Kindle

I love books and I love reading, which is quite important when you consider the fact that I teach reading.  I love the feel of the pages and have used this as my hold out on not getting an e-reader for so long.  Well my dad passed along his Kindle and I accepted somewhat reluctantly, but I LOVE it!  Its super convenient, small and I have so many books literally at my fingertips.  I'm officially pro e-reader.
Any book suggestions?

The Hunger Games

I love to read. There are days when I have started a book that am not able to finish and I think "hmm..if I just didn't have ____ I could read all day." When I was in high school I was a goody two shoes..the main way I remember defying my parents was by staying up past my bedtime to read a book. Since you know that about me as a reader, I feel that you should also know that I do not usually jump on the band wagon of popular books. I have not and will not read Harry Potter. I have not and will not read Twilight. That being said, Cody's cousin, Reagan, gave me The Hunger Games to borrow (which is a very popular book with everyone from teenagers to adults). I took it very unsure of whether or not I would like it, but...I LOVED IT! I finished the first book just before we returned from Christmas break and had not thought much of it until lately. I finished the last two books in a week and secretly wish that there was a fourth. To make it even better, there is a movie coming out in 2012, so read the series now!

Here's a synopsis of the 1st book from Amazon
"In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins' characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like 'Survivor' and 'American Gladiator."

Born to Run

No no, I' m not referring to myself...I just finished a book this week called "Born to Run." If you are a runner, I would def. recommend the book to you.

Christopher McDougall sets out to figure out why his foot keeps hurting as he runs. The more that he researches, he comes across a tribe of the world's greatest distance runners (we're talking 100s of miles at a time) and learns that most of the ways we run are wrong.
It took me a little while to get into the book, but once I did I was hooked.
My favorite was that if you start running at age 19, you'll reach your peak at age 27. If you continue running, when you are 64 years old, you will run as well as you did when you were 19. Crazy! That was all written in support of the idea that you are not too old to run, you get old because you stop running.
A great book! Not sure that I agree with everything written in the pages (I won't be changing much of what I'm doing..), but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
(BTW: If the hardback price is too steep, it comes out in paperback next week...or you could check it out from the library like I did.)

Unspoken

I love Francine Rivers! She is an amazing author! I just finished reading Unspoken which is (I guess) historical fiction focusing on the love story between David and Bathsheba. In the back it says" You have just read the story of Bathsheba as perceived by one author. " So Rivers has sought out scripture and then filled in the details of the story. I love history, scripture and novels, so her stories absolutely enthrall me. There are five books in this particular series and I've already read Unashamed (Mary), so I'm moving on to Unshaken (Ruth). If you've already read these, I'd recommend The Mark of the Lion series also by Rivers...it is my favorite series that I've ever read!