"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend."

It's no secret that I love to read. I can remember my favorite book that my Mom used to read to me and Briana. "The Monster at the End of This Book." I still read children's books and not just because I have kids! Reading has always been my first love! :) Lately I feel like I've been ignoring it. I have so many other things going on that I just don't get as much time as I'd like. But thanks to Brenda, a woman who has always been like a mother to me, I have rediscovered my love of books! She introduced me to the website http://www.goodreads.com/ I love it! I have so much fun playing around on there! As I was adding all the books I've read to my "Shelf", I realized how much I wish I was reading! I kept thinking to myself: "Oh, that was a great book" and sometimes: "Blech. I didn't like that book." :) So I started thinking (and Jim from "The Office" made me think of it)...Maybe I should have a Top 5 list. You know: "If you were stuck on a desert island and could only take 5 books with you, what would they be?" I very greatly doubt I could keep myself to 5...but here are some of my all-time favorite books!

I just look at the cover of this book and I want to read it! I've read this about 5 times and I will never get sick of it! The movie is excellent too! That doesn't happen often, where the movie is as good as the book. This is the first novel I can remember reading. I remember coming to my Mom and asking for books that I could read because I was tired of reading "Young Adult" books. :) She went through her shelf and she handed me "Gone with the Wind" and said: "How about this?" I looked at it's monstrous size, handed it back and said: "Maybe another time..." I'm sure my poor mom was going through her books wondering which books would be appropriate for her young daughter to read! (She had a lot of crime novels!) :) She finally selected this book, handed it to me and said: "What about this? I think you'd like it." SOLD! I loved it then, and I love it now. "To Tawanda!"

I picked "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux because it scared the crap out of me. I read "Rosemary's Baby" and didn't flinch. I read this and I actually caught myself breaking out in a cold sweat. It sounds ridiculous, but it's creepy! The book is nothing like the 2004 movie with Gerard Butler. The picture on the cover is almost exactly how Leroux described The Phantom. *shudders* It was a great book and I sincerely couldn't put it down!

This was another book suggested by my Mom! One night I was perusing her bookshelves as I often did. I said, "Mom, do you have anything you've read lately that I should read?" She suggested this. Wally Lamb is one of her favorite authors. It's about two men, who are twins. One is "normal" and the other is a schizophrenic who chops off his right hand in a library because: "if your right hand offends thee, cut it off." That's how it starts and it just spirals down in to a land of crazy that you really wish you hadn't ventured into! But you find that what's crazy to one person, is normalcy to another. It's also a lesson in family bonds. Blood truly can be thicker than water. This is the first book that, when finished, I felt like my friends were gone! Finishing the book was such a bittersweet moment! My sister will actually put off finishing a book because she goes through the same thing!

"The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. I love this author! "Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" belong to him also. How can you resist a good swashbuckling adventure! I grew to love these characters and was so very sad when the book ended! I wanted more...which is ridiculous, because the book is already pretty long. Dumas weaves such a complete profile for these men that you feel like you know them! Full of espionage, mystery, court life, sword fights, etc. *sigh* Such a good book.

Every girl needs to read an epic romance. That's why I chose "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. I don't mean those silly harlequin romance novels. (I don't judge anyone for reading them because everyone has their own tastes, but I just hate them.) I mean a real, epic, once-in-a-lifetime romance. Claire, an English nurse, jumps back in time 200 years thanks to some druid stones. Instead of it being 1945, it's 1745. She's in Scotland...and she's English. During this period of time, that's not good for her. England and Scotland are at war. She is rescued from an assault by some Scottish Highlanders (real ones, not Fabio in a skirt) who can't decide if she's a spy. She relocates a young Scot's (Jamie Fraser) shoulder, so they decide to protect her and to do that, she needs to marry Jamie. This will make her a Scot by marriage. But there's a problem...Claire is already married to Frank in 1945. What will she do? Stay with the Highlander? Or return home to her own time and to Frank? I really did like this book and it's absolutely worth reading! It's the first in a series of 6...4 of which I've read.

I know this makes 6, but I just don't care. I wouldn't consider this a book, but a necessity. I grew up with a Bible always near me. I went to a private elementary. I know these stories inside and out. The people in this book aren't characters to me. I've known them, studied them, named my children after them (middle names). It may seem strange to some, but it doesn't to me. It's no stranger than naming your child after an ancestor. When I read this, I feel comfortable. Like your favorite chair or a favorite sweater. This book feels lived-in. I feel at home here. I will never be without at least one Bible in my home. This is a connection to my past as well as to my future. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have so many books that I love. I feel that reading is one of our greatest gifts. My Mom instilled it in me and I will pass it on to my Swarm. :) Nothing makes me happier than to see them flipping the pages of their little Golden Books asking me to read to them. Most of the time, they're incredibly impatient and keep trying to turn the pages so they can see the next picture. That's all right with me. I just like sitting with them.