The other day someone asked me whether I enjoyed books that took place in a fictional fairy tale type place, or a real place. My initial reaction was to say that I much preferred books that have realistic settings, but then I realized that Harry Potter takes place in a fictional (as far as we know) place and everyone knows how much I love Harry Potter. It got me to thinking; what is it about certain books like Harry Potter, The Lord of The Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia that make people like me enjoy them despite their fantasy aspects?

This is what I think:

It’s different and refreshing! I think sometimes it’s nice to be submerged in a world that is unlike our own in some ways. We have a lot of stressors and issues in our lives so I think the ability to step out of that and go on a journey to Hogwarts or Narnia for a few hours is relieving.

It exercises our imaginations. It’s so much fun to imagine what the customs and lifestyles in these fake places are. It makes the reader think outside of the box and imagine new things.

No matter where the story takes place, the same emotions are always involved. We are able to connect with the story and characters no matter where the story is taking place because we can relate to human emotion.

With all of that being said, I hope that anyone who hasn’t given a fantasy world a chance will try it out! It definitely couldn’t hurt, and it could open your mind to new things! Happy reading!

I have never in my life read a murder mystery until I read this book. If I said that the lack of murder mysteries in my life was accidental, I would be lying. The truth is that I avoid them at all costs! I haven’t read any of this genre because I freak out over the littlest things and refuse to go anywhere in my house alone for a week. I suppose you could call me easily scared. That’s why I was excited when I saw 11^th Hour on the list of books I had to read. I have been trying to branch out lately and this gave me the perfect excuse to finally read that dreaded murder mystery.

11^th Hour by James Patterson was incredibly interesting, an easy read, and always kept my mind going. I think I’m even going to read some of his other books since I enjoyed this one so much! It’s about four women who are somehow exposed to crimes through their jobs. They form a group in which they use the resources they have at their jobs to solve the crimes together. The crime they were working on revolved around skulls found in the back yard of a movie star. Of course I immediately suspected the movie star of the crimes but as the story went on there were twists and turns that I did not see coming at all! Along with that crime, there was a murderer on the loose that was killing known drug dealers. Since the murderers work was done so professionally it was suspected that he was actually a cop. The entire book you are kept on your toes and trying to desperately solve the mystery!

An aspect of this book that I found surprising was the romance element to it. I know it’s closed minded of me to assume that in a murder mystery that is all there is to the book, but that’s apparently what I thought! There’s not too much romance, but there’s just enough to please me.  I would definitely recommend reading this book whether you’re a first time murder mystery reader or not! It has it all!

When I was a kid the highlight of my summer was going to the library and/or bookstore to stock up on books from my school’s book list. Nowadays kid’s summers are filled with video games. I know that there are still a good amount of kids that enjoy reading over spending their days wasting away in front of the TV, but for those people who want the younger generation to pick up a book more often, here’s a list of some of my favorite children’s books.

The BFG - I remember reading this book in elementary school and thinking there was nothing better I had ever laid eyes on. I was sitting in a chair in the living room, so utterly entranced by the world painted with words by Ronald Dahl, that when my mom told me it was time for bed I walked while reading until she made me put it down so I wouldn’t fall on my face. This book made me fall in love with reading and it might do the same for others!

The Harry Potter series - If you scroll down this blog a bit and read my posts I’ve probably mentioned Harry Potter about 20 times. The first Harry Potter book came out when I was in fourth grade and every single one of my friends read it and fell in love. For some reason I refused to read it until just a few years ago. Man, I have never wished that I could rewind time more. I wish so badly that I had started reading Harry Potter when it came out so that I could spend more time waiting for the sequels and the movies, but alas, I was a stubborn child. Since I first read the series I have reread it about 15 times. Some people say that’s excessive, I say that it’s the product of an amazingly beautiful story.

Bridge to Terabithia - Recently my 12-year-old cousin came to me and told me she was reading this book. She asked if I’d read it and if I could explain to her why so many people loved it because she found it dreadfully sad. I think that pretty much sums up most people’s feelings about this book. For me, I had a love/hate relationship when I first read it because I adored the characters and their journey but I hated it for making me cry. Now I just love it. I think once you reach a certain age you gain a respect for it rather than feeling personally victimized by it. :)

The Baby-Sitters Club, Goosebumps, and Nancy Drew - Three completely different series that do the same job.  They suck kids in and make them not want to stop until they’ve read them all!

Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books - The Ramona books are AWESOME for young kids. When they’re told to behave and do their chores it’s fun for them to read about a girl who essentially behaves but has fun doing it and gets into all sorts of mischief.

The Chronicles of Narnia - These books are about kids that become the kings and queens of a secret country that they get to through a wardrobe. Need I say more? How much fun would that be?!

I hope that this list has enough variety to help you find which one suits your child’s best interest! I hope they find as much happiness in them as I did.

The Road to Grace by Richard Paul Evans is an extremely quick read that appealed to me on a deeply emotional level. When I say it was an extremely quick read, I mean I read this is a few hours. Despite it’s length, I felt extremely fulfilled at the end. I felt I had several revelations about myself and the way I should be living my life, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

This book is the third in The Walk series and pick up right where the last left off. The Road to Grace is about a man named Alan who has lost nearly everything. He’s lost his wife, his job, and his money. In the first two books he contemplates suicide but after being saved by a friend he decides to, instead, walk across the country to the farthest place on his map. This story follows his journey over the stretch of America that this particular book covers and the people he meets on the way. Each person he happens upon teaches him (and the reader) something new in a subtle, but effective way. Alan is a very likeable character that I think most readers can relate to.

I have to admit that at first I was a little skeptical of the book. I thought it was a little cheesy, but to be honest, I feel like sometimes cheesy is good. I ended up really enjoying this book and I think whether someone is going through a rough time, has previously gone through a rough time, or is just looking for some inspiration, this book will effectively fulfill their needs!

An article recently published by The Guardian titled Hunger Games credited with making archery cool gives me a lot of mixed feelings. The article talks about how The Hunger Games has sparked an interest in archery, and therefore the current Olympic games.

I can agree that The Hunger Games/Katniss has made archery a lot cooler than it used to be. I don’t actually recall a time after my seventh grade gym class when we learned archery that I even gave it a second thought until I read The Hunger Games. With that being said, I don’t think The Hunger Games has very much to do with the popularity of the Olympics at all. I know with a lot of certainty that all of my friends who are watching and enjoying the Olympics are doing so because of pride for their country and/or sport.

We are living in a time that consists of war, debt, and poverty…who wouldn’t want to forget about that for two weeks and cheer on their country? I find that sometimes it’s a little hard for me express my pride for my country when I know that there are so many problems going on, so watching the Olympics gives me a chance to push all of that to the side and see people come together from all over the world to play some games.

Although I do think that Katniss is awesome and raised a lot of awareness for archery, I do not think it’s fair to assume the appeal of the Olympics is caused by a book when it appeals to so many people for much different reasons.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is the first out of three books in the series written by Jenny Han. These books are about a young girl named Belly and her summers at the beach with her mom’s best friend’s family. The drama/humor/romance of the story comes out of the fact that Belly’s mom’s best friend just so happens to have two attractive, adorable, and caring sons.

I read the first book in this series the summer I was sixteen and I fell so deeply in love with everything about it. I wanted to be Belly, I wanted to have a beach house, I wanted to have family friends like Jeremiah and Conrad, I wanted to fall in love, etc., etc., etc. For some people this book is a light and fluffy summer read, but for me it was a way to experience the life I wanted so desperately without having to leave the comfort and safety of my bed.

As the other two books came out and I got to follow the story that resonated so deeply within me, they started to become less of an escape and more of an inspiration. I didn’t want to live vicariously anymore, I wanted to get out there and make it happen. I don’t mean to make this all about me, I just wanted to explain to you how great these books are and the best way I can do that is through my experience with them.

Now, I understand that this type of novel (YA, girly, romance-y) is definitely not for everyone and there will be a lot of people who dislike it, but if it sounds like it’s up your alley you should most definitely check it out. If there are any books that made you have some sort of a realization/epiphany, let me know! I would love to give any book a try that sparked that kind of feeling in someone.

I’m choosing this as a topic for a blog post because I need reassurance that I’m not the only one that gets book separation anxiety when I finish a story. In case you don’t know what book separation anxiety is I’ll give you the five most common (and incredibly painful) symptoms.

