Read with your Children

I love to read to my children! It's so fun to get their imaginations working and have a little bit of time to just sit and relax with them. We read all of the easy hardback picture books, but lately I've been reading the "Magic Tree House" series by Mary Pope Osborne. They are so much fun and really easy to read. They are small enough that we can usually read one in about 20-30 minutes. They are about 2 kids, Jack and Annie, who discover a tree house filled with books. When they open up a book and point at the picture and say "I wish I could be there" the tree house starts spinning faster and faster until it stops and everything is still. Absolutely still. Then they discover that they are in a new place. It's really exciting and fun to learn about new things. I take it a step further and we talk about what we learned in the book. For instance, the first book is about Dinosaurs. So we talk about different kinds of dinosaurs and what they ate and where they lived and that sort of thing. We went to the dinosaur museum and such. The next book was about Knights and Castles and so we learned about them. The third book was about Egypt and Mummies. That was a fun one to learn about because it was right during Halloween time. Anyway, I think you get the picture. I didn't think my kids were really paying attention, but Maddie has been talking about the last book we read (Pirates!) for the past two days.
I've also read Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to them. Then we watch the movies. So much fun! You can also read James and the Giant Peach. A really fun one to read with boys (and girls too) to get their interest in reading is the Peter Pan books by David Barry. I loved them!!!! They are thick books but packed with adventure and pictures. It goes into detail about how Peter became Peter and Hook became Hook and where Tinkerbell came from. I think the parents will enjoy it as much as the kids.
So, what books do you like to read with your children that we can all read?

Moonraker's Bride

Last night we had bookclub about the book Moonraker's Bride by Madeleine Brent. This was a FABULOUS book!!! Every single person loved this book and are interested in reading other books by this author. The writing is very smooth and full of adventure and romance and twists and turns that you don't expect. It ends well with all of the loose ends tied up and leaves you thirsting for more. It has a great story line and even some history.
It's set in the 1800's when the Victorian Era is at it's peak. It's about a young girl whose parents went to China to help with one of the Missions out there. They both die and leave their baby girl Lucy in the care of the Mission Mother who is from England. Well, Lucy ends up having to help run the mission because the Mother gets ill and eventually dies. It tells of the hardships and trials she has being poor in China and trying to take care of all the children. Being a "foreign devil" and a female to boot do not help the situation. She has a wonderful attitude that surprisingly is not far fetched. My favorite line and moral in the entire book is "Just do what comes next." There is a mysterious treasure that some families in England are trying to find and they enlist the help of Lucy to find it. It's about a young girl who grows up one way in a very male dominating culture and then gets thrown back into her English roots where Women are respected. She marries and is widowed all in one night and then marries again. You will not be left disappointed. The author takes so many twists and turns you are probably more likely to get a little motion sickness than be bored! This book is filled with adventure, romance, culture, a little bit of mystery and even some humor.
This book is out of print but some of the libraries do have it. A few of our readers have even found it on e-bay and amazon.com. If you get a chance to read it do it! I promise you will love it.
November's Book is Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. We will be having our meeting a week early due to Thanksgiving. We will be meeting on the 19th at Cara's house 8pm. Hope to see you there or leave a comment on the blog.

October Book Club

For those of you who are interested we are reading "Moon Raker's Bride" by Madeleine Brent for this month's book. It is out of print and hard to find so let me know if you would like to read it and I will help you get a copy of it. For those who are in the actual book club we will be meeting at Erin's house Wed. Oct. 29 @ 8pm. For those who are "virtual" book clubber's I will post some of the things we discussed and you can put in your two cents worth or you can leave comments about the book when you are finished. Enjoy!

Enna Burning

So, I finished another book by Shannon Hale called Enna Burning. It's about a girl from one of her other books called Goose Girl (which I loved!). Enna has the gift of fire and in this book her people and the Tirans are at war and she uses her fire gift to fight that war. But there are a lot of twists and turns. It was really good! It's not my favorite but it's still a great read. If you haven't discovered this author yet, you need too! Especially if you have teenage girls. She most famous for her book Princess Academy (I can't spell today). My favorite book of hers (so far) is called Austenland. It's modern day and my life! Seriously, if you were to read my dating journal you would be reading this book! You've got to take an afternoon and read it. It's not very long. We read it for book club a few months ago and now I am hooked on this author. Stephenie Meyers is a friend of hers and loves her too.
So, the question for this week is, what authors have you been introduced to that have written several books? Meaning, I was introduced to Shannon Hales through Austenland but discovered that she had many more books out there. Same thing with Gail Carson Levine. I read Ella Enchanted and then discovered that she had a pluthera of books. Introduce us to your favorite authors today!

Book Club

Last night I had a book club meeting. This month we read The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I of course had read it when it first came out. It's interesting to read books that I love for entertainment and then go and discuss things that I normally wouldn't have thought about. It makes the books a little more interesting and in depth. I love reading for entertainment and to "get away" to a place that is exciting, full of other people's problems and dilemmas, and has adventure and romance...oh wait, that is still my life!
If you don't belong to a book club, join one or discuss books here on my blog!!!!!!!! If you want to post something just e-mail me at carachilds@gmail.com and I will give you the password to log on and put a post on.
So this week's question is...What books have you read, whether in book club or school, that you liked for entertainment as well as discussion?
Actually this is a two part question...What are some good books to read for a Book Club?
Let me know what your thoughts and feelings are. While I do enjoy talking to myself (and do it quite frequently) it is nice to have somebody else's input on things!

