89/365

89/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I really love to read. I think it started with summer reading programs at the local library. They really knew how to bribe a kid. Read a bunch of hours and we'll give you a free ticket to Six Flags! Okay! (Can I still do that, by the way?)

And then there was Battle of the Books in fifth grade. Every fifth grader was given a list of Newbery Award winners and then tested on them. The top five or so from the grade got to participate in Battle of the Books which was basically teams from all the elementary schools going head-to-head to see who knew the most about the books. I was nervous come test day because I hadn't had time to read Sounder yet - a book I ended up doing a report on in my college children's lit class, interestingly enough.

Guess it didn't matter because I scored the highest of all the kids in my school. Despite after school preparation, our team lost big time, but we got lots of cookies and balloons! And that's what matters.

Over the years, summer and reading have become synonymous. Only in more recent years it's become something I really look forward to. I can read whatever I want and no book reports!

I feel like I'm on the road to a reading frenzy as I have three or so that I'm in the middle of now and five or so on the (immediate) to-read list.

I haven't ever reviewed a book, but I love to recommend music and movies, so why not add books to the list? I'm going to start chronicling the books I read as I finish them and share with you what I thought. Under absolutely no intellectual basis are my thoughts compiled, so don't quote me on anything, here.

By the way, besides a brief synopsis, I promise only spoiler-free reviews.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Let's be honest, I judge books by their covers. And their prices. I kept coming across this book on the buy-one-get-one-half-off tables. I picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down. And then I heard someone in the store talking about it, so I picked it up again.

One of my favorite books as a kid was The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, which is a story about a young girl on a big ship. Maybe I just like stories about girls on ships. Maybe that's why I've been wanting to watch Pirates of the Caribbean so bad lately. Anyway, The Forgotten Garden's biggest mystery is that of a 4-year-old girl in a frilly dress found on a wharf in Australia in 1913 sitting on a little white suitcase filled with little else than a book of dark Victorian fairy tales. I was intrigued and went with my instinct and boy, am I glad I did.

The story is a multi-generational tale, covering a single mystery from the early 1900s to the present. A mystery that begins on Nell's 21st birthday, when her father tells her that she is not who she thinks she is, and ends when Nell's granddaughter, Cassandra, unravels the truth at Blackhurst Manor in England.

I got wrapped up in this book almost immediately. The story moves along rapidly, a piece to the puzzle unearthed in every chapter. The characters develop really well and I just can't resist a hero-leaves-home-to-find-her/himself story. Especially one that takes over your imagination and incorporates fairy tales with real life.

If you're looking for an easy but smart read that you can get wrapped up in, this is it. Seems like the perfect beach/airplane/park/subway read.

Should I rate it? I don't even know what to base a rating on. I'm not willing to be all smart about this, honestly. But if I HAD to rate it, I'd give it a 8/10. Whatever that means. All I know is that for my tastes, this book wasn't lacking much.

The author explains the synopsis and the personal experiences that influenced her book here.

If any of you decide to read it (or have read it), let me know. I'm dying to talk to someone about it!

Here's what I have coming up next:

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan

Emma by Jane Austen

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Help by Katherine Stockett

Feel free to share your favorites!