Help Finding Books to Read.

I have been trying to read more, too. I just finished
"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picult. Wonderful story, but very sad. Thought provoking. Also, if you are daring, you might want to try "The Other Bolyn Girl." It's very long, but a beautiful fun story. Right now I am reading "The Glass Castle" and I'll let you know how it is. I just started.

Have fun,
Jolie

I love to read! I try and read any time I can get a spare moment. My favorite author is Nora Roberts. I love everything she writes. I love her mystery books as well as her romance novels. I've also recently started reading books by Jodi Piccoult. I love Johanna Lindsay. She writes great romance novels, too. I read a lot of fiction books - I enjoy the stress relief of reading about these amazing men who do anything for their women. I also read the book Innocent Man by John Grisham, which was a real life story. Great book!

I go through stages of reading. But when I am in a streak it is hard to get me away from my book :) I personally like mystery type books. My 2 favorite authors are Patricia Cornwell & Sue Grafton. They both write books that series. If you start from the beginning you'll understand & "get to know" the characters & you'll have more than enough to look forward to reading if you start at the begininning. They both have lots of books. Both of their main characters are medical examiners.(CSI kinda stuff)

A fun series I read, it is an easy read, is the series by Janet Evanovich, the Stephanie Plum series, the first one is called one for the money, they are fun!
M.
Mother of 2, loves to scrapbook and play volleyball
4th grade teacher

Hi K.,
If it was "one of those days" and you just want to unwind and not put too much thought into it, then I would recommend the Shopoholic book series by Sophie Kinsella- they are hilarious! (Think Bridget Jones' Diary)- in fact, there is a new one out called "Shopoholic and Baby" that will be my next purchase.

I also recommend An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser. She writes an account of her travels through Italy and the subsequent affair that comes along with it. It is less "romance" and more picturesque and great if you ever traveled or would love to travel. She is amazingly descriptive and can be quite funny.

The third is The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards. If you can stay with it for the first 50 pages it becomes almost impossible to put down- you can not wait to see how it all unfolds!!
Happy Reading!
ps. thanks to the other respondents I may just have to pick up The time Travelers Wife- it seems to be a popular choice! :)

Oh, I love to read. My favorite Author right now is Debbie Macomber. I love her. right now I am reading the Cedar Cove series and I love it. There is 6 of them with a 7 coming out soon. You can check out her website at debbiemacomber.com. Also, I love Nicholas Sparks, VC Andrews, Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts, Belva Plain. Those are my favorite ones. I love to read and do it every night or anytime I can.

S. Bailey CLD
Aurora
www.tendermomentsdoula.com

I suppose it would depend on what interests you, but I would HIGHLY recommend ANYTHING by Brock and Bodie Thoene. They write historical fiction, based on facts. Super talented authors...he does the research, she does the writing and they make an awesome team.

My faovrite book: Pillars of the Earth. Its a long one, but you can pick it up and read a little at a time...I actually liked that I could buy one book that lasted me a long time and it is the BEST story I have ever written: Ken Follet has an amazing way of weaving characters together. (see link below)

http://www.amazon.com/Pillars-Earth-Ken-Follett/dp/045120...

The BEST author: Mary Higgins Clark: I can NOT put her books down! They are mystery books--you will want to RACE to the end to find out who did it: she is an amazing author. Every single book I read by her is GREAT.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-###-###-####-###...

I also LOVE the John Jakes books. They have everything: history, mystery, romance, action...and the cool thing is, he has a few series out there so you can read books with the same characters. I like the Kent Family Chronicles (see below)

http://www.amazon.com/Bastard-Kent-Family-Chronicles-Vol/...

Good for you We all need a little time for ourselves I just started last year reading every night Now I have to read before I fall asleep.
I really enjoyed a series called Dakotah Treasues by Lauraine Snelling They are easy reads but very entertaining There are four in the series. Then I went on to Men of the saddle series by Lori Copeland there are four in the series. then I read Brides of the west by Lori Copeland there are six in that series. They are life/love stories but clean stories no smut.
If you go to Borders online or CBD.com you can look up the titles and see if any of them interest you. Have a great day

I love to read as well and noticed we have some similarities. I always read at night, have 2 boys and have been married for 8 years,like you.

Anyway, I've read a million forgettable fun reads that I get from the library. I tend to pick from the "new fiction" section. They are not always newly published, but new to the library! Anything by Jodi Picoult is extremely compelling, but so hard to put down! So choose her when you have time. I will throw in more serious book like hers with other lighter, chick lit books. Three other memorable reads are Girls in Trouble by Caroline Leavitt, The Friendship Test, and The Reading Group both by Elizabeth Noble. Have fun and let me know if you read any of these books, I'd love your feedback.

I just read Prep and truly enjoyed it. 2 books I have on tap for my next couple of reads are The Other Boleyn Girl and The Jane Austen Book Club, both recommended by several friends.

An older book I really enjoyed is The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney.

Otherwise I get sucked into total fluff reads - Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Sophie Kinsella.

Time Traveler's Wife
Any Bitter Thing
Still Life with Husband
Peace Like a River
What is the What
Devil Wears Prada
If you like mysteries, here are some authors I like - Stephen White, K.J. Erickson, Harlan Coben, Sue Grafton

Dear K.,

I am a romance novels. I have about 700 right now. I try to read a chapter a night. But sometimes I go a couple of weeks without reading. but sometimes I stay up late or drop my kids off at a friends and read for a couple of hours. If you need some to read and want to come and pick them up you can get a bag of books that I have already read.
B.

