Bookworm

Well the title of this post is a little misleading.  I used to consider myself more of a bookworm, but I have found I've really gotten away from reading.  I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to finish Gone Girl - although I have finally finished it!  I am trying to get back into reading more, so today's Let Your Blog Shine prompt of "Make a list of your favorite books" seemed like a good topic!  I figure if start talking about some of my favorite books it just might fuel my fire for reading again!  So without further ado, here are some of my favorite books.
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume.  I'm pretty sure I've talked about my love of this book on the blog before.  I don't know what it is about it, it's pure fluff for the most part.  It's the Judy we all grew up loving as we were coming of age, but it's definitely intended for an adult audience.  I read this book for the first time the summer I was 17 - which is an age that explored in depth for the characters in the book during one section.  I have just always loved this book's ability to whisk you away and make you feel like you're right there on Martha's Vineyard with these girls every year.  It makes you feel all the feels, look at your own relationships and while the ending is sad, it's somehow always been satisfying.  This is one of those summer beach reads that I read just about every year.
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  I love pretty much anything Jodi writes, but this was the book that introduced me to her, which is no surprise since I think it is probably her most popular to date. I loved the idea of having the narrative switch in each chapter to a different character, I had never really encountered that form of storytelling before and it really helps you understand each person so much more.  It almost makes you emphasize with even the least likeable characters even more.  I loved that this book also had twists and turns and the ending still gets me right in the feels every time (side note, the movie totally ruined it for me.  I hate the movie's ending - the rest of it was so well done, but the ending.  Boo hiss!) After I finished this book I knew I'd want to read just about anything else she writes or has written and with the exception of only a book or two, she's rarely let me down and while her format is pretty predictable at this point, I find her books still find ways to surprise or shock me by the end.
The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins.  Ok I'll just say this and you can all point daggers at me.  I never got into Harry Potter.  I did finally watch the movies, but the books were just not my thing.  I also never got Twilight or pretty much any other young adult series that eventually came to the big screen - but then the Hunger Games caught my attention.  I don't know what is about it - the concept is so horrific and barbaric when you truly think about it - a desolate world sends teens to fight to the death?  There's just something about the way these books are written that hooked me in from the first line.  And then when the movies started coming out, I was nervous that I would be disappointed after loving the books so much - but at least in my opinion, the movies were done very well and have only made me love this series even more.  So, no hate on those who love Harry or pick Team Edward or Team Jacob or whatever, but I'm all about the Hunger Games.  May the odds be ever in your favor.
Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts. I promise I don't only love books that became movies!  I read this book after the movie came out, my copy even has a picture of Natalie Portman on it, but I didn't even bother seeing the movie until a couple of years ago and I read this book while I was still in college. Anyway, this is a book that I have always loved, the characters are quirky and the story itself is heartfelt and yet intriguing.  It's another go to summer read for me when I just want to read something familiar and I don't want to think too hard.
My Point...and I Do Have One by Ellen DeGeneres.  This is her first book, written well before she had her talk show or anything and it's not a memoir.  It's just pure fun.  It is a lot of her standup material written in book format, but it has never failed to make me laugh.  If I need a quick pick me up I go to this book.  It's hilarious and a very fast read.
I also love reading autobiographies and real life stories and I'll just list a few here that I think are worth a read: Tough Shit by Kevin Smith Yes Please by Amy Poehler Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox High on Arrival by Mackensie Phillips Born Standing Up by Steve Martin Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank The Girls Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin The Wisdom of Big Bird and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch by Carroll Spinney Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones
And finally, a few of my favorite children's books that I'm looking forward to sharing with Ollie or in some cases already have: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff Curious George by Margaret and H.A. Rey
So there you have it!  A look into my literary world.  Now that I've finished reading Gone Girl I have moved back into the Divergent series and am trying my hand at reading Insurgent again.  After that I think I might look for some more chick-lit as that seems to be my favorite genre for the most part, but there are many other books I have wanted to read so I might have to just make a list and head over to my library!
What are some of your favorite books?

