Posts Tagged ‘personal favorite’

15 in 15

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

This activity was recently passed among my circle of friends on facebook, and I thought it would be a fun thing to do on the blog. The object is to list 15 books that will always stick with you, but it must be the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

So here goes, in no particular order …

1. Same Kind of Different as Me, by Ron Hall, Denver Moore and Lynn Vincent

2. Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

3. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

4. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

5. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

6. The Bible

7. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

8. Laura: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Donald Zochert

9. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

10. The Shack, by William P. Young

11. Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls

12. Nancy Drew series, by Carolyn Keene

13. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

14. Superfudge, by Judy Blume

15. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

Whew! That was tough. Of course, there are others, but I was trying to stay within the rules. So share your list. I’d love to know what’s in your “top 15.”

The Lovely Bones trailer

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Here it is – the movie trailer for Alice Sebold’s “The Lovely Bones.” The movie opens January 2010, and I know we’ve already got a little Messenger movie night planned for this one. It’s been several years since I read the book, but it’s a gripping, heart-wrenching story.

In 2002, Sebold won the Bram Stoker Award for best first novel, the American Booksellers Association’s “Book of the Year Award,” and a nomination for best novel from the Horror Writers Association.

Certain elements of the book were from Sebold’s real-life experience. As an 18-year-old freshman at Syracuse University, she was raped and severely beaten. She documents the horrors of that day and those of the months and years that followed in her first book, an autobiography, “Lucky.”

According to an article I read today, she has said that writing “Lucky” was part of the process of creating “The Lovely Bones.” They are even described as counterparts.

I had no idea.

A good book never gets old

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

20thCentTreasuryWe rediscovered this book at our house today. The 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury, selected by Janet Schulman, was given to me almost seven years ago when my son was born, but when my youngest pulled it from the depths of the playroom today, she literally squealed with delight at the selection of stories she found.

Of course, I had read to her from this book before, but at 4 years old, she recognized tales from story time at school and other stories that we had never read, but that included her favorite characters. She was thrilled to discover that these stories were in our little library.

“You mean, we have Where the Wild Things Are?” she asked in disbelief. “Stellaluna! We read that at school!”

“And look, Arthur … and Max and Ruby!”

The book includes 44 stories like the ones mentioned above, as well as things like “Make Way for Ducklings,” “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” “Curious George” and “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” It also includes all the illustrations.

It is a great gift because it enables you to share so many stories with a little one, and parents get to revisit their childhood favorites. I know what we’ll be reading at bedtime the next few nights.

Is there a book that you think makes a great gift?