You can't judge a book by it's cover...

I'm on a binge. No, not my usual chocolate binge, and not chips and salsa or ice cream either. I'm on a reading binge. This isn't unusual for me, but it has happened less and less since I've been a "grown-up". One reason it doesn't happen as often is because when I start reading a book, I don't want to put it down until I've finished every last morsel. Er, I meant page.



This time, it all started with these three books: Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. Young adult Vampire novels. Not my usual reading material, but Tara had been bugging me for months to read these. They were always checked out at Boonslick, and I didn't want to buy any books that I wasn't sure I would really like. So, Tara brought them home with her from BYU. Our last night in Nauvoo I started reading Twilight, the first in the series, and I couldn't put it down. Much to Andy's irritation, I read it on the car ride home, and when we stopped for a potty break I tried to get New Moon from Tara. Weeelllll, she left it at Mom and Dad's house! I had to sit the rest of the ride home contemplating what was coming next. Argh! My sweet sister ran the book {New Moon} over to me that night, and I read the whole thing without stopping. I fell asleep late, woke up early, and climbed back into the recliner to start on Eclipse. Monkey woke up early and wandered out, saw me sitting where he left me the night before, and exclaimed, "Mom, did you stay up all week?"



Needless to say, I couldn't stop devouring these books. I had to make it to the end, had to find out what happened. Would Bella get her wish and become a vampire? Would she choose Edward or Jacob? I had to know! I read all three books, around 1500 pages, in just over 24 hours. A binge.



Then I wanted to read some more. I read Beauty, an old favorite from my junior high days, and some of the books from Natalia's Mark Twain award list.



Natalia has been trying to read all of the books {20} on this list to be eligible to attend the Literature Festival and meet some of these authors. Two of her favorites have been The Naked Mole-rat Letters and Gentle's Holler.



Brian, who does not really like to read much, is reading The Lightning Thief, which is another good book and is on the Mark Twain award list, too. Bob and Lorraine gave him the book when we visited with them in California this past August. I found him book two, The Sea of Monsters, and three, The Titan's Curse, as gifts for his up-coming birthday.



Joseph has been reading whatever he can sound out. Kindergarten is such a fun time! It has all started to click. Now, watch the Speaking Whale clip in the post above. That is exactly what Joe sounds like when he is sounding out a word. I can't help but crack up!

Monkey was reading his favorite book to his pre-school friends today: Are You My Mother?
So sweet! He knows it by heart, almost word-for-word, since I had to read it to him every day for weeks.

So what are you reading? Need some more ideas? Michelle has some great recommendations from her favorite authors here. I've read a few, but I've added a lot of these to my list.