One Day

Today I am starting One Day by David Nicholls. I don't really know much about it except that it is supposed to be a "funny love story". It was recommended by someone in town so I'll give it a try. I also saw that it is a movie.

Finished #14

I read Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner yesterday. It was a really short book and was just a sarcastic twist on some popular fairy tales/bedtime stories. I felt like if you read one, you read them all. It's a quick book so it's worth reading, but I wouldn't waste my time searching for the book.

Finished #13

I just finished 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Jonathan Saffron Foer. This is one of the best books I have ever read. I love Foer's writing style. He tells many stories inside of one big story. 'Everything is Illuminated' was like that too.

In EL&IC, Oskar is a 9 yr old who is trying to find out more about his father who died in the 9/11 attack. Oskar goes on a mission to search for a secret behind a key that he found in his father's closet. Oskar wanders around New York on his own at first (and then later with a neighbor). His explorations reminded me a lot of the boy in 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'. There is also the story of Oskar's grandmother and grandfather, which kind of reminded me of 'Wonderstruck'. These were 2 other books I really liked, so I loved that this book reminded me of them. It's a wonderful story and I recommend the book to everyone. Definitely my favorite book I have read in probably the last year.

Finished #12

I finished Sheet Music by Kevin Leman last night. Today I read the Q&A's in the back. Normally I am not a fan of "self-help" type books, but when Trisha told me about this one, I just had to read it. Most of my life I have felt that sex is a chore. I felt I was only doing it to have babies, but once we decided to not have any more babies, I just felt like I was doing it so my husband wouldn't cheat. If you don't know, my husband's family is full of cheating people. While I want to trust him completely, all the family affairs are always in the back of my mind. This one of the things that led to my depression the past few months.

While reading this book I learned that there are other women out there who feel the same way. Dr. Leman describes the differences between sexual desire/fulfillment in men and women. I felt that he was describing me to a T. I loved learning about why sex is important to men and can now understand how it can make our marriage stronger. Our marriage wasn't in trouble, but I just didn't enjoy sex. After a week of this book I got a new attitude about it and really feel that things are working better.

It took a few weeks to read this, because we are reading it together as a couple. I recommend it to anyone who feels that they are just "too pooped to whoop". :)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I am starting Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Saffron Foer today. I have no idea what this book is about. I just know that I loved his book Everything is Illuminated. And that there is a movie out about this book. Levi asked me to get it from the library, but they didn't have it, so I had to do an inter library loan. I'm hoping we can go see the movie after we both finish the book. :)

Finished #11

I finished Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres last night. I love Ellen. This book had a few laugh out loud moments for me (mostly jokes about Harry Connick Jr.), but mostly it just made me smile. I love how positive Ellen seems. Her humor is also very clean which is why I like her better than other comedians. I've never found people who have to say the "F" word every other word that funny. It was a cute, quick read and I will definitely be picking up her other books some time.

Seriously...I'm Kidding

I just got Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres. It was on reserve from the library for quite some time, so I'm excited to finally get it. I love Ellen, so I'm sure it will be a great read.

Finished #10

Midnight Alley was felt filled with too many storylines. It's drifting away from vampires and just adding too many crazy things. It was probably supposed to be suspenseful, but it felt really boring and long (even though it was only 240 pages). I'm going to take a break from this series for awhile.

Midnight Alley

Midnight Alley is the 3rd Morganville book. These books keep getting more unbelievable, but are very addictive. I love that they are helping me to catch back up in the challenge, but they are really pretty awful. I need to see what happens because there is always a huge cliffhanger at the end of the previous book. I will read this one, but think I need to take a break from them after this one and read something more intellectual.

Finished #9

I finished Dead Girls' Dance last night. It wasn't as good as the first Morganville Vampire book. It seemed really scattered in the plot. The story is coming even more stupid and unbelievable, so of course I need to read the 3rd one.

Dead Girls' Dance

I started reading The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine a couple days ago. It's the 2nd book in the Morganville Vampire series. I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm reading these, but they are very addictive. I'm already over 1/2 way through and a dance has only been mentioned once in one sentence. Maybe that will come into the plot soon.

Finished #8

I just finished The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. The idea that a dying man wrote this book and lecture is very sad and that's all I could think of through the book. I really liked a lot of the messages that he gave throughout the book, but during the middle some of the computer science/sci fi stuff got really boring. I could relate more to his experiences with his family than with his work. While most of the book was sad, the last page was incredibly sad and I couldn't stop the tears from flowing.
I think I like Mitch Album's books better overall, but this had a good family message in it.

The Last Lecture

I am starting The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It's the story of Pausch giving a lecture at Carnegie Mellon. Pausch was diagnosed with terminal cancer and wanted the lecture to be something that his family, friends, and students could remember about him and the importance of life. I know a lot of people who have read this and say it's a great book.

Finished #7

I just finished Glass Houses, the first Morganville Vampire book. It was extremely cheesy and unbelievable, but I still want to keep reading. The first book ended with a very suspenseful sentence, so I'll probably going to the library to grab the 2nd book on Tuesday.
PS. Why can't there just be books about vampires? Why do they have to combine them with so many other crazy things?