The Sea of Monsters

This is the second book in the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. I really liked it and it even had some humorous things in it. It's very adventure packed and just leaves you wanting more and more. I'm really liking this series almost as much as I like the Harry Potter books. I will definitely be collecting these to read to my kids!

Peter Pan in Scarlet

I just finished reading my book for one of the book clubs I belong to. "Peter Pan in Scarlet" by Geraldine McCaughrean. This is the only authorized sequel to the original Peter Pan book. The Children's hospital that Barrie donated all of his royalties to held a contest awhile ago to write a sequel and this was the winner. One of the ladies at book club suggested it for this month and said that she liked it better than the "Peter and the Star Catchers" series. I do not agree with her on that. I liked this book...and I didn't like it. I felt that the writing was a little choppy and it took a long time to get to things. I like books that just grab you right from the beginning and I guess this just didn't do it for me. I haven't ever read the original story and so I don't know if the author patterned her writing style after his. She had great details but she was very wordy in her details.
I like the messages she portrays. She talks a lot about Mothers. How sometimes you feel betrayed or unloved by your mother, but in the end she would do anything and everything for you. I think she portrays that you should always be a kid at heart but you have to be responsible and progress in life as well. You forget what it's like to imagine and have adventures like a child. Sometimes we get caught up in the world and all the grown-up things that we don't look at things in a simpler way and have fun anymore.
The message is awesome...the story is a bit dry for me. I would still recommend reading it though. You might like it better than I did and like I said, it made me want to be a better mother to my children and reminded me that it's ok to be a little childlike sometimes.

These is My Words

I had a rough start with this book, but once I got past the first part it turned out to be an excellent book!! It's a story based on the life of a pioneer woman named Sarah Agnes Prine from Arizona. Keep in mind that this is not a story about a Mormon Pioneer. It's a little strange when those are the stories that you are used to and this is not one of them. She lives a hard life yet has such strength and courage. I just loved her whole attitude through out the book of when things would go wrong she would just deal with it and move on and not sit there and have PMS (which in this case is referred to the Poor Me Syndrome-so named by my dad) and just takes care of business the best she can. It's a very inspiring book and you fall in love with the character. You fight with her, cry with her, love with her and go through her life. You can identify with Sarah on so many different levels and you feel like you really know her. It's a great book to read as a mom, and even if you're not to prepare you for things, and gain a change of attitude and a change of heart about the way you look at things. I read this for May's book club discussion and all the ladies just loved it. We got talking about "simpler times" and we wondered if any of us would have survived back then. Of course, we know the conveniences that we would be missing. We then talked about how spoiled we are now. ALL of us there were not rich, in fact, several of the husbands were out of a job and there was one lady there is recently going through a divorce. We are all in the same boat financially and the struggle of every day. This book made us realize that while we don't have a lot, we have more than they did in the pioneer days. Furniture, toys, books, clothes, shoes and what not. THEY built their houses and grew all of their food and hand washed everything and MADE all of their clothes and the list goes on and on. I think you get the point. It's a very humbling book. One lady at book club made such a valid point. If we got rid of all our crap that just seems to clutter up the home we would probably be happier. If we only had the bare minimum in clothes, toys, shoes, furniture, etc. we'd be able to live in a simpler time of sorts. I feel like I already have the bare minimum in somethings, but it defintely inspired me to come home and clean out all my crap! We talked about how a lot of us hold on to things that have sentimental value. Truthfully, everything you own is attached to some memory right? But we said that if you just throw it in a box, take that box to a charity or DI and drive away, you'll probably think about it the rest of the day and then wake-up completely forgetting about it right? I'm putting myself to that challenge because I am a MAJOR pack rat! Anyway, it's a really good book and I think you will all enjoy it. If any of you have read it I'd love to hear what you thought about it. Oh, and there is a sequel to this book it's called "Sarah's Quilt" I believe. Has anyone read it?

Mr. Darcy's Diary

I loved this book so much that I finished it in one day! I stayed up until about 3 am and finished it. It's Pride and Prejudice but from Mr. Darcy's perspective. It is an easy read and by that I mean that the language is easy. It's not as wordy as Jane Austen can be sometimes.
I know that I've read Pride and Prejudice before, but I think it was back in High School and then I've seen a few different versions of the movie. So, I really didn't remember what happened. I thought about reading Pride and Prejudice first, but I just didn't have the time. I'm working on 3 other books besides this one. Anyway, it's ok if you've never read the book Pride and Prejudice because this book is just fabulous and it made me want to read Pride and Prejudice all the more. As I read this book things started coming back to me.
I love the Victorian age and so I enjoy books set in that time. I don't, however, agree with how they viewed women and how the society was set-up. You start thinking "do people really think of themselves and others in that way?" Your worth was based upon your salary, your "accomplishments" (such as your talents-like music, art, writing-basically just things that you learned and did well), who your family was and what you did for a living. I was so glad that by the end of the book Mr. Darcy had learned what was really important and proved the point that "love conquers all."
This is a really romantic story and I recommend this to anyone and everyone! What a great way to spend my day...reading this amazing book. I'm definitely going to buy it and read it over and over again. I know that Stephenie Meyer was inspired by the book Pride and Prejudice when she wrote the Twilight series and it's easy to understand why.
Anyway I give this book a gazillion stars and I want you to read it!!!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

This is a really great series. Well, Ive actually only read the first book and I'm starting the second right now...but I really loved the first book. It's a great substitute for Harry Potter. It's about a boy who is living a really hard life and finds out that his father is an Greek God. It's full of Greek Mythology which I love! He has a special power and "magical" friends. I was hooked right from the get-go. I think there are 5 or 6 books and the last one just came out. I'm really excited to read all of them. It's by Rick Riordan and you should go check it out!

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?