Books & More Books

October is National Book month. Therefore, October needs to become my favorite months. We should all get time off of work to read books. We should all get bonuses to buy more books. We should all go out and get library cards and then use them. We should all enjoy more books.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "But books are so boring."

But let me tell you - I've decided that schools did you a disservice when it came to books.

For instance, as an English major in college I had to take two different levels of Shakespeare. English 212 and English 312. I could have taken a third level, but after the second semester I realized this was completely unnecessary.

Why? Because I learned the exact same thing in both classes.

Did the professors bother to switch things up a bit? Deviate from the two most popular sonnets and plays? No!

We read Hamlet, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo & Juliet, and studied the same "Guidebook to Shakespeare." Absolutely nothing original.

In American Literuture classes you read the same books over and over. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "To Kill A Mockingbird," etc, etc, etc. And we wonder by people think reading is boring. They've read five books in their life over and over and over again. I would be bored too.

So, let me give you some suggestions. Do you want to cry? Do you want to laugh? Do you want a good mystery? Do you want to learn something? Here is the list. Have at it.

Books and Books

1. One book that changed my life: The Bible

2. One book you have read more than once: The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace

3. One book you would want on a desert island: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

4. One book that made you laugh: A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel

5. One book that made you cry: A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanaulken -- or -- A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

6. One book that you found very helpful: Blueprints for a Solid Marriage by Steve Stephens, before marriage it was Boundaries in Dating by Cloud & Townsend, and before dating it was let Me Be A Woman by Elisabeth Elliot

7. One book you wish you had written: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

8. One book you wish had never been written: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

9. One book you are currently reading: Girl Talk by Carolyn Mahaney & Nicole Mahaney Whitacre

10. One book you have been wanting to read: the rest of the Harry Potter series (I know, I'm way behind)

11. One book you would like to see made into a movie: Little House on the Prairie (the TV series was great, now it should go to the big screen)

12. One children's book you always recommend: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst --or-- Apple Tree Christmas by Trinka Hakes Noble

13. One young adult book you always recommend: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

14. One book character you'd like to have lunch with: Elisabeth Elliot (just after she wrote Through Gates of Splendor)