I am one of the lucky girls. I have a mom who supports me intellectually, spiritually, and all other facets of my life. I am sure we log at least five hours per week talking on the phone. She is one of my best friends, and I hope my little girl will grow up to have a similar friendship with me. I took that picture the last time I was in Massachusetts with my mom. My little girl is only five there, and I can’t believe how much has happened since that day. So why am I talking about my mom and my daughter? To introduce you to our latest book for our book club . . .

When Sarah Bryden-Brown showed me her recent ebook Stories I’ve Only Told My Mom, I decided to do an extra book club this month. It’s an easy read—just a collection of essays—from some of the great bloggers around the web. Some of the essays had me laughing, while others made the tears fall down my face for the entire read.

I picked my three favorites for our discussion, but of course, you can mention any of them in the comments section. It’s up to you.

The first story that hit me was by Amy Thompson, who writes the blog Progressive Pioneer. She calls her essay “Things I’d Like to Tell My Mom.” Once you read it, you’ll know why I was crying. It’s beautiful.

The first essay in the list also struck me. It’s called “$17,000″ and is by Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind.

“Ashes and Rebirth”, by Meg Keene—author of The Practical Wedding—is poignant, and one of my favorites.

I don’t want to spill everything I read until some of you get a chance to read the essays, so once you read them, make a comment, and I’ll add to whatever you say. You can even start by asking a question, like “What did you think about the part where she says_________?”

Oh, and for those of you who don’t have a kindle, don’t worry. I downloaded mine for free onto my computer. Since it isn’t a long book, reading it on the computer won’t hurt your eyes.

And now I will confess something I am very much ashamed of: I have never read Jane Eyre.

I am now pausing while I can feel your virtual rotten tomatoes smashing into my face. I am sorry. I have never read it. Or at least, not the whole thing. Surely I read enough of it in tenth grade English to get by with a quickie book report. But that’s all.

And is it sad of me that I only now want to read it because the new movie looks so good? And I know Rochester is supposed to be on the homely side, but I have to say, he’s the reason I’m so excited to go see the movie. I suppose if I invest a couple of hours into a movie, I want Rochester to be at least ambiguously handsome. I guess I just like eye candy.

Here is the trailer:

I want to squeeze in reading it before I break down and watch the movie.

And so, this will be our book club book for June.

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know why we’ve never done this before on sophistimom—it seems so obvious. Of course we need a book club!!

Our first book for the club will be Matched by the lovely Ally Condie.

Here’s what it’s about:

Cassia lives in a world where nearly everything is decided for her: what she eats, how she sleeps, where she works. She is even told whom she is to marry.

At her matching banquet, she sees the face of her best friend, and everything seems perfect. A peaceful life stretches out before her.

Read the rest of this entry »

I mentioned The Morning Gift was my favorite book a couple of weeks ago when I posted the vanillekipferl recipe. Though this isn’t a Christmas book, it fills me with such happiness that I am sharing it with you now.  I hope you all like it, too.

Eva Ibbotson is this amazing writer who caught my attention with her book A Countess Below Stairs (recommended to me by Julie). Her writing style is varied and complex, which, along with her exceptional knowledge of all things European and wonderful, makes you feel slightly inferior for just a moment before resolving to be smarter and better informed in the future.

Ruth, the main character in The Morning Gift, is an old-fashioned heroine, slightly reminiscent of Anne Shirley—intelligent, quirky, and lovable. She is half Jewish and living in Austria in the midst of Hitler’s power at the start of the second World War. Everyone in her family escapes, but due to terrible complications, Ruth is stranded in Vienna. Her story starts when a young professor and colleague of her father, comes to check on the family to be sure they have all left the city safely. When he finds Ruth there, they discover the only way to get her out of the country is to marry. But dissolving the marriage when they arrive in England is more trouble than they expect.

This is one of those books that is more fun the more you read it. I found myself laughing out loud and calling my mom on the phone every time I got to a good part (She loves it too, by the way).

Some of Ibbotson’s Young Adult novels have some mature themes (nothing too steamy, though), as they were written initially for grown-ups. If you’re wanting a daughter to read this or any of her other Young Adult novels, you may want to preview them first.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, then first you need to go out and get The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Click here if you want to read my review of The Hunger Games), and read it. If you leave right now to go get it, you should have the book finished by tomorrow afternoon, easy. Then go out and get Catching Fire and read that.

Good.

I may spoil things for you if you read on, so be sure you read the books first, or that you don’t care about stuff like that. I won’t spill anything from Catching Fire, but I’ll talk as if you are up to speed on Hunger Games.

Phew! Now that that’s out of the way—let’s get to my question.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a chance for your kids to help you comment!

What have you read this summer so far?

What have been your favorite books? Which ones would you have rather left at the library?

On September 1, I will have a drawing for a $25 gift card to Borders. Starting today, every time you or your child reads a book, come to the comments section of this post, and tell us what book it was and how you liked it.

Then, on September 1, we’ll see who the winner is.

The more you read, the greater your chances will be, so have fun, and get reading!!!!