My Favorite Books

This week's theme on the Mcklinky Blog Hop is our favorite book. I have a few favoritess- there's the intellectual snooty one, the predictable one, the classic one, the fun one, the motivational one, and the mysterious one. I've read them many times over and have multiple copies of each- in my opinion, a book can't really be your favorite unless it never goes out of style with you.

My Favorite Book

To Kill a Mockingbird

It's my all time favorite book and I can read it over and over again. I've also never seen the movie because, to me, the book is perfect just as it is. My dad gave me his first edition copy when I was in the 6th grade. I started reading it that night and every spare minute I had went to finishing it. This was the book that first made me want to be a lawyer, specifically a pro bono civil rights lawyer; before that I was going to be a doctor just like my father. I know it's technically a book for younger students, but I don't care- I love it, and it really changed the direction of my life.

And the Rest of My Favorites

The rest of these are in no particular order, but see if you can match them to the above descriptors!

Pride and Prejudice

Some of my favorite quotes are from this book.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all."

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

Savannah Blues

It was the book that made me fall in love with all things old that have a story behind them. It also has the most wonderful take on Southern women and the rules we're supposed to follow.



Gone With the Wind

I first saw the movie when I was in the fourth grade and I made my mom take me to the book store that night so I (she) could but it for me. It took me six months to finish it- not because it was a slow read or anything, it's just that Gone With the Wind has 1037 pages and I was only 10 years old. I've read it many times since then and I still keep hoping that when I get the last pages that the ending will be different...

The Red Tent

I thought I was going to hate The Red Tent when it was assigned to me in my Discovering the Goddess class during my Senior year at WM, but I was so wrong! I couldn't put the book down and I was profoundly sad when I finished reading it, because it was over, and I just didn't want the book to ever end. I've also listened to it a few times on CD and the lady reading the story has the most wonderful, soothing voice.


The Know-It-All

This book will make you smarter while also forcing you to realize that you really don't know anything at all when compared to the amount of information that's out there. The guy that wrote this, also wrote the book The Year of Living Biblically, where he spent an entire year following every single rule in the Bible, including the arcane ones like stoning adulterers, not wearing mixed fiber clothing, and not shaving his facial hair!

And that's a wrap on my favorite books, but I'd love to hear which books are ya'll's favorites. I', always looking for new books to read and finding new things to learn.

Books, Books, and More Books

Today I was perusing some Internet sales for Mother's Day, when I saw an ad/deal for the Kindle II. It sounded magical- over 250,000 books at your disposal, just $9.99 each. Of course the newspaper and magazine subscriptions just sweetened the pot, making it sound divine.

Spencer quickly noticed that my attention was not on her and I forgot about the Kindle until this evening. I was looking at my book shelves and thinking to myself how much I love real, actual books. Old, new, used, written in- I love them all. I have well over 500, the majority of which don't fit on my shelves. When my mom used to drag me to the mall as a kid, my one condition for behaving was that she had to let me go to the book store. N-E-R-D.



During college, when everyone else would sell back their books to the school, I kept ALL of mine. Yep, sitting on my bookshelf, making me look all scholarly and such, are gems like Aristotle's The Politics. Mind you, I HATED political philosophy, but there was no way I wasn't going to keep the book that made me think waaaaay to much about "civilized pursuits," factions, and ethical democracy. Every time I see it I smile, thinking to myself, "ha, I got the best of you, Ari! You couldn't beat me!"


I am terrible at all things math related, but where reading is concerned, it's the opposite. It used to take me one day to finish a fun book and two days for a make-me-smarter one. Nowadays I'm lucky to read a book in 2-3 weeks. It's rare that I can just sit down and read with no interruptions. But it doesn't stop me from trying! My friends always make fun of my because I never go anywhere without a book- I actually used to walk to the bus stop reading!

As much as the Kindle would be a lovely luxury, there's something I love about going to the book store, buying an actual book, and reading it. I like the sense of accomplishment I get when I've finished one and then placing it on my shelf. One day I might be ready for the Kindle, it's just not today, or at least not until it's in the real of being affordable to me. But to give you some perspective, it took me until 2007 to get an iPod.

What to Read ADD

I got so many books for Christmas- seriously, like 25. It's killing me because I want to read them all and I can't decide where to start. Consequently, I'm reading 4 books right now. Yes, that's correct, rather than being an adult and choosing to start and finish one book at a time, I'm on chapter three of two different books and on chapter six of the two others.

But they're all so good! When I'm bored with one, I just bebop on over to the next book. For all you book lovers out there, here's what I'm currently reading:

• Rockabye: From Wild to Child, by Rebecca Woolf
• Sleep is for the Weak, Edited by Rita Arens
• The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, by A.J. Jacobs
• The Host, by Stephanie Meyer

So far, my favorite is The Know-It-All; it's really funny, educational, and let's face it- since I'm somewhat of a know-it-all myself, it's right up my alley! Sleep is for the Weak is a collection of essays written by several famous mommy bloggers. I've just started the other two, so I'm not ready to endorse or recommend them yet.

Since I only get to read at night, after Spencer goes to bed, it's best if what I'm reading doesn't require me re-read each sentence in order to make sure I'm grasping the subtext. This doesn't mean I want to read "dumbed down" books, I just need something that is straight forward.

Who knows how long it will take me to finish these books, since I'm not exactly going about it an expedient fashion, but I kinda like it this way.

Books That Were Once Banned

I just read an article about books that were once banned and for what reasons. It really intrigued me, so I decided to look up other books that had once been banned, and it’s pretty shocking. Here are my top 5:

1. Brave New World. Aldous Huxley.

Banned in Ireland (1932). Removed from classroom in Miller, Mo. (1980). Challenged at the Yukon, Okla. High School (1988); challenged as required reading in the Corona-Norco, Calif. Unified School District (1993) because the book “centered around negative activity.”

2. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank.

Challenged in Wise County, Va. (1982) due to “sexually offensive” passages. Four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee (1983) called for the rejection of this book because it is a “real downer.

3. James and the Giant Peach. Roald Dahl.

Challenged at the Deep Creek Elementary School in Charlotte Harbor, Fla. (1991) because it is “not appropriate reading material for young children.” Challenged at the Pederson Elementary School in Altoona, Wis. (1991) and at the Morton Elementary School library in Brooksville, Fla. (1992) because the book contains the word “ass” and “promotes” the use of drugs (tobacco, snuff) and whiskey. Removed from classrooms in Stafford County, Va. Schools (1995) and placed in restricted access in the library because the story contains crude language and encourages children to disobey their parents and other adults.

4. A Light in the Attic. Shel Silverstein.

Challenged at the Cunningham Elementary School in Beloit, Wis. (1985) because the book “enourages children to break dishes so they won’t have to dry them.” Removed from Minot, N.Dak. Public School libraries when the superintendent found “suggestive illustrations.” Challenged at the Big Bend Elementary School library in Mukwonago, Wis. (1986) because some of Silverstein’s poems “glorified Satan, suicide and cannibalism, and also encouraged children to be disobedient.

5. The Lorax. Dr. Seuss.

Random. Challenged in the Laytonville, Calif. Unified School District (1989) because it “criminalizes the foresting industry.”

info via http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/