1.    You can’t stop thinking, “But what happens next? I NEED to know!”
Even if the book has a totally satisfying end you just NEED it to continue so you can get a glimpse into the lives of your characters (/friends) and what they’re thoughts and opinions are on things that you care about.

2.    You think about the characters all the time and wonder what they would be doing at that moment.
Am I the only one that is having a conversation with someone or observe something and think, “Oh my gosh, if so-and-so was in this situation he/she would totally say _________”? This happens to me for a solid two weeks after I finish a good book and then every once in a while after that.

3.    You begin writing fan fiction in your head.
If the end of the book doesn’t feel complete and I wish things went a different way I will daydream fan fictions. It’s an incredibly fun past time and it makes me feel better about the book because I know that there is a possibility for things to have gone a different way.

4.    Something you see in your day-to-day life reminds you of the book and you get a stabbing pain in your chest.
Like, a stabbing pain. It’s worst when you’re caught of guard and hear a song or see something that reminds you of a character or the book and it’s like your body realizes it before you mind does and it hurts. :(

5.    All you want is to do is continue living in the world of that book for a little bit longer.
Overall, book separation anxiety is not being able to let go of the world that you were immersed in for however long you read the book. No matter how satisfying the end, no matter how many books there are in the series, it will never be enough (an obvious example: Harry Potter).

I wish all of you the best of luck with dealing with your book separation anxiety! I wish I had some suggestions for way to deal with it, but I still struggle with it myself. I think that although it hurts, it’s a good kind of pain. It’s the kind of pain that reminds you what it’s like to love.

A special thanks to Jesse V. Coffey for submitted this guest post! Jesse is the author of The Brothers Cameron: An Opportunity for Resentment.

Everyone has one – a TBR shelf on the bookcase. Well, if you’re as obsessed as some of us are about your reading, you do. It’s the shelf that you have all those books that are “To Be Read”, that you’ve bought at book sales or book store ventures. You put them there for safe keeping and when you’re ready for that next read, you start plucking for the literary enjoyment.

Well, I have a TBRR shelf – books that I love so much, they fall on the list of “To Be Re-Read” and re-enjoyed. The stories that touched my soul on such an visceral level that the stories made me laugh and cry and cheer and fear…and yearn to fall in love with them over and over. Modern, classical; it makes no never mind to me. If I loved it that much, at some point, I’ll re-read it.

My list isn’t all that long but quite a few of these are series books; they just count as one because I will not touch another book until I’ve finished the series.

The Stand by Stephen King: This book was and is one of his best. The megadrama of “end of the world” annihilation mixed with incredible characters and nail biting “good vs. evil” explorations. It was so nice to find someone who understood my views of religion at large and the story drew me into it so deeply, I felt as if I were living it along with the characters. King has the ability to write a classic that doesn’t put plot before character or character before plot. It’s the perfect balance and King was waxing quite philosophical in this one. It’s a brilliant piece and I re-read it annually.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon: My mother was actually the one looking into this series, suggested by her quilting group. I remember going with her to ask about them. The salesperson waxed poetic on the “romance novels” and I immediately tuned out, not keen on them at that point. Until the woman followed it up with “time travel” and “Scotland,” and I tuned back in. Mom turned to me at that point and said, “That sounds like something you’d love.” Truer words have never been spoken. Diana Gabaldon is a born storyteller, one of the best. There is romance but it’s only part of the historical drama that plays out over these books. 18^th Century Highlander Jamie Fraser (a 23 year old virgin with a wicked sense of humor when we meet him) and his 20^th Century time traveling wife, Claire (who’s already married in the 20^th century but forced to wed Jamie for reasons that you find out when you read the book), fight through his outlaw/traitor status to the battle of Culloden Moor to being separated by time again to being reunited again to…well, so much goes on in these books that I get caught up in the reading. I fall in love with Jamie (who doesn’t) and admire Claire. These books are so well written that it feels as if I’m standing on the highlands or traipsing through the North Carolina back country with them. These people are my friends and their adventures leave me spellbound. Another annual re-read.

