CHALLENGE: books

Books.... Books...I love books. I love to read the, I love the feel of them, I love the smell of them, I love the looks of them lined neatly or piled high.... I just plain love books. I didn't always love books. In fact, I think I started my love affair (and Troy would call it that) after teenage years. During the darkest part of my life, I discovered the way they can pull you out of life, give you a new perspective and then throw you back. Reading for a few minutes, can change the day if it's what you need to read (hear). Love books. So I'm out for some new reads. I've challenged my family, the female side to list their top three all time favorite books. If you are reading this, please post yours as well.

Mine??? Still deciding. I know it's a hard question. Especially, because my favorites change. One of my all time favorites was water to my soul in that dark time. It was beautiful and helped me so much. I picked it up at a small bookstore in Las Vegas when visiting my dear friend Brigette. I couldn't get enough. Read it re-read it. Since then, I've tried to read it again and it didn't do much for me. It's MERE CHRISTIANITY by C.S. Lewis.

I'd have to put REBECCA by Daphne DeMaurer in my top three. Again, it was the timing of finding it. I was a senior and trying to find French author as required by a class, and Rebecca fit the bill. The good libranian pointed me in that direction. I was expecting a boring thick book that I had to just get through. But instead, I was entranced! Romantic, mysterious, and a page turner once I got past the flowery language. Which I could write a whole seperate blog on. I think the books of today have slowly gone away from any descriptive elements. And it seems we prefer it since everything else in our lives is speedy. "How long until this book is over?," we think. Even when it's a great read and we are enjoying it. Reading a 200 page book usually takes about 2 hours... 1 hour/100 pages. Doesn't that put it in perspective? I'm trying to slow down and enjoy books more, so I don't miss anything the author intended. Anyways, enough rambling... here is my feminine family's lists:

MOM:

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins ---a great mystery written in 1800s
The Hiding Place by Corie Ten Boon--historical and moving
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott--any little girls favorite

If you are up for a long read, Hugo's Les Miserables or even Mitchell's Gone With the Wind
And of course there are the Bronte sisters' books like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights

TIFFANEY: sister

Harry Potters (getting ready for the new book coming out this summer)
Lord of the Rings (which I just simply love).

Eragon series (disappointed in the movie varying so much from the book).

LINDSEY: sister-in-law #1 (will post when she's moved in and can think about books :)

TASSI: sister-in-law#2
Pride and Prejudice

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Princess Bride

KYLEE: sister-in-law #3

Freakanomics
Pure Religion (about the chuch Welfare system)
and Dr. Seuss or Berenstein Bears :)