My Favorite Book Series

And my series obsession continues!!

If you can't tell from my other posts, I love to make lists. So I figured, what better kind of list to make than that of my favorite series of books! So here they are: (Can you tell I like children's books!)

1. The Twilight Saga - by Stephenie Meyer

• Twilight published October 2005
• New Moon published August 2006
• Eclipse published August 2007 (My favorite of the series so far)
• Breaking Dawn published August 2008

I have mentioned plenty about these books, so I will spare ya!

2. The Harry Potter Series - by J.K. Rowling **Dates are of the first American Edition published**

• The Sorcerer's Stone published October 1998
• The Chamber of Secrets published June 1999
• The Prisoner of Azkaban published September 1999
• The Goblet of Fire published July 2000
• The Order of the Phoenix published June 2003
• The Half-Blood Prince published July 2005
• The Deathly Hallows published July 2007

I love these books because I love that it is about a seemingly ordinary boy that no one appreciates until he gets involved with the people who are willing to nurture him. But just because he has finally found a place that he fits in, doesn't mean that everything is perfect. In fact it is the opposite. He has many people who are not only against him, but completely hate him just because of something that happened to him when he was a baby that he can't even remember. We get to see Harry start out as a small boy and watch him grow and learn about how life isn't fair but at the same time, he still turns into a strong young man. By the time I finished the last book, I was in tears for a good week!!

Death is the central theme for each of the books. It's a huge part of the series. So if you haven't read them, just have a box of Kleenex at the ready.

Also, for anyone out there that likes audio books, this is a must own. Jim Dale, who reads the books, (unabridged) in my opinion, makes these the best audio books I have ever listened to. He has such a great voice and tone. And he can do so many characters. I wish he could read them all!

3. The Chronicles of Narnia - by C.S. Lewis

• The Magician's Nephew (prequel) published 1955
• The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe published 1950
• Prince Caspian published 1951
• The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader published 1952
• The Silver Chair published 1953
• The Horse And His Boy published 1954
• The Last Battle published 1956

Although I am not a terribly religious person, I love these books. I think they should be required reading for everyone. The symbolism alone is incredible. It's a great way to get a glimpse into Christianity, if you are not familiar with it. And even to get a refresher if you are.

There has been a lot of controversy centering the release of the movie The Golden Compass that came out last Christmas. The author of the series, His Dark Materials, is said to be "anti C. S. Lewis". But I find that a bit ironic considering the fact that C. S. Lewis was a good friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, who as you know, was the author of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Series. (I have read The Hobbit, but not Lord Of The Rings. I hope to get around to it someday. I did love The Hobbit though.) Tolkien though was a proclaimed atheist, as you may be able to tell from his stories. I'd like to think that if Lewis was around to hear all of the people who protested The Golden Compass, as well hear about Phillip Pullman's atheist point of view, that he would just laugh it off, or maybe even befriend Phillip Pullman. (His Dark Materials series is on my to read list as well.)

Even if you don't read this for the symbolism, it's still an incredible series. It's full of action, suspense, and tear jerking moments. It really is a great series!

4. The Sookie Stackhouse (A Southern Vampire) Series - by Charlaine Harris

• Dead Until Dark published 2001
• Living Dead In Dallas published March 2002
• Club Dead published May 2003
• Dead To The World published May 2004
• Dead As A Doornail published May 2005
• Definitely Dead published May 2006
• All Together Dead published May 2007
• From Dead To Worse published May 2008

See my post about this series that I published just today. (There are some short stories that have the character Sookie in them. Also there are a few stories that are included in the group that don't have Sookie in them at all. It may be a while before I get to read them. But it seems that they are "in between" filler books. )

So these are my favorite series as of right now. I am sure my list will grow or even change. But each one comes highly recommended!

Happy Stampin' and Happy Reading!

A Great Book Blog

Hey Everyone! Just wanted you to know...
If you love reading, you have to check out this blog!

http://blogginboutbooks.blogspot.com/

It belongs to my cousin's wife. Her name is Susan. And boy has she read pretty much anything and everything. She gives great reviews and synopsis of the books that she has read. Susan also always shows the books that she is currently reading. Check out the labels section. If there is an author in existence, you will probably find them there. It takes you to any book reviews she has read from that author.

