Monday, June 20, 2011

Please Don't Say Twilight


I am grouchy today.

Ty and I stayed up WAY too late last night (why do the really good conversations only start after midnight?), and everyone is paying the price today.

We keep making pacts to go to bed earlier, but it just wouldn't be summer if we didn't go for walks around the neighborhood at 10:30 p.m.

And then put a movie in.

Or sit in lawn chairs and philosophize until 1:30 a.m.

It's how we celebrate summer. And I love it.

But I'm getting old and need to find less sleep-depriving ways of squeezing every last drop out of my summer experience.

And so I ask you, as I do every year, "What are you reading?"

Reading is the other quintessential summertime activity. It is how I feel like I have truly vacationed. So please leave your recommendations here.

Also, if you know of any books I can read to my children that will not cause me to contemplate suicide by paper cut as a more pleasant alternative, please leave those as well.

So many horrendous kids books. So little time.

Honestly. If getting published is so hard, how come there are so many atrocious little books out there?

Did I mention how grouchy I am today?

9 comments:

Lena said...

Personally, catching up on blogs is as good as I have gotten this summer (what happened to my dreams of curling up on the couch with the older kids, each of us immersed in a captivating tale? Enter: Emri...aka the disasterizer. ) Life is full of tough blows. Not that Emri is a tough blow--she is sweeter than any food substance available on any supermarket shelf or any science laboratory, but golly, she is also really great at pulling apart every cupbaord, drawer, box, closet. You name it, she will make a mess of it. And yet, it seems unfair to ban her from all forms of fun and learning, and so I let her make a mess while I work, and then I work to clean up the mess while she sleeps...seems somewhat unfair.
I am a boring reader. I prefer biographies, the classics, and books that make me feel like a smarter, more intelligent person...and everything Jane Eyre, but then, that falls under "classic". Have you read the unabridged Ann of Green Gables books? For my kids, I have found super abridged classics--gone is all the old english. Rem is reading moby dick and he has tom sawer next on his list.

Lena said...

sorry for the unabridgedness.

Emily said...

You may have already read these, but these are books I love for me:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
3. The Help
4. The Hunger Games books
5. Cold Sassy Tree
6. These Is My Words

For the kiddos, I think they'd get a kick out of A Year Down Yonder or A Long Way From Chicago. I LOVED those books, and they're pretty funny.

Marianne said...

I have a soft spot for young adult fairy tale books. They require no brain and are purely entertaining. I just finished Princess of the Midnight Ball and am reading Mira, Mirror. The first is about the 12 Dancing Princesses. And the second is so far a dark telling about the witch that was trapped inside the evil witch's mirror that is the famous witch from Snow White. Saylor might like these but probably not your littler ones.


What kind of books do you want for your kids? I'm a little scared of recommeding some for them because what if you hate the ones I like? Well, I'll risk it. My kids love Mo Willems' books, especially the Elephant and Piggie books. I think they're really cute and funny. Our favorite is I Will Surprise My Friend.

Have you joined goodreads yet? You really need to if you want ideas on books.

Marianne said...

Have you read anything by Kate DiCamillo? She writes juvenile and children's books, but the juvenile books you might enjoy too. I read The Tale of Despereaux (I didn't see the movie- heard it was weird), and I really liked it. Might be something you'd want to try.

Parley and Anna said...

But Twilight is the best! *snort, snort* I just can't bring myself to read those either. I, like my sister, am a lover of almost all the classics. One that challenges me each time I read it is Crime and Punishment but Dostoevsky. It's a Russian murder novel, but goes more into the psychological processes that occur in the mind of the murderer. Sounds creepy, but I promise, it's really good. I may be slow, but I just read the unabridged version of Little Women last summer and I loved it! So sweet and so good. I can't imagine how they abridged it. There were so many good parts! Oh, and I also really like the Hunger Games series.
As for good kids books, we're still in the simple Takes-10-minutes-to-read phase. We really should start reading some bigger books together. If you come up with any good ideas, please share!

Annette said...

If you ever get to my house, go through my books and grab "The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society". It is a must read. And if you'd like I will mail you "These is My Words" and "Sarah's Quilt" which I brought along to read but haven't. If you can find the "Isaac" books, which are written by a local in SLCer, they are great reading. Written by Ben Behunin. The first is "Discovering Isaac the Beloved potter of Niederbipp". Love your blogs

Emily said...

Picture books or chapter books? I'm sorry but Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are hilarious. I hear from my 9 yr old that 39 Clues are good books, but I haven't read them. The Little House books, love 'em. Coraline & The Graveyard Book - both good & spooky.

Picture books: We just got City Dog & Country Frog, love it. & Henry likes me to read Goodnight Moon 12 times a night.

Unknown said...

Yeah, I'm with Lena. Lucky to get to reading blogs....and I've got a few books about adoptions from the library, but can't seem to get them read.
Reading Ramona Quimby to my boys right now (maybe not the best choice for a 2 year old boy, but it was sitting on the shelf.) I LOVE Frindle, Words by Heart, and I highly recommend the Jerry Spinelli books....they are SOOOO good. If you haven't already read them all, I think you'd like them.