Welcome

596 down . . .  That's right.  Over the past seven years, I've managed to read approximately 596 books.  It's actually a bit more than that, because it was a while before I started to keep track of the titles.

I've always enjoyed reading, but between college studies, followed by my job as a teacher (if you aren't a teacher, you don't realize how much personal time is sacrificed to the profession), and then raising a young child, I didn't have a lot of time to devote to books.  When my son was six, however, I signed him up for Tae Kwon Do, and I started reading while I waited for him to finish class.  Four times a week, an hour each time.  The more I read, the more I wanted to read, and I started reading at night instead of watching t.v., and then I started reading on the weekends instead of keeping up with my scrapbooking (sorry son, I'll get past your nine year old scrapbook someday!).

As I searched for new books, I discovered that there are SO MANY out there that sounded interesting.  I started jotting down the titles and authors for when I made a trip to the library (because honestly, I don't have a line item in my budget to cover six to eight new books a month, nor do I have that oft-dreamt-of home library in which to house such books even if I did).  About three weeks ago, I decided it was time to consolidate the miscellaneous books to read  lists that I had floating around, which led me to . . .

723 to go.  Really.  It turns out that there are actually 723 books on my list of books to read.  No, that's not entirely true, because I've read a few books since then which have been crossed off the list, and yesterday I added ten new ones....but you get the idea.  Needless to say, when I counted them up I felt a pang of despair.  If I only manage to read about 75 books each year, it will take me like EIGHT YEARS to read all those books.  But in the meantime, there will be like 50 new books published every year that I come across and want to read.  So it was a little more than just a pang.  It was more like a full minute of eager anticipation withering into despair.  And then like five more minutes of this feeling of urgency to figure out how to get around the fact that I have actual responsibilities and can't spend my whole day reading. I decided that I'm better off just not thinking about it, especially since I was already in the middle of two projects (still not finished) and now here I am starting a blog instead of finishing the book I started four days ago (I know, I have to read like three books a week to see any progress in whittling down my list!).

So . . . considering the whole so many books, so little time problem, why in the world am I starting a blog???  The truth is, this is a homework assignment for a class that I'm taking.  I have to write a blog.  Why a book blog?  There are literally hundreds of blogs about books out there!  Do we really need another one?  Well, the truth is also that I've contemplated writing about the books I read for quite a while now, for a couple of reasons.

First, I love to talk about the books I read, but my husband is busy with work and he prefers non-fiction.  It's hard to be passionate about something and not be able to share it. Second, I wanted to offer something a little bit different, something that I myself have not been able to find - a blog that not only reviews books, but also offers a bit more information to help parents help their kids find books that they will not only enjoy, but ones that they can learn from and are appropriate for the readers' skill level, age, and maturity.

Most of the books I talk about will be classified as YA fiction, but from time to time I'll cover books found in the JUV fiction section of the library.  I have found however, that there are many, many books classified as one or the other that are perfectly appropriate and will be enjoyed by readers in a much broader age range than those that they are marketed to.  I hope my recommendations will help you sort through the hundred of books waiting to be read, so you can find the ones that lead to enjoyment, enrichment, and growth, while avoiding the frustration that comes with reading the first several chapters of something before tossing it into the return pile and realizing that you just wasted time that could be spent on an AMAZING book instead.

Get ready to read, enjoy, and repeat.  We may never get through our books to read  lists,  but I guess that's actually a good thing, huh?