Friday Fun

I try really hard not to be a book snob.  When people tell me to read something even if it isn't something I normally read, I'll give it a shot.  I feel if they know me well, they kinda get how I work and should know what I like to read.  Often times, people aren't just off, they are WAY off (you know who you are).  This is where not being a book snob comes in.  I have to remember we all have those books we love to read, those types of books that make us happy, help us relax or just plain comfort us.  I like to call these types of books, "brain junk food".  We all need books that are simply chips and ice cream after we've read books that are nothing but pure meat and veggies.  After reading Sarah's Key, I'm sure many of you feel that way. 

In addition to reading Sarah's Key, I've also been reading a great book called, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Seabiscuit.  I picked up this copy at my conference this year and on a recent weekend roadtrip decided it was time to read it.  I literally haven't been able to put it down, and I can't wait to go home and finish reading it!  Why pick up another "heavy" book, I can't answer, it was at the top of the stack so I went with it.  Suffice to say I'm way over due a little "brain junk food". 

So its confession time.  What is it that you read that you consider your "brain junk food"?  I have a couple of different things that normally work for me when it comes to this.  I am a big fan of Jane Austen fan fiction.  I don't know what it is, well, yes I do.  Sometimes when you've come to love a group of characters it's hard to let them go.  So for me I love getting to check back in on Eleanor, or Elizabeth to make sure things are going well for them.  Or simply reading more modern day versions of the stories, think Bridget Jones's Diary. 

The one book that I go back to again and again is Nancy Turner's These Is My Words.  I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've read it, or how every time I read it knowing the end I'm still completely enthralled.  Don't be shocked, but, it's also historical fiction, set in the American west during the pioneer days.  I just love this book.  The author based the book on letters and journals from her own family and that gives it a great deal of realism.  While there are two other books that followed this one about Sarah's life, this is the only one I read, and re-read over and over again.  Its also been about a year since I've read it so I'm really due a reading.  Problem is, I suggest it to so many people or have "loaned" it out so many times I've had to buy at least 3 copies after the first one, and you guessed it, it is out on loan now.  Here is my dilemma, go buy yet another copy of it, or maybe find another book that can become my new comforting brain junk food. 

Decisions, decisions.
Magpie