Saturday, February 11, 2012

Book recommendations for teenaged boys?

I am always trying to find out about books teenaged boys love to read. My two decided a few years ago that they don't like to read and this is so sad to me because they loved books when they were young and they are missing one of the most wonderful and important parts of life, imho. They did both read and enjoy most of the Harry Potter books. And neither of them could put down The Hunger Games (that was a very happy couple of weeks for me!). I'd love to get any suggestions you all have for them. Thanks in advance! Publish Post

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Top 5 Favorite Books

I will get started with some book recommendations with my all time top 5: (I invite all to do the same)
1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. And you can't not watch the 6 hour A&E movie with Colin Firth. The newer movie with Kiera Knightly is also a wonderful version. Sorry to be so predictable with this book, but I can't lie.
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Our whole family also loved the movie.
3. Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I read this because one of my best friends recommended it-I would have never picked it out by reading the book jacket but it was awesome--the kind you think about for a long time after. There were times during the book that I had to put it down to think and absorb what I just read. This is also a great book to recommend for teenagers. Don't be turned off by the somewhat boring first portion of the book--hang on, it's worth it.
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A favorite from high school with a favorite movie to go along with it.
5. The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns both by Khaled Hosseini. My sister recommended these and they were hard to read because they were so sad, but wonderful. I would say 16+ for age.

INTRODUCTION -- PLEASE READ

Most of my friends and neighbors love to read and we often want recommendations for GOOD books. GOOD meaning inspirational, thought provoking or just plain entertaining! GOOD also meaning "not trashy."

Here's the dilemma: what does "trashy" mean? The book my son just read in his high school English class, "The Great Gatsby" is about infidelity and mean people. I wouldn't call it trashy though. "The Kite Runner" was an amazing book, and the content was rough, but not offensive to me. I think we all get the definition. Since getting ratings for books is difficult, we thought it would be fun to try a blog where we can get recommendations for books from people we know and trust that "get" what would be crossing the line.

Another great plus is that we can recommend books to each other that our kids have enjoyed so we have ideas when our kids whine and roll their eyes about not having any good books to read. Not that I have any kids like that...oh wait, I have 3 three. Also, content would be important to know ahead of time--for example, I encouraged my 16 year old son to read "The Kite Runner" but would not recommend that to my 10 year old son. This would be a great place to also recommend picture books for younger children that you have discovered.

So, feel free to post suggestions and recommendations whenever you want to share! There is something about reading a good book--you naturally want to tell others about it, so tell it here! Feel free to invite others to join this blog--sisters, friends, grandmothers! Whomever you think would benefit. Even an occasional man.

Ideas for Recommendations:

Favorite classics you read in high school
New books, of course
Books for teens & tweens & grade schoolers
Picture books for pre-readers
Free or cheap kindle (or other ebooks) you have discovered

When you recommend a book, please include all of the info to help us find it, plus a little explanation of why you liked it, and what age you are recommending for.

*A little disclaimer: many of the members of this blog are LDS, but this is not an LDS blog in any way. Anyone can participate that would like to. Also, I am not a moderator or won't be judging any recommendations. I'm also not in charge, I just started it. Anyone can give ideas or post what they would like. Think of it as a book club where everyone shares and you don't have to go anywhere. Hope it's useful!