Anything by Nicholas Sparks! Once I pick up one of his books I have a hard time putting it down.

I love to read and my favorite author is Joy Fielding. She is an excellent writer of suspenseful books that always have a twist at the end. I also like Jennifer Weiner (chick lit author) as well as Nicci French (she's like Joy Fielding). Also, if you have books that you want to get rid of and get some "new" ones you haven't read yet, I came across a great website where people "mooch" books from each other: www.bookmooch.com. I've gotten a lot of great books from it, as well as given quite a few of mine away. It works on a point system. Happy reading!

I wanted to encourage you. Do you know what the number #1 influence on children learning to read - listening to language! And the rhyme and meter in books really builds your child's brain as well as meeting some of their social emotional needs. Your local librarian is a great resource! She knows the best books. (GOODNIGHT MOON is a good one, but there are SO many more!

Reading is an adventure. Model it for your children!

K.,

Here are some books that I have enjoyed recently: The Secret Life of Bees, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Devil Wears Prada, the Harry Potter series, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Good Earth, Poisonwood Bible and White Oleander. I find good book choices by looking at Oprah.com. She has some pretty good lists of books.

D.

I second Time Travelers Wife (Great Book)
I loved The Kite Runner, one of the best books I have ever read.
If you haven't read it, Memoirs of a Geisha is great
All the Number (about a single mom who looses her son in a jet ski accident, I have never cried so hard in a book!)
I am currently reading Devil in the White City
And I am a sucker for Dean Koontz. I love his books, currently reading Husband and my favorite of his is Dark Rivers of the Heart.

I love mystery and suspense. There are great writers out there and the people who previously responded named alot of them. However, why don't you try one of the most popular books to come out in years...The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I've read the book, and I've listened to it on CD. It is an easy read and very interesting. Another suggestion is to go to the library and look in their new arrival section (usually at the front of the library or ask the Librarian), browse the books, read the covers and see if one jumps out at you. Good Luck!

K.,

I'm a mom of three and recently started reading again. It is a great little escape! Some of my favorites are The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Million Little Pieces by James Frey, Something Borrowed & Something Blue by Emily Giffin, Sopihe Kinsella books are light and funny as well as bookk written by Jennifer Weiner.

You can always check out the narratives of these suggestions on Amazon.com. Hope you enjoy! S.

It depends what you like. There are so many types of books. Now, I like suspense books. Many will disagree with what I like, but here's my faves:

1) the Harry Potter series (no, they are not just for kids. VERY entertaining!)

2) Stephan King's "Carrie," "Pet Sematary," "The Shining."

3) Dean Koontz "Phantoms". He writes a lot of other books but this is far his best book.

I really am enjoying reading Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson. I don't know what your parenting style is, but it's about the trouble our boys are in today and how it's affecting America, and how important the parenting is. Really great read!

If you planning to read for fun I enjoy mystery and suspense novels. The authors I like most are Nelson DeMille, Tami Hoag, Richard North Patterson, and James Patterson. All of these writers are great. I have literally not been able to put their books down once I start one. They tell believable stories that don't stretch your imagination overly much. Ihope you like them.

I am in a book club and so far the two best books we have read were:

One Thousand White Women: The Diary of May Dodd and
The Glass Castle (A Memoir)

I also just read A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton. That was pretty good. I am always a Harry Potter fan too ;)

Jan Karon has a 8 book series called Mitford. I just got done reading a 3 book series by Wanda E. Brunstetter, the series is called The Daughters of Lancaster County. Both of these series are religious books. I also love reading a good mystery. My favorite authors are: Nora Roberts, VC Andrews, Mariah Stewart, Patricia Cornwell, and John Grisham. Hope this helps!

Happy reading
D.

I second One Thousand White Women, Glass Castle, and The Other Boleyn Girl. Also I would recommend Running with Scissors as well as Snowflower and the Secret Fan.

This is a great question. Thanks for raising it! I just jotted down a bunch of titles and authors from the other moms' responses. I'm always looking for a good book.

I am currently reading one of the Shopaholic books by Kinsella, and I agree that it's a perfect read for a busy mom. I'm enjoying it. Another series with a little bit more depth is by Lorna Landavik. It's about a women's book club. I also really enjoyed reading Amy Tan's books. And I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. Ayn Rand is also great - Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are the best, but you definitely need your brain for those. I don't know about you, but my brain needs rest after my full day with the kids.

Personally, I cannot manage the extreme drama of some of the books I used to read before I had kids. I also don't have the emotional space for anything major happening to the characters. Divorce or anything really terrible happening to a child is just not something I want to read about right now! I also find that my mind doesn't have the capacity for serious literature right now. Maybe someday! We'll see!

I'm going to keep an eye on these responses, and if anyone can recommend any other books that are not too serious and don't have too much heavy drama, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks, ladies.

Hi K.,
I read a lot and there are a couple series that are excellent. Any books by James Patterson, especially the Alex Cross series, are great! I also started reading a series by Janet Evanovich about a bounty hunter named Stephanie Plum. It's hysterical! I've almost finished the series of twelve books in 4 weeks! Hope you like them!