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer: I can’t even begin to explain how these books touched me other than that I was an outcast in high school and my friends – if you can call them that – were the types that didn’t fit in with the “acceptable” crowd. Bella is so much me when I was in school that I really can identify with that “mature before her age/hanging with the weird kids/physically clumsy but verbally adept” character. That her friends and boyfriend/husband are vampires and werewolves only enhances that not normal but deeply interesting characteristics of them. The themes of social graces and cliques and “normal” reflect so much of my youth that this story grabbed me by the heartstrings and took me along for the ride. And when I finish the books, I have to put them away somewhere or I’d start reading again. No, they’re not the height of literature, but they are good reads. Movies, notwithstanding.

The Fifty Shades Series by E. L. James: Okay, I trashed the first book in my original review and got guilt tripped into reading the other books. But I admitted to the Guilt-Tripper that she was absolutely right about them. The books needed a good editor but damn they are fine. And as soon as I had that moment of clarity about Christian Grey – and that last chapter in Fifty Shades of Grey – I was hooked. Once the spit hits the spam, so to speak, at the end of book one, things happen at such a clip that it’s like getting caught up in a wind tunnel and you’re just a piece of paper. I can’t put it down, I can’t not read, I can’t let go, and I can’t separate from the books. I’m in there. I’m part of it. It’s a weekend’s read that has a deeper story line than many give it credit for and a final ending/payout that is so satisfying, I want more. Will there be more? Only time will tell. But in the meantime, I can read and read and read…annually.

And last but not least, The Kent Family Chronicles by John Jakes: The eight book series starts with a young Phillipe Charbaneau, The Bastard  child of an English nobleman, who is thrust into a battle between his mother and the duke’s wife and legitimate son. The Bastard takes Phillipe from France to England to the shores of the new world in America, where he becomes Phillip Kent and part of the revolution. Phillip meets the Founding Fathers of the soon to be new country and when the war is over, starts his own dynasty of the Kent Publishing business. But the series only begins with Phillip – subsequent books follow the Kent family and each new book is about another member. The series spans from 1776 to the early 1900s. Jakes ability to weave history and fiction is amazing; everything flows together and the plots are tight and well written. I fell in love with these books after the first book was made into a mini-series and I read them whenever I can.

When I don’t have anything to read. When I feel the need to revisit an “old friend”. Or when I just miss some great story telling. I keep my re-reads nearby and I go visit them at least once a year. Oh, there are other books I’ve read a few times, but not like these. These are my annual reads, my sanity in an insane world. And good story telling is always a plus.

Do you have a TBRR shelf? What do you have on yours?

The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner is an easy read that is perfect for the summer. I have to be honest with you…I had high expectations and this book didn’t really live up to the hype. I thought it was definitely fun and cute, but it just wasn’t awesome.

The story is about a girl that struggles with the fact that she has a scarred face from a childhood car accident that killed her parents, and moves to California with her grandmother to become a TV writer. The main character Ruth really bugs me in the first part of the book. I think that has something to do with the fact that I always try to see a little bit of myself in a main character and she was doing things/thinking things that I would be mad at myself for doing/thinking. Nevertheless, she got much more likeable as the book went on and I ended up becoming very fond of her.

This novel is funny, filled with heartbreak and romance, and gives an interesting inside look at the Hollywood TV industry. I learned a lot and my mind was opened to quite a few things while reading this book. I don’t think you’ll regret reading it, I just think you’ll need an open mind when going into it!

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is one of my favorite books in the history of the entire universe. I think it might have made such a huge impact on me because of the time in my life I read it, but I’ve read it many times after the first and each time has been just as great!

The book is written in a unique style of letters from the main character, Charlie, to a stranger that he tells all of his problems to because he’s heard they’re a good person. Each chapter is a letter to this stranger in which Charlie details what’s going on in his life like making new friends, getting through a friend’s suicide, learning how to date, and learning how to come to terms with and get over the past. This is such a great coming of age novel and I don’t think you’ll regret reading it!

This unique novel is not only funny and endearing, but it creates suspense because of the fact that it’s told through Charlie’s point of view and sometimes he doesn’t want to share difficult memories. Reading this story through Charlie’s point of view made me feel like I wasn’t alone, and throughout this easy read I had several realizations about my life along with Charlie.

In my opinion, this is one of those timeless novels that anyone can relate to no matter when they’re reading it. I think anyone that reads this book will be able to connect it back to a time in their life when they’ve had the same feelings and they will feel a strong attachment to Charlie just as I did.