Thankfully Reading Weekend

I decided to participate in the

Thankfully Reading Weekend

. It is a chance for me to get some good book reading in while I am off of school until the 29th.

Thursday, November 26th

I read nothing Thursday. I was so busy cooking and celebrating with my family so I decided my reading would have to begin on Wednesday. However my sister and I did have an hour conversation about

L.M. Montgomery

books(we both have read

The Blue Castle

to0 many times to count).

Friday, November 27th

Friday started out well as I began reading

The Mysterious Benedict Society

and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart.

I love The Mysterious Benedict Society books. There are three books so far. I love these books because they remind me of the books I grew up reading: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Moffett Books and Mary Poppins. I finished it around lunch. I was planning on re-reading the Betsy-Tacy high school books during the holidays but I was unable to locate Betsy Was a Junior so I decided to wait. I decided to start on Early Candlelight by Maud Hart Lovelace.

This was a book she wrote before the Betsy-Tacy books. It is set in the mid to late 1800's in Minnesota at Fort Snelling and the future St. Paul. It is the last unread Maud book I have to read and I have been saving it. This book was wonderful. It was a great slice of pioneer life and talked a lot about customs, harsh conditions, clothing etc. It also had a sweet little love story but that wasn't the primary focus of the book. I highly recommend it! I will admit I was a little sad when I finished it. The end of all the new Maud books. I then started reading Sisterchicks Go Brit by

Robin Jones Gunn

.

Robin Jones Gunn has been one of my favorite authors since I was a teen. She wrote the Christy Miller, Sierra Jensen and Glennbrooke series'. I absolutely love all three series'. I have read them many times over. The Sisterchicks are a little different than most of her books as they are geared more towards my mom's generation(she loves them) but I was interested to read it as they would be traveling around London. I made it through about 30 pages before I was so tired I had to go to bed. More tomorrow!

My Favorite Books

Clearly my adventure didn't begin in June because I have neglected my blog since then. It was a busy summer with my Global Studies class for five hours per day. Now that the holidays are upon us and school is winding down(finals in 2 weeks:-) I am going to attempt to really begin my reading adventure.
I have been motivated by Thankfully Reading Weekend over at Jenn's Bookshelves. I have all day Friday and Saturday to read until I work on Sunday. So I plan on reading at least 4 books this weekend as my TBR pile is really big!
First, before I start reading I want to talk about a few of my favorite authors and books. Of course at the top of my list is Maud Hart Lovelace and L.M. Montgomery. However, the Anne of Green Gables books(Rilla is my favorite book in that series) are at the bottom of my list for L.M. Montgomery.
The Emily books are my favorite. I love the story of the orphan girl who goes to a farm and changes the lives of all the people around her. I love the way L.M. Montgomery writes. She paints these beautiful word pictures and brings them to life. I also love the Pat of Silver Bush series. I never fail to sob my heart out when Bets dies even at 28 years old!
My favorite "stand alone" L.M. Montgomery book is The Blue Castle. That book I have read too many times to count. I love when Valancy finally tells her family what she has been thinking all these years. What an empowering moment!


My favorite books of all time are the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. I discovered these books "later" in life as I was about fifteen the first time I read them. It is funny how I can so vividly remember a moment like reading a book for the first time. I clearly remember the moment I first picked up a Betsy-Tacy book. It was Betsy's Wedding and I loved it. It had a pink cover and Vera Neville's wonderful drawing of Betsy with a veil swirling about her face(probably why I picked it up in the first place as I was obsessed with weddings at the time). Although I always felt it was a shame that I read the last one first! It was years before I would read Betsy and Joe or Betsy and the Great World as our library didn't carry them. My favorite book is Betsy and Joe. I love how Betsy struggles with remaining loyal to Tony even though Joe is the guy she wants. I love how the Betsy-Tacy books were written years ago and set in the early 1900's but still resonated with a teen in the 90's and even now as an adult in 2010. In fact as part of Thankfully Reading Weekend I plan to start re reading all the high school books. By the way I love that Harper Perennial Modern Classics reissued all the high school books. I absolutely hated the versions I have without Vera Neville drawings on the cover so I purchased all the new reissues. I am so happy that people still see the value of these books.
I have many other favorite books and authors but I will stop now with these two. Time to start reading!

The Adventure Begins

I have always had a great love for reading ever since I was young. My sisters and I used to astonish the library staff by checking out piles of books and bringing them back just a week later. We used to be allowed to read at the table which was shocking to other people. But our Mom loved to read too. I still love to read today although I don't read as much as I used to. There are so many distractions today: TV, Netflix, iPod, Blackberry etc. But there is still nothing like picking up a book. A physical book! Don't get me started on eReaders because I am still on the fence. This blog is my way of challenging myself to read at least 5 books a month. It makes me sad to write that because that used to be no problem. I am back in school however which does curtail my reading a little. But I am determined to start reading again. Because reading is what helped me develop my imagination and creativity. So join me on this adventure!