Wish You Well (David Baldacci) ***

This is about a 12 year old girl and her 7 year old brother who live in New York in 1940, then move to the mountains of Virginia with their great-grandmother after a family tragedy. It was a fun read, imagining the family learning to live off the land and all the struggles that go along with it. I got pretty wrapped up in it. My ward book group read it last month, and again, I'm behind. 400 pages.

O'Henry's Short Stories - part 1

I've been reading a collection of O'Henry's short stories. I'm about a third of the way trough and I thought I'd share a list of the ones that are best:

The Gift of the Magi - Story about true giving.

The Trimmed Lamp - Story about what makes people truly happy.

The Social Triangle - Ironic story about people's perspective of social status.

The Guilty Party - The responsibility of parents to children.

The Last Leaf - I read this as an interesting metaphor for the Atonement. Christ makes the ultimately sacrafice for us, even though we act silly.

Marley and Me

This was a great story about a family and their crazy dog. We follow the dog and the family as they grow up. Very well written: made me laugh and cry. I'd recommend it. 3 stars.

Freakonomics

This book was recommended to my by a few people -- I think Mom was one of them. It was pretty good. Basically an economics guys' theories on why people do certain things. Some of the ideas were interesting and I found it entertaining. I have to admit, I'm a little skeptical of some of his theories, however. He seems to say other ideas are unbelievable, and the propose his own idea as the truth. I guess I wasn't easily convinced. But it was still a good book. 2 stars.

These is my Words (Nancy E. Turner) ***

555 pages. It's a story about a woman living in the Western frontier during the late 1800s. Written as journal entries, it goes through 20 years of her life and all her adventures, excitement, romance, sorrows and heartache. My ward book group read it a couple months ago and I'm just catching up. I had a hard time putting it down. It was well written and totally pulled me into the story of this woman. The only negative is it ended kind of sad, but at the same time made me want to be a better mother, wife, and woman.

Games Babies Play: From Birth to Twelve Months (Vicki Lansky)

Dan and I got this book from the baby shower. It might be out of print (the book we have is used), but we have enjoyed reading it and using the games and songs it suggests with Mark, who seems to respond to the games and enjoy them.

Zen Shorts, by Jon J. Muth

This is a children's illustrated book. It's about 3 children who make friends with a panda bear. The panda bear teaches them each a lesson by telling them a short story (a "zen short"). The illustrations are beautiful (even more so because they have been painted in watercolor and ink), and the story is excellent. I'd go as far as to buy it in hard back. Afterall, it does have a panda bear in it....