** TWO LOUs**: Bookworm

I am back to the land of the living after finishing the Hunger Games trilogy last Tuesday. Two posts ago, I had just started the third book. 1200 pages in 5 days--let's just say the laundry, the house and the filthy car waited. The last book was somewhat of a disappointment only because I wanted more. I can mourn a good book and this one was no exception. I spent days afterwards thinking about it--the characters, the underlying meaning to the authors over arching storyline.
I liken it to the way I feel after a great wedding weekend. You know how when you're in a wedding it is all you do from Friday at noon until you wake up Sunday morning. You really get to know the bride's sister from out west, her precious niece, you dance with the groom's cool college roommate, you really click with her coworker. Basically you fall in love with all these cool people and have so much fun with them all weekend only to say good bye on Sunday thinking "Man, if only they lived close by, we could be really good friends." But they fly on back to Seattle or wherever and you hope that maybe the couple will have a blowout baby shower or 40th birthday party in a few years where you can hang out with their fun family and friends again.
That's usually how I feel at the end of a good book when the heroine is so likeable that you almost envy him/her or the setting is somewhere you have always wanted to live or visit. I have been this way forever, getting so wrapped up in a book. I'm sure those of you reading that don't read for pleasure think I am nuts. I know there are those out there that hate to read--a People magazine is as close as you get and that's just for the quick crossword. But for those of you who share my love affair with a good paperback, here are a few of my recent reads and past favorites...

obv, The Hunger Games Trilogy
while it appears at first to be a teen fantasy, Twilight esque addiction; these books have so much more to say about war, peace, hope and the human spirit.

Her Mother's Hope
Her Daughter's Dream
by Francine Rivers
This is another series that resulted in a lot of sleep loss for me this fall. I loved these books. Francine Rivers is one of my favorites and I had heard a lot of mixed reviews over these. I highly recommend them. It gave me a lot to think about as a mother but I loved the message of forgiveness that resonates throughout. I just finished The Atonement Child by Rivers--I would never recommend it because of the delicate subject matter but thought it was good and that she remained true to her style. My favorite however is Redeeming Love--again, up until 4:00 finishing this one a few years ago.