Let the Reading Season Begin!

So as I tie shoes, sign papers, make lunches and send my daughters off to school with a kiss and an I LOVE YOU, I begin to switch back into my reading mode. My mind starts making lists that my fingers have to write down about which books I want to read. Back to school time is the kickoff season for our family to start really reading again.

Summer is great. There is so much to do and my soul yearns to be outside enjoying the fresh air and warm sun. My family is constantly on the go, enjoying trips to amusement parks, water parks, the zoo, walks on trails and anything else that gets us out of the house. Summer is release for us Missourians. Most of our winters are long affairs with bitter cold and various types of wet cold precipitation. So when the warm winds come and the sun stays around longer we embrace it with a passion.

Then school starts and we start getting into a more academic mode. This means reading, writing and critical thinking of various types. Our minds start wandering to books, libraries and bookstores. We begin discussing books we want to read and need to read. My husband looks forward to kickoff time for the NFL and his daughters and wife looks forward to quiet Sundays, curled under the warm blankets reading a enthralling book.

So this book season I have two main goals. The first goal is to read all the Mark Twain and Truman Reader nominee books. These lists are read by my two older children as well. I have been pleasantly surprised by some books on both of these lists in the past so I cannot wait to see what I'm in store for this year. I will post the list of nominee books at the end of this post.

My second goal is one I plan on writing more about in the near future. I am on a mission to discover the very best Post-Apocalypse/End of Earth type of book for both adults and young adults. I must admit this has been a while in the making. I have been wanting to do this for a while now, but those sneaky vampires and weres just got a hold of me and wouldn't let go. While I still love them both, I'm feeling a need to be prepared for 2012-so I must read about the end of earth as I now it. Of course getting addicted to TNT's new show Falling Skies didn't help in this need. It only made it worse.

So any suggestions for me? I would love to hear them!

Mark Twain Award 2011-2012 Nominees:

The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin
Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell
Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner
Faith, Hope and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry
Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford
Storm Chaser by Chris Platt
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta

Truman Reader Award 2011-2012 Nominees:

Invisible Lines by Mary Amato
Double Eagle by Snead B. Collard III
If the Witness Lied by Caroline Cooney
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Adventurers Wanted: Slathbog's Gold by M.L. Forman
The Shifter by Janice Hardy
The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
Pop by Gordon Korman
Jane in Bloom by Deborah Lytton
The Farwalker's Quest by Joni Sensel
Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams

To have or to have not......

The allure of holding a new book in my hands is addictive. I love my books. I eagerly anticipate going to the bookstore, be it the nearest Barnes and Noble or the Sam's club and searching for that book cover that catches my eye or that new release I've been dying to read. The drive home with my new book requires my windows to be down and the radio to be turned up as a reflection of my uplifted spirits. No matter how hard of a week I've had, a new book can always lift me out of my funk.

Once I've arrived at home, cleaned the house quickly, done the dishes, wrangled my youngest into the bath, listened to the drama of my two older girl's lives, and watched a few innings of my husband's latest sports passion, I finally get to lay back and crack open the new book. I can honestly say that there are few other things in life that can compete with the crisp pages of a new book and reading that opening paragraph. Okay, books are my vice-my only vice. Okay, okay, after Diet Coke and Twizzlers.

As I watched another mother at my daughters' cheer practice last week, I couldn't get past how pleased she looked with her Kindle. Technically it is a book, but is it? Hmmmmmmm. I watched her as she smiled at parts that she read, but she never turned a page. The lady next to her asked her what she was reading and when she told her they both gushed about how wonderful the story was. Hmmmmmmm.

It seems cold and impersonal to me. This ebook/digital book thing. I know it is the thing of the future, but I just don't think I could ever give up that feeling of owning a new book. Is it the same to purchase the story electronically as it is to drive out and pick up a copy that you can hold in your hands? The book jacket making you wonder how it relates to the story inside. Hmmmmmm.

I just had to know so I asked her the above questions. Surprise of surprises she agreed with me! Not only does she love having the actual book, she is addicted to buying books as well. The only difference is that she buys books that she's not sure she will like electronically. If she loves the story she will then go out and actually by the book. If not, then she's saved the trouble of having gone out to get it. Makes sense to this busy mom.

Things in the publishing/book industry are changing rapidly to keep pace with this world that are changing at breakneck speed. I guess I've finally realized that ebooks and digital options are not the threat and the enemy I had painted them as. Instead they are options and who doesn't like options?