A Game of Thrones

So I am fully aware that I missed a post last week, and it was not for lack of trying. Ever since I finished The Best of Me, I have been mercilessly plowing my way through a book on the complete opposite end of the spectrum: A Game of Thrones.
I am once again going to wave my nerd flag and say that I love HBO's Game of Thrones. A friend got me in to it a few months ago, and I was hooked. No surprise, but I heard that they books were even better than the series. When I went to visit my dad in Tennessee two weeks ago, I decided to start the first of the five books.
In case I haven't made it clear before, books are my life fuel. My cocaine. When I go on a vacation, where most people see beaches and sightseeing, I see endless amounts of uninterrupted time to curl up with a book. The first day I was there I swung by the bookstore, planning to pick up something for the week. One hour and six books later, I was parked on the back porch of the farm, already diving into A Game of Thrones.
I was done for. I literally read almost non-stop. Ask my family. If I had a minute, I was reading. I read on commercials, I read while we set the table. I read with my morning coffee and before I went to bed. Heck, I even read in the bathtub. Despite all that reading, I returned to Chicago only 450 pages into the book. Hence, the missing post.
I think that George R.R. Martin is a genius. I think that he is extremely, unbelievably talented as a writer. Time after time I was blown away by his imagination, and to put it all on paper that skillfully just boggles my mind. In my opinion, you have got to respect and admire this author and these books, regardless of your literary tastes.
It was fantastic.
And mark my words, when I finish my next five books, I will be reading book number 2 in the series.

The Best of Me

So, as I recently confessed, I have a somewhat embarrassing love of Nicholas Sparks books. Contrary to what you may assume, this did not start with The Notebook. The first Nicholas Sparks book I read was actually A Bend In The Road, and it was something my mom had gotten from a garage sale. But I'm not going to lie, I did read The Notebook shortly after.
But anyway, Nicholas Sparks is kind of my guilty pleasure. I've probably read at least ten of his books, although that's probably creeping closer to fifteen. And I have an eerie ability to read the book, and within months it's announced as becoming a movie. Seriously. The Lucky One? Dear John? The Vow? Read them all.
I had a somewhat slow start to this one. Once you read enough of his books, you start to see all the similarities. They're always set in a small town in North Carolina. A man and a woman always fall in love before facing some unforeseen complication. It sometimes starts to feel a little predictable (but God knows I keep reading them anyway). When I started The Best of Me, it felt a lot like The Notebook. Two teenagers fall in love in spite of their differences, and although they fight all the time, they share a once in a lifetime love and yada yada yada. I had my doubts about it for a while, trying to predict what would happen as I went along, but at some point it became nothing like The Notebook. Nothing like any Nicholas Sparks book I've read, and that's saying something.
The Best of Me may very well have just become my favorite. I cried. Twice. Before the epilogue, I took a deep breath and paused. I did that again at the end. It became so much more than a typical mushy love story, which is why I think that I keep reading these books. Like I said, they all seem to start the same, but they always end with this gut wrenching turn of events. At some point, they are no longer predictable at all.
So, yes. I love my Nicholas Sparks books. I'll say it loud and I'll say it proud, and The Best of Me is definitely worth picking up. And if you don't, there's a good chance it'll end up in theaters in a year or so anyway (my money says Valentines Day. Some things are still predictable).

Top 5 Favorite Books

So because I am getting a slow start to my new book, I've been trying to think of something else to write about. I have a ton of rants stored up about many different books, but I figured I'd start with something a little simpler so I don't scare anyone off.
Like I said, I have pretty much been reading non-stop since I first learned how. When I was a kid, I would ride my bike down to the public library and fill my backpack full of Nancy Drew (and everything I needed to know about horses and being a vet, of course). I first picked up Jane Eyre when I was eleven, and after months of renewal after renewal (I actually had to return it and ride my bike back the next day to check it out again. Apparently they only allow a certain number of renewals) I finally finished it almost a year later. My family bought me my own copy for Christmas that year, and I have probably read it at least 5 times since.
So as a life long book worm, I decided to figure out my top 5 favorite books of all time. You know, the desert island type. The 5 books that you would keep if you could only read 5 for the rest of your life. Not an easy thing for a book nerd to do. But after much consideration and many sleepless nights, I composed the following list.

