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!