2011 Booklist

I got a phone call the other day reminding me to play the lottery since I could really use 350 MILLION DOLLARS! Seriously, what would one do with that kind of money? I was thinking about this last night, how nice it would be to have the kids college paid for and to travel and of course paying someone to sneak me into the filming of Breaking Dawn every day! I found myself thinking more about the simple things that would be so nice. Like no longer using a $9 box of hair dye because I feel too guilty spending $100 every 6 weeks to color my hair. Or spending an hour making a grocery list and clipping coupons to try and keep our grocery budget lower than our monthly mortgage! And having more time to read books….there would be lots and lots of reading!!!

(I know a weird subject change…winning the lottery to books, but this is what is happening to me as I age. I can’t keep a straight thought for more than a few minutes!)

I’ve always loved reading. Even when I was a young girl I used to hide under my comforter with a flashlight at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. Typically I don’t read until I am going to bed and then it makes me tired, so I am lucky if I read 30 minutes a day. Unless I find a really awesome book then I will read every spare minute, like I read the first 3 Twilight books in less than a week. Since that series I have yet to run into too many books that I haven’t been able to put down. However I may have found that with a book I started reading yesterday. I was taking a bath and was in there so long reading Ken had to come check on me to make sure I was okay!

I am excited to share that I FINALLY started reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It’s the first book in a Trilogy. For whatever reason I didn’t know that the books were a Young Adult series. Doesn’t say much for my intelligence that my favorite books are written for a younger reader does it? Honestly I think it has more to do with reading books that are REAL fiction, rather than the typical story about a couple getting married, someone cheating, someone getting pregnant, someone has a disease, etc, etc. I won’t get into what the book is about (you can read the many reviews at Amazon), but it is really really good so far!

Prior to starting The Hunger Games, the last book that I read, that I swear took me like 3 months to finish because it was SO boring, was Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner. I was quite surprised that it was so dull because her last book, Best Friends Forever wasn’t too bad. Not one of my favorites, but worth reading. After reading (or should I say- skimming the last several chapters) Fly Away Home, I don’t think I will spend money on another one of her books again.

I was going to read Water for Elephants next since Rob Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon with be releasing the movie soon. But again…it’s one of those books that I know every one raves about, but I as soon as I read the reviews and they started mentioning words like “post-depression era”, my brain checks out because the last thing I want to read is something that resembles a history lesson. And something to do with a circus?? That just doesn’t sound interesting to me. BUT due to Rob, I will be reading this book eventually.

Don’t laugh, but I am also reading the third book by Lauren Conrad (the chic from The Hills), Sugar and Spice: An L.A. Candy Novel. I am about half way through and it’s just like the others, all about back stabbing girls, cheating boyfriends, hanging out in bars and filming their reality show. I think a lot of the material is taken from Lauren’s experiences filming The Hills, which I wasn’t even a fan of! I guess I feel some sort of commitment when I start a book that is part of a series. Gotta keep reading to see what happens.

Other books that I would like to read this year…

Full Dark, No Stars – Stephen King
Caught – Harlan Coben
The Island – Elin Hilderbrand
Seven Year Switch – Claire Cook
Under the Dome – Stephen King
Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls) – Maggie Stiefvater (another young adult series)

Any recommendations or comments on the books I have listed?
What books are on your reading list for this year?