set in 1914 that follows Grace, a newlywed and a widow, after her husband secures a place for his new bride in a lifeboat after their ocean liner has an explosion.  The lifeboat brings with it it's own set of circumstances, one of which is the fact that it's over capacity.  For any to live, some must die.
Unfortunately, this book came from the library, sat on my nightstand before I realized how awesome it was and then was overdue with no renewals before I could finish it.  So now I'm on the wait list (56 of 84) dying to see how this book ends.  Don't be cheap like me, just buy it on Amazon.  It's worth it.
Remember how I started this post out with the proclamation that some of these books were worth reading and others were not?  Well, this is one of them.    "Carry the One" is a novel by Carol Anshaw that on the flap sounds like an intriguing story.  It's not.  It's a story that follows several siblings over a 25 year period after a terrible accident where while drunk and stoned the car load of people hits and kills a young girl.  The story follows this car full of people through the years as each of them deals with this single tragic moment in their own ways.  There were too many characters to keep straight and none of them were all together that interesting.  I say skip it.  I should have been reading The Lifeboat.
That's what I have been reading this month. What have you been reading?

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Good Reads for February

Welcome to what has become a monthly feature here at Holy Craft.

You can read some of the past selections here.

January

December

July

This month I read

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
It's the story of Ernest Hemingway's first wife Hadley as they fall in love, get married and move to Paris in the twenties.  A very interesting glimpse into their life.  Definitely worth reading.


I also read


A Love That Multiplies by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar
Since we don't have cable, I catch up on old episodes of 19 Kids and Counting at the gym.
It's really the only reason I do 45 minutes of cardio 4-5 days a week.
I love the Duggar family.
It's a very insightful look into their family and amidst all of the criticism their family receives
this book is a good explanation of their very purposeful parenting.



The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Such a sweet book written from the perspective of the family dog.  If you are an animal lover, it's totally worth picking up.

It's been a slow reading month so I thought I would also review a few books that I have read in the past but hadn't talked about yet.




Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
I read this book last year on a recommendation from a friend.  It was a bit of a slow read, but it was a good story that I still remember quite well, so obviously it stuck with me.  I think this summary  from google puts it the best:

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.  Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles—and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
This book has recently been turned into a movie.  I didn't think it was the best book I have ever read, but it was an interesting story line.
Here's what amazon says about it:

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. 


Spring break is quickly approaching so I thought I would mention a few other books that I enjoyed.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford


Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman


Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

I would love to hear some of your picks.  Stump me, I read a lot!

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Books worth reading

I'm a big reader. I like to have a good book waiting for me when I settle into bed at night. So, I wanted to share with you a few books that I have read this month.

I borrowed each of the books at my local library and the summary's below were all found on Google. I highly recommend reading all three of these book selections when you get a chance.

By Ron Hall, Denver Moore, Lynn Vincent - Thomas Nelson (2008) - Paperback - 245 pages - ISBN 084991910X

Describes how the co-author, a man held under plantation-style slavery until he fled in the 1960s, suffered homelessness for an additional eighteen years before the wife of the other co-author, an art dealer accustomed to privilege, intervened to save the former's life.

By Susan Gregg Gilmore - Crown Publishing Group (2009) - Paperback - 304 pages - ISBN 0307395022

Sometimes you have to return to the place where you began, to arrive at the place where you belong. It's the early 1970s. The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold's third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life. Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to the big city of Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, Catherine Grace immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she's always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings her back home. As a series of extraordinary events alters her perspectiveand sweeping changes come to Ringgold itselfCatherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began

By Chris Cleave - Simon & Schuster (2010) - Paperback - 304 pages - ISBN 1416589643

WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.The story starts there, but the book doesn't.And it's what happens afterward that is most important.Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

So what are you reading? I'm out of books to read right now, so I am looking for the next good read!

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