I'm telling you, you won't be disappointed!

Happy Stampin' Everyone!

Okay, So I Am Still Reading And Not Doing Much Crafting

What can I say, I can't read enough lately! I have found that being a new mom doesn't leave a lot of time for crafting. Now I thoroughly understand why I always read about moms who can't wait for midnight to come, because that's when they finally can have some time to craft. Well, having to be to work by 7 a.m. kind of makes that difficult for me.

But I have found that I can read and take care of my daughter at the same time. (By the way, she gets cuter and cuter every day!!!) So my latest reads have been the Sookie Stackhouse (a.k.a The Southern Vampire) Series. These books are fast and funny! Each book is about 300 pages, so me being the slow reader that I am, it takes me about 4-7 days to finish a book. I am on the last book right now that just came out in May.

As I have mentioned before, I am just a little obsessed with the Twilight vampire series from Stephenie Meyer. (Check out stepheniemeyer.com to get the scoop on the series and her other works.) I am counting down the days until Breaking Dawn, book # 4, the final installment, comes out. 17 more days! I am so anxious, that I am actually going to the midnight release on August 1 to get the book. I will read it until I finish it or fall asleep. (Not too likely with my daughter though.)

Now that I have rambled on...

My point was, I have been trying to find some books to fill my time to help make the strain of waiting for Breaking Dawn come out, just a little more bearable. These books are definitely helping. Here is a little sampling from the first book and why I just had to bring it home from the store once I read it:

Dead Until Dark
















I'd been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar.

Ever since vampires came out of the coffin (as they so laughingly put it) four years ago, I'd hoped one would come to Bon Temps. We had all the other minorities in our little town - why not the newest, the legally recognized undead?

I read those first few lines of the first chapter, and I was hooked. Charlaine Harris is the author. She is hilarious. The books are full of great writing. The main character, Sookie, is a cocktail waitress and she has a "disability", at least she thinks it is. She can read minds. But when she meets Bill, the vampire, she realizes that she can't hear a single thought of his. And she loves it.

After visiting charlaineharris.com, I learned that HBO is making a series based off the books. It's called Tru Blood and comes out this fall. (Tru Blood is the name of a synthetic blood that is sold in the stores. The vampires come out to the world because the Japanese have developed synthetic blood. The vampires announce that since they are no longer a threat to humans, they can live in society with them in peace now.) I can't wait! It looks pretty good! Seriously, if you love Twilight, you will love these books. There are some similarities, although these vampires are the traditional can't go out in the sun, sleep during the day, hate garlic, have fangs vampires.

The books are a little on the dark side. And unlike the Twilight series, the characters actually do have sex. So if that isn't for you, you would want to sit this series out. But I highly, highly recommend it, if you think you are up to it. I started book #1 the middle of June, and like I said, I am on the last one that was released in May this year, book #8. So even a slow reader like me got through them pretty fast.

After this series I have a couple of books to read that are not in a series (Crazy, I know!) - House of Sand And Fog, Three Bags Full - A Sheep Murder Mystery, and The Memory Keepers
Daughter. These will probably come after Breaking Dawn though. Then I am going to start on the Stephanie Plum books. They are a series as well and are about a woman who is a bounty hunter but is terrible at it. They come recommended from more than one person and are too be really funny and fast as well. Book #14 of the series just came out last month.

But I am really working on getting my craft room clean so I can start crafting again. When we had to clean out the extra room to get ready for Peyton, the extra stuff had to go into my craft room. It was a mess though even before that. I am sure you can imagine what it must look like now. (Think worse!) I plan to get rid of a bunch of stuff and have a garage sale. So if any of you out there are close, you should keep posted and I will let you know when that is. I am also going to have an open house of Stampin' Up, Scentsy, Cookie Lee, and maybe some other things. My good friend Tina sells Scentsy. My husband's cousin, Thea, sells Cookie Lee. So we figured we would kill a few birds with one stone and get an open house together. I will let you know about the date and info on this as well.

Hope you all are well! And remember...
Happy Stamping!