Currently in February

It's time again for one of my favorite link ups of the month, Currently with Anne of In Residence and Jenna from Dearest Love.  I love this monthly check in of what we're up to!
--Currently I am--
Hearting - My Boys.  Always.  I could not love them more - especially when Ollie drags a book over to Nate and hands it to him and is like "Read?" And my sweet patient husband reads Mr. Brown Can Moo about ten times in a row.  I heart them both so much.

Reading - Gone Girl.  I have every intention of finishing it before I watch the movie.  I am enjoying the book, I am not enjoying that I'm not making the time to read it as much as I want to.  Lately I am just crashing at night instead of taking even ten minutes for reading and I'm sure part of that is we're not turning the TV off as early as we could or should be.  I need to change that!

Pinning - Lots of recipes and outfit ideas as usual.  I made a dessert I had pinned for the Super Bowl this weekend - S'mores Cookie Cake.  It was very good - but VERY rich.  They recommend serving it warm because of all the marshmallows and I can understand why.  I did enjoy it but it was so sweet it almost made my teeth hurt, not sure if I'd make it again.

Eating - Other sweets besides my S'mores dessert - I totally had to go buy the Red Velvet Oreos yesterday.  And they're pretty darn good.  I think my heart still belongs to the Birthday Cake flavor as far as the "special" Oreos go, but the Red Velvet ones are pretty dang good.  I also found Strawberry Cupcake Boom Chica Pop.  It might sound weird, but oh my goodness....new favorite flavor.  I think I might need to join a gym...ha.

Anticipating - SPRING!  I am just not a winter girl, sorry.  And we're not even having a bad winter this year, but I just miss all of our outdoor activities pretty hardcore right now. I can't wait for walks, disc golf, eating on patios and just being out in the fresh air.  It will be here before I know and I'm sure I'll lament about how fast time is going!
So that's what I'm up to this month!  What are you currently doing?  And make sure to check out Anne and Jenna's blogs for other Currently posts or to link up your own!

Nemours Reading BrightStart!

Thanks to a lovely blogging friend, I was referred to a program offered by Nemours (www.nemours.org) that they are launching called Reading BrightStart!  I had an opportunity to attend a webinar for bloggers introducing the program and brand new website and Nemours provided me with a Reading Readiness swag bag full of goodies for me to test out with Oliver, including several new books.
The Reading BrightStart! initiative is a program designed to help build great reading skills from birth up to age 8.  This new website launched by Nemours is fantastic and has many tools to help parents with activities, book suggestions, preschool screening and development by age.  There is also a section of articles for parents that cover a wide range of topics pertaining to reading development as well.
Nemours says they launched this program to help parents help their children.  In the promotional material I received, they are quoted as saying "parents are crucial in providing the building blocks for early childhood literacy." I could not agree more - both Nate and I were read to as children from a very young age by our parents and we both had above average speaking skills and reading levels by the time we began kindergarten.  
The Reading BrightStart website is extremely easy to navigate and I love that they break things down by age group.  I can go to the site and select a tab for 6-11 months, which is the age group that Oliver currently fits into, and it gives me a list of pre-reading milestones he should be achieving at this age and suggestions on ways to help these milestones along at home - as well as warning signs to be aware of if it were to appear he was not hitting these marks.  Thankfully he is doing well so far and is right on track for his age.  I look forward to using this site more and more as he grows as I feel it's an outstanding resource for reading readiness and development!
We are firm believers in reading in our home.  We have been reading to Oliver since he was born and while a big reason we do it each night and at naptime is to help him settle down for sleep, we also know that it is helping his brain develop and learn as he grows, even if it's just a simple Sandra Boynton book that we're reading to him.  And he loves it.  It makes my heart feel so happy that he does!  

If you are a parent of a child up to age 8, I highly recommend checking out the Reading BrightStart website (www.readingbrightstart.org) and I want to thank Nemours again for the opportunity to learn about this wonderful resource and for the awesome reading readiness swag bag - Ollie's new favorite book is Green Hat, Blue Hat by Sandra Boynton that we received thanks to the swag bag!