What I have been reading

I grew up loving to read and I always had my nose in a book.  When I had kids I just didn't have enough hands to read so my reading went down a bunch. 

Thankfully I have been fortunate enough to have an Ipad and I have installed the Nook app, IBook app, & the Kindle app.  With the Kindle app I have been sharing my mom's books and been a reading fool.  Mostly because the kids leave me alone with the Ipad (well relatively speaking) where as if I had a book in hand I wouldn't be able to get past a couple of pages before I would have to go off a play.  Since leaving CT I have read 7 books.  Which is a miracle in itself.

     

The first three books I read were a series The Girl who...(The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with Fire & The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson)

These were slow going books at first.  It doesn't hook you in right away and the first book -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you are left wondering who the story is about all the time.  But if you can get past the first few chapters all of a sudden you are hooked and can't put the books down.  Steig Larsson the author dealt a lot with sexual abuse of women and just bring awareness to a situation which he was upset about.  Very interesting and thought provoking books.  Also makes you think A LOT of what you do with your computers.  Lisabeth Salander is the central character of the books and I so wish that there were more books then just the three.  At the end of the third book I just end up wondering what was she going to do with her life after this and wished that Steig Larsson was alive still so he could continue telling her story.  Which is what you want from a great series!

I just finished reading three books from Francine Rivers, who is an amazing writer just drawing you into her stories and letting you just dwell in the places where she is writing.  Makes you long for more time with each of the characters before you have to set the books down. 

The first book that I read I got as a Christmas present from my in laws.  I hadn't had a chance to read it so I was anxious to read it.  The book A Lineage of Grace is a series of stories following the women who were in the lineage of Jesus.  Women included because they had a story to tell.  Francine Rivers did a great job with each story and you were just drawn into each story with just such an awareness and respect for these women.  They weren't perfect and they had flaws but God used them in Jesus' lineage.  The last book was the story of Mary -- Mother of Jesus.  Wow....after reading this story and just thinking it through, it must have been hard realizing that YOU had nothing to do with how easy Jesus was because he was perfectly human and perfectly God especially after having children of her own with her husband Joseph.  Such great books and they also have discussion questions at the end of each story so if you want to delve in deeper you can. 

The next two book from Francine Rivers were just so different then anything I had ever read from Francine Rivers.  The message was still the same but it was just given in a different way.  There were two books in the series -- Her Mother's Hope & Her Daughter's Dream. Both of these stories follow a woman and the generations of family that follow after her.  It just shows the view point of what the parent is thinking and what the child is thinking and as you are reading this you nervously are aware the neither is aware of how hurt and what the other is thinking because they just don't have the awareness that you as a reader has.  Such great stories which make you think and long to find out from your family what the stories are from past generations and just discover your own history.  At the end of the book Francine Rivers announces that it is loosely based off her own family history and she was just trying to figure out in her mind what might have happened in each other's life.  Also makes you realize the importance of writing so that others have a record of what you were thinking and feeling during your lifetime so if someone later is interested in your life that they can find out more about you and who you were as a person!

My last book that I read was called The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Such an interesting book about the 1960's about the whole culture of Jackson, Mississippi and how Southern White women would treat their

Black maids.  It was just such an amazing story but just brought to mind how far we have come BUT still how far we need to come.  I totally recommend this book....it will bring tears at some part and some parts laughter.  But gives a little idea of what it might have been like to live in the 1960's.

I am so thankful that I have been able to enjoy reading again!