March Reads

1. You Are an Ironman: How Six Weekend Warriors Chased Their Dream of Finishing the World's Toughest Triathlon author: Steinberg, Jacques   This was my audiobook for the month.  It was a great audiobook to listen to while training.  The stories make me realize anything is possible and the races I've done with the life I have are little in comparison to these people's: 1 ironman mother of 6, 1 ironman double lung transplant, 1 ironman was basically told "get off the couch or you are going to die"- the stories were interesting and all different.  The writing was very good and could tell author is journalist.    2. The Luck of the Buttons author Ylvisaker, Anne Story of young girl living in depression era.  This book reminded me a lot of Gregory Peck's stories which are entertaining, but also tell you about what is going on at that time period.  I look forward to reading something else by her.     3. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore  Author: Sloan, Robin                  Great read!  Totally imaginative, read like a bookstore mystery/fantasy, but not too fantasy for this non-fantasy imagination girl.  I really liked the story and found the idea behind the main characters path throughout the story believable. Also, took me until about 1 week into the book to realize the cover is interesting with the lights off- you'll have to check it out. Started it in Boston and finished it back home, was great traveling companion.   4. 100 Best Books for Children: A Parent's Guide to Making the Right Choices for Your Young Reader, Toddler to Preteen Author: Silvey, Anita Found out about this one when perusing the Parent Reading Section in the Children's Reading room in the St. Louis public library, downtown.  I liked this book because it not only told you the basis for what 100 books to read with different age children, but it also gave you some back ground of the author, which I found intriguing.  It amazes how so many of these authors came from not the best child hoods, but yet end up writing really amazing and long lasting classics in children's literature.  If you love books about reading to children or for children I highly recommend this.    5. Margot    Author: Cantor, Jillian           O.K. Bookies look away from my book review.  Liked this book so much because of the subject matter, which I've always found interesting: Holocaust and Anne Frank.  So I picked this book as our 12 year anniversary book for book club in May.  Maybe some will say this book is a little unbelievable, but I like the What if... What if Margot, Anne Frank's sister, didn't die in concentration camp, and instead was able to escape and live her life.  What if other Holocaust members family members were out there and not dead/buried/gassed etc, in some horrible concentration camp.    6. The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared Author: Ozma, Alice    This was on my "to read" list last year and I finally got around to it this year.  It was O.K., I was a little disappointed and I can't exactly explain what I was expecting.  I knew the book was about a dad and daughter who read at least 10 minutes or more nightly for something like 9 years straight, which if you really think about it is pretty amazing, but the book was more about the author's life and less about the reading.  Which maybe that's what caught me off guard.  I thought the book would talk about  what they read, which it did, but normally there wasn't that much about the actual books.  It was about life.  Life can be messy and unfair and I think this "real life" picture was not what I was looking for.  The ending of the book also was a  little hard to believe- no one dies, but the events that occur for her father to me are somewhat comparable to a death of sorts.  If you read it you'll get what I mean.  I think this book just reinforced the importance reading to our children/any child has on their life.     7. Play Dead (A Dog and His Girl Mysteries, #1) Author Mason, Jane B. My daughter picked this book at her book fair this past fall.  We finally got around to reading it.  My daughter loves dogs and mysteries so this was win/win.  I liked the story line and the chapters went back in forth written in narrative of dog and dog's owner/best friend.  I'm sure I'll be reading more of these.   8. In a Blink (Disney Fairies: Never Girls #1) Author: Thorpe, Kiki I bought my son the 4th Harry Potter when I was out in Boston, so I wanted to find a "special book" for daughter.  She is in to chapter books and mysteries and one of the main characters in the book has the same first name as my daughter so I thought this looked like a good pick. It was a super quick read, but enjoyable and good mix of fantasy and strong/independent girls.    9. Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter (Ivy and Bean, #4) author Barrows, Annie So I love this series.  Again- spunky girls, and normally a little bit of plot like mystery going on and my daughter, son and I get a kick out of the girl's antics.  Reminds me of things I did growing up. Great series and again will likely be reading the rest of these.   So I read quite a bit with the kids this month, which always makes me feel good. I also got some awesome reading done due to the traveling I did.  I really liked this month of reading.  FYI- didn't have a book club read, because I listened to the book "The Paris Wife" last year when training so decided to not "read" it also.  It was a great book to listen too and based on our discussion most in the book club really enjoyed reading it.  Well off to bed to do some more reading.  Hope you are finding some good books in your life- don't know what I'd do without them.