Reading Recommendations

Great reads are hard to come by.

Im very finicky and impatient.

Most books I love grab me fast.

If Im not head over heels after 100 pages,

chances are... I wont finish.

but When I do find a great read...

That story becomes a life lesson.

The Author...An unrequited friend.

You know who agrees with me?

Matilda.

Ever read Ronald Dahl?

Vhere are Zeeeeeeeee Cheeldrun?

That one was a Witches reference.

Sometimes I like to talk like the Grand High Witch.

I'm not sure what that says about me.

This lovely lady asked me to make a list

of recommendations.

I am obliging because

One. She asked and I like her.

Two. Because Im hoping when you (if you) leave a comment

it will be accompanied with your own recommendation.

Here's a couple of current favorites.

I'm too afraid to commit to a top 10 list...

so I'll just post a couple at a time

that I really, really love.

1.Open by Andre Agassi

Oh my gosh. This book.

This. Fascinating. Story.

If someone were to disagree with me on this pick...

I don't know if we could remain friends.

This book is everything an autobiography should be.

And at the end... All you want to do is fight that much harder

for your dreams.

I haphazardly picked up this book at the bookstore.

I loved the cover.

That photo of him is so honest.

I read the first page and I was hooked.

Then I drove home and was grateful for all the red lights I hit

because it let me read another sentence.

It is so authentic.

The transition he makes from boy to teen to young adult to a more, complete adult

is the real story.

It's not a book about him, the athlete.

It's about him as a human being.

If this was fiction... he'd be the most superb protagonist.

Flawed; in the the most perfect way.

2.The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Law, Have Mercy.

This is an exceptional read.

This book was a total accident.

I picked it up and just like before... read that first page

and bought it.

Five pages into it... I stopped and looked at Casey

and said, ever so eloquently,

Holy Crap, this book is SO good!

And then I repeated that sentence

every other page.

This author's character development is probably the best

Iv'e come by, with the exception of Holden Caulfield.

Okay here's the thing with fictional writing...

(because I am clearly an expert here)

I liked the Twilight series...

I really did...

It's just so poorly written.

I'm sorry! Don't send viruses!

The characters are so weak.

I couldn't figure out if I loved Bella or wanted to smack her,

she just got so dang whiney.

and the Cullen family... It's like, I get it already...

Alice is sweet as sugar and the other one (cant remember her name)

is a gorgeous B word.

Way too literal.

Sorry that was a tangent.

Back to the Help... it's hard to believe these are fictional characters.

The author just knows them so well.

It's a book based in Mississippi 1962.

I couldn't even attempt to give you a synopsis.

Im so bad at summing things up...

Like you didn't already know that.

here's one from Borders.com

In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.

Sounds good, huh?

It is! It grabs you from the first page

and the pace is like a dead sprint to the end.

No lull. No boring parts that make you want to skip

forward.

My friend Lisa said it inspired her to be a better mother.

Me too.

There's this part where one of the maids wants

the little girl she looks after (and loves like her own)

to understand beauty is on the inside

and to take pride and confidence in that kind

instead of the outward appearance.

So she reiterates to her over and over again.

That she is a smart girl.

And a kind girl.

I love that.

I always used to tell Ginger, Youre so pretty.

Now I say, just like Aibileen did...

You are a smart Ginger.

You are a kind Ginger.

You are a beauty-full Ginger.

Read this book. It's lovely.

And you'll catch yourself smiling

many times.

I'll post some more tomorrow.

probably.