A little bit about the books...

The list seems to need a little embellishment. So I thought I'd post a few words about the books I've listed.

"The Other Boleyn Girl" - I've wanted to read this since it came out, but just never got around to it. I have to admit, it is quite thick and I thought it'd take a while to read. Well, that was wrong - it was a very quick read. It doesn't matter that you know in the end that Anne Boleyn was beheaded, the story is just great.

"In My Hands..." - My sister-in-law sent this to Mark for his birthday. We'd never heard of it. Mark is part Polish and this story was about a Polish woman during Nazi and Russian occupation during WWII. It was so good, he read it in a day. Kirsten picked it up and finished it almost as quickly. It took me less than a day to read too. Very interesting book and a different perspective on the story of the Holocaust.

I'll put the Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins books in the same paragraph, as they deal with the same subject matter - religion and God. "The End of Faith" is a good book, but a difficult read. It has a notation section almost as large as the text itself. Sam Harris also sounds angry in many sections. "The God Delusion" is an easier read. They quote each other often in their texts. If you've ever felt not great about religion or wondered if we can possibly solve the crisis in the Middle East, I'd recommend reading these books. If you're religiously devote - you won't like them at all.

"The Time Traveller's Wife" - I got this book for my 40th birthday and couldn't put it down. I passed it around to all my friends. It's got a great theory of time travel - you can only travel within your own lifetime and experiences, you can move forward and back, and you visit your own "self" at that point in time. At first, you get hung up on trying to figure out the dates for each chapter, but eventually it gets easier to follow and you realize exactly where he is within his lifetime. Excellent fiction book.

"Stiff..." - My brother recommended this one. It's all about what happens to your physical body when you die. It's not for the faint of heart. I'll admit that there were times when I was squirming reading a particularly gross section. For people who like science, it is a phenomenally cool read. It is also really funny in places.

"My Sister's Keeper" - I have to say, as a general rule, I like all Jodi Picolt's novels. But this one had me on the edge of my seat and I absolutely SOBBED the last pages of the book. I couldn't put this one down and the ending just blew me away.

New page element

So what to do with a blog? It's not like my life is full of exciting moments to chronicle for all the world to see. So I've decided to keep a running list of books I read that I would recommend to others. Scroll down to take a peek at my new page element called Judi's Bookshelf. Reading is fun!

Enjoy!