Today's subject is: Books

I have been reading since I was very little. I knew some words when I went to Kindergarten. Reading was very easy for me. I think it is because Dad used to read bedtime stories to me and Mom did also. I have to say though Mom is my biggest influence on reading and I am so grateful to her for it.

The bookmobile I recall driving to whereever the book mobile was and going up and down the aisles hunting for some new treasure. Mom would help me choose some and I am glad she introduced me to Flash Gordan, Tarzan, and many others.

I have been regaled since little with tales of a little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Tales of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Owl. I recall having a little red book with the name AA Milne down the side of it. Thank you for having the orginal Mom and not Disney at that time. When I was a bit older Mom introduced me to Hardy boys mysteries to say I loved them was mild. I would get in trouble staying up late to read the Criss Cross Shadow.

There are books of all genre's that I enjoy. From Dan Brown to Kristen Britain, from PD James to True Crime stories. They all interest me. I enjoy fiction but every now and then I like reading a really great biography on someone. Especially on people I really adore. Beethoven was probably my first that I read. I have also read on Louis Pasteur, Abraham Lincoln, and some great women in History.

The wonderful world of reading now spreads to reading online. Wikipedia is one of my favorite sites. I learn a lot there. Alexandria and I will sometimes research painters. She loves James C. Christensen. For all that I have enjoyed though. I still love the feel of a real book in my hands as I slowly turn the pages.

The excitement of when my daughter and I went and stayed up all night it seems to get Breaking Dawn from the Twilight Series. She won the Trivia contest I was second. She got a free copy of it. So both of us went home and dived into them. Reading until very early in the morning then getting up and reading some more.

It is great to enjoy books with her like this. We dragged Lee and AJ with us. I think AJ really enjoyed it. So now we go to book signings of books we would like to read and get a copy. The kids really love it. AJ has been chewing through reading several books. He is really quite brilliant in that way. Alex reads and re-reads like I do. Enjoying favorite passages until she finally places it back on the shelf.

Lee doesnt find much time to read anymore. ( I read really fast it takes him a little longer so he doesn't like to spend time on it.) So, I started reading to him. It has been really fun because we discuss the story while we read it. This summer we will be reading books together as a family. We are going to start with one of my favorite authors. Terry Brooks and read his first book. The Sword of Shannara. It was a good book but now compared to his newer books, it is not as good but it is the beginning to a wonderful group of stories and books after that so we will read it and learn. Our own little book club I guess you could say. Currently we are reading High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain. It was on the New York Times Best Seller's List, which is a shame because the first two are very good too in that series. She is said to be writing a fourth book in the Green Rider Series and I cannot wait for it.

We have a library here and they do not have a wide range of books. So, Lee said I could donate. So I am scrounging through Yard Sales and Garage sales for good quality books I can donate and we will be sharing our love of books with our community.One of my first finds and Jim can appreciate this, is Flat Stanley. I know Jessica got some for Mom a while ago.

I read a recent book by Matthew Pearl called the Dante Club . If you love mysteries and historical figures it is great. It is based on real history.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendel Holmes, James Russell Lowe, J. T. Fields ( Publisher ), all were a part of a group called the Dante Club. They were responsible for helping to see that Dante's Divine Comedy being the great poetic work that it is, was translated from Italian into English for American's to enjoy in about the the 600th year celebrating Dante's birthday.

Having read parts of Dante's Divine Comedy, (not for the faint hearted it is NOT an easy read but very thought provoking.), I was intrigued by the premise of the book. The fiction part is how a series of Murder's involving aspects of the Divine Comedy, the punishments of the damned , began to appear in their historical Boston. As they are the first to recognize this, they decide they must be the one's to catch the perpetrator.

It was great to step back in time to a world of old Victorian type homes, with carriages and cops, right after the civil war ended. What a wonderful book. I hope that if you love mysteries and historical fiction, you will take a glance at it. I plan on passing this on to my parents. Mom I believe will absolutely love it. It was exciting to read of a time just after Poe died when Literature involving Ralph Waldo Emerson and others was being created. Of the literacy conflicts between Boston and New York at that time.

I have today off and I have the Brisingr on my shelves. I have not yet read this book in the Eragon series I think I will step into the world of it's pages today. I hope all of you are still reading and sharing the joy.