Top Ten Tuesday #4 | Book Pet Peeves

1. Cracking the spine.
2. Making it look not read.  Do you know what I mean?  The best kind of books are the ones that look loved: dog-eared, written in, things are highlighted and annotated.  I don't like seeing books on people's bookshelves that don't look loved.  Every book deserves to be loved!  Book equality!
3. Bashing a book you haven't read.
4. Arguing with someone about a book that's left up to interpretation in a condescending way (That one tends to come up in class a lot.  Just stop).
5. When someone "borrows" a book from you and you never see it again.  You know who you are.
6. Complaining about reading a good book just because it's for school.
7. Not putting books back on the shelf in libraries.  I mean come on, the shelves are right there.
8. Putting other books down in front of people who love those books.  Just don't.  Even if it's Twilight.  Okay...you might get a free pass if it's Twilight.
9. Letting a book gather dust on your shelf.
10. Ripping the pages of a book.

What are you worst book pet peeves?

Top Ten Tuesday #3 | Books I'll Read to My Kids

10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

9. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

8. Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

7. Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss

6. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

5. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle

4. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 

1. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (I still read this book every year myself at Christmastime!)

Let me know what your favorites kid's books are!!

Top Ten Tuesday #2: Reasons Why I Love to Read

Let's get sappy!

10. You get to meet people and bond with people over favorite books and authors.  It's something you have in common, and you can't really be fake about liking books.  You know what I mean?  If you bond with someone over a book, you know it's for real!
9. You can take a book with you anywhere.  You can sit down (or just lean against a wall) for a couple of minutes and just calm down with a good book.
8.  It's so relaxing (well...unless you're reading some sort of murder mystery - that could be kind of stressful).
7. It makes you feel smart (is that just me who feels this way?).
6.  You learn so much about so many different things.
5. You get to live vicariously through characters.
4. You get taken to worlds you could never go to otherwise.
3. You learn that you're not the only one who thinks certain ways or acts certain ways.
2. You get taken out of your own head for a long while.
1. You get lost, and you get found.

Top Ten Tuesday #1: Books for Halloween

Hello and welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday series!  With Halloween quickly approaching, I thought I'd do my favorite books to get you in the mood.

10. The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe: creepy, eccentric short stories.  Read a few, read 'em all!
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling: okay, I know this isn't a scary book, but what's the most common Halloween costume for a girl?  A witch.  What's the most popular book involving witches?  The Harry Potter books.  Bing, bang, boom, connection made.
8. Marked by P.C. and Kristen Cast: the first book of one of my favorite vampire series, the House of Night series.  You'll be addicted within the first five pages!
7. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: short and weird.  Psychologically frustrating and just plain confusing.  But that's the fun of it!
6. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: come on, you HAVE to read this before Halloween, especially with the new show Sleepy Hollow on the air!  It's short and classic.  Great to read right before you watch the movie with Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane.
5. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz: I used to read these books in middle school and I was always, always, always freaked out.  I'll probably still be freaked out if I read them again.  Truly scary and just plain creepy.
4. Macbeth by William Shakespeare: Double, double, toil, and trouble.  Need I say more?
3. The Shining by Stephen King: a creepy psychological tease
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: one of my favorite books that I was required to read for school.  It turned around so many of my preconceived thoughts about the monster.  Creepy, but also full of social commentary on science going too far.
1. Dracula by Bram Stoker: the ultimate classic to read during the Halloween season.  This is one of my favorite books of all time.  If you're tired of reading vampire books, I encourage you to try this last one.  It is as far from Twilight as you could possibly get.  Then go watch the movie: absolutely amazing!  If you're going to read one book in October, this should be it.

So in conclusion, read Dracula, read Dracula, read Dracula.  Read it.  Do it now.  You don't even have to buy it.  If you have any kind of tablet, you can get it for free, because it's a classic.  Yay for free things!