Movie Books

Ok, so besides Harry Potter, what other books have you read that have been turned into movies? I finished Ella Enchanted a week or so ago and I have to admit that I really liked it. I haven't seen the movie all the way through...only bits and pieces and I thought it was really cheesy and I didn't want to watch the rest of it. However, after reading the book, I'm really interested in the movie now. I think I'll borrow it and watch it. I liked this author so much that I just barely finished another one of her books called Fairest. It's about Arieda's sister Aza. Arieda is from Ella Enchanted for those of you who don't know.
I've also read the Spiderwyck Chronicles...honk the shoe. It was written for second graders however, so I'm sure they enjoyed it. I prefer my books with a little more detail though.
Are there any books that you read after you saw the movie? What I mean is, you saw the movie first, liked it and then decided to read the book. We all know that the book is always better than the movie, but sometimes you see a book, think it's interesting but you don't read it until the movie comes out. You like the movie so you read the book. The only book that I didn't like was The Devil Wears Prada. I saw that book a million times in my catalogues from the book club I belonged to and I wanted to read it, but never ordered it. Then I saw the movie and I LOVED it. The book...not so much. By the time I got to page 5, the author had dropped the F-bomb about six times and said some other vulgar words as well. I couldn't read it after that. I hated to subject others to that kind of language but I ended up donating it to my local library (which was in Eagle Mountain at the time and I dislike Eagle Mountain as much as I dislike cleaning up vomit, so I really don't feel that bad).
Anyway, what are your thoughts and feelings on the subject?

Vampire or Alien?

Now that we've read the Twilight Saga and the Host, which one do you prefer? I personally think that the Twilight's have a little more...I don't know...edgyness to them. More romance and action, so to speak. I really liked the Host, don't get me wrong. It will be interesting to see what Stephenie does in her next two books in the Host series. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Let's Discuss

Ok, we've all had a little extra time to read and re-read the book Breaking Dawn. Now it's time to discuss. So, what do you think of the final chapter of the Twilight Saga? I loved it! I have to say that I prefer Bella as a vampire. I liked her so much better. I reread the whole series before I read the new book and I had forgotten how whiney she was and how she just needed to get over herself about Edward and Jacob. Sure it's complicated when you have two very different people that you are interested in, but she obviously loved Edward more and "couldn't live without him" and so Jacob needed to deal with that and so did Bella. Make a choice and move on already. The Wedding was great and the honeymoon was even better! I will say this, Stephanie does not disappoint in the steamy romance area!
So the question on everybodies mind is how did Edward do it? If it's true that their bodies are frozen in time and therefore the ladies aren't able to have the seeds, why does Edward have the fertilizer? Doesn't it also apply to him? What is your theory on that? When I was giving birth this past week I couldn't help but think of Bella because I had just read that part about her childbirth experience and then her "burning" when she was making the transformation. I wonder if Stephanie wrote that using her childbirth experiences because they seemed very similar to me!
Anyway, start by telling us what you liked and didn't like about the book and then asking any questions that you may have. Can't wait to read your comments. Don't forget to pass along the blog site to your friends so they can join the discussions as well!

Question

So, I'm going back a little and rereading the other books while I wait for my mom and sister to be done with the book. I read a part that got me thinking. Carlisle's father was a clergy man and so he had some sense of religion. He said that Edward felt that he was damned and didn't really believe in the salvation of his soul and that if he made Bella or anyone else a vampire he would be condemning them of the same fate. So, what do you think? Are vampires doomed to a life in Hell even when it wasn't their choice to become one? If not, what would Bella's fate be if she did decide to become one?

Are you finished yet?

Ok, so Breaking Dawn has been out for 3 days now. Who's finished? Leave us a BRIEF comment about the book. Did you like it? Hate it? Not quite sure yet and you are reading it again? Don't spoil anything for those who may not have read it yet (like me) or who are not finished. I am going to give everyone a week to finish it and then we will get into the nitty gritty of dissecting every aspect of this book, as only women can do. I would love to have teenage input as well so encourage your daughters, sisters, nieces, whoever to comment. Example comments could be something of this nature... "I loved it!!! It ended exactly like I wanted." or " Not to thrilled about it. Wanted a different ending." Something that lets us know how you felt and why, but without giving too much away. Save that for next week!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new blog site where you can chit chat with others just like you about the books you've read and give comments and suggestions for other books. The name is kind of dumb, I know. We will have a contest to select a new name but I wanted to get this up and running before I had my baby...(which I'm hoping will be any day now!)
So, all you need to do is read what others have written and then add your own comments. Please keep the language clean...we are all women after all. Share this site with your friends and encourage them to comment.
I will usually start off the discussion, but if you would like to pose a question or suggestion just e-mail me at carachilds@gmail.com and I will give you the info that you need to sign in.
This site is for comments on books we are all reading (like Breaking Dawn!) and to leave suggestions for other books to read. Maybe a few of your favorites or ones you haven't read yet but would like to.
So enjoy!!!