In no particular order:

 1. Anne of Green Gables
This was a book that I didn't even have to consider. It had been on this list from the moment I read it. When I was in 6th grade, my Social Studies teacher saw that I had a Little House on the Prairie book on my desk. He called me over after class and suggested that I read Anne of Green Gables and, as cheesy as it may sound, it might have changed my life. As a kid, you literally step into Anne's imagination. She speaks so poetically and you come to love each character. If you finish the series (like I did) you see her grow from a spacey, scared little girl into an intelligent, strong woman. At 23 years old, this book was on my Christmas list and I finally added it to my personal, permanent library. I cannot stress enough how much I love it. I also fell in love with the movie as well.

2. Little Women.
Again, this was sort of a no brainer. The first time I read it, it was The Great Illustrated Classics version, and I was probably no more than 9 years old. I loved the movie with Susan Serandon and Winona Ryder. When my mom would let my brother and I each pick out a movie from the library, this was always one of them (oddly enough, it was usually my brothers choice..). I was probably 12 or 13 before I read the actual version for the first time, and I fell in love. It had so much more details than the movie or the GIC version, and it made me love the characters even more (I was a Jo then, now I'd have to say I'm a Meg). It's another one of those books that I never get tired of, and I usually try to read it every Christmas.

3. Gone With the Wind.
 This was only recently added to my library, although I have loved the movie forever. I love old movies about as much as I love books. My favorite is Breakfast at Tiffany's (I have yet to read the book out of fear of ruining the movie). I love love love Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, and of course, Fred and Ginger, but I could go on with that list all day. So anyway, that was the first reason I even watched Gone With the Wind. Gotta love some Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. I loved the movie. The whole 4 hour, 2 VHS tape, movie. I always planned on reading the book, but it wasn't until I started the top 100 novels of all time that I actually got around to it. Like Anne and Jo, Scarlet and Rhett became so real to me. It was one of those books that you close and feel empty, missing the characters and wondering what they are doing and where they are now.

 4. The Time Travelers Wife
As I said before, I like to read the book AFTER I see the movie. I know that if I like the movie, I'll love the book, but if I love the book, I'm gonna hate the movie. The only time I do that in reverse is with Nicholas Sparks (I love Nicholas Sparks. Call it a guilty pleasure). I loved this movie. I cried like a baby, and I do every time I see it. I know, I know, it's a cheesy love story, but it gets me every time. I read the book right away and, of course, it was even better. The books always have so much more detail and are so much more in depth. Granted, there are some books that I read after the movie (PS. I Love You, My Sister's Keeper) that I love, don't get me wrong, but this was one that just stuck with me. I could read it over and over and I recommend it to everyone I know.

5. True Colors
Coming up with a number 5 book was definitely the hardest. My first 3 were no brainers, I had to put a lot of thought into the 4th, and especially the 5th. There are so many books that I love, and I could recommend them all day, but to narrow it down to one was harder than you might think. I considered the obvious choices, like Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby. I even considered picking my favorite Jodi Picoult or Nicholas Sparks. I stood in front of my book shelves and pondered, racking my brain for the books I've read but do not own, and the one that I kept coming back to was True Colors. I borrowed this book from my friend a few years ago because she knows how much I love horses and thought that I would love the book. I did, and I even ended up passing it on to my mom before returning it. It follows three sisters in their battles of jealousy, betrayal, redemption and love, and again they are characters that I grew attached to (I'm noticing a pattern here). I won't go much more into the story line, but just knowing that it made the cut as the number 5 book should be enough.