Where I have been Blogging

I sure haven't been bloggin here.  I've been taking a soon to be over blog break.  I've been running lots and reading lots and I've been catching up on my family book blog.  Abibliphobes.  Check it out here. 

Best Friend Books.

When I am sick, lazy, nostalgic for my childhood or cooped up in the house on a rainy day/bored I grab a book, curl up on my couch escape from the world. When one of these moods seizes me, I want one of my favoirte Young Adult Ficiton books, a book that takes no effort to read, a book I practially have memorized a book that is a friend. (Do you feel books are friends?)

Here are 4 of my friend books that I re-read often. All of them are easy young adult fiction and you don't have to have a dictionary nearby to look up words. All of them have a love story. All of them have been around for a while. During my spring break right now I'm reading Mara. Here is my list:

1. Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw is a historical fiction children's book. It follows Mara, a young Egyptian girl who takes up a dangerous job as a double spy between two different masters. (from Wikipedia)

2. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast tly by Robin McKinley. This is my favorite retelling of the French Fairy tale.

3. The Blue Sword also by Robin McKinley is a fantasy novel. The Blue Sword has received numerous awards including; Newbery Honor Award, ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the ALA Notable Children's Book.

4. The Blue Castle is a 1926 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables (1908).

I have so many good memories of these books. I have them all and I've read them all at least 5 times. I would suggest them to any of you, but now I want to know...What do you read? What books do you have on your shelf that are tattered and loved? Let me know I want to expand my list.

The unfortunate best-seller.

I receive Google quotes of the day. I particularly liked this one today from American authoress Mary Flannery O'Conner. Heralded as America's greatest short story writer she claims her life's greatest achievement was teaching her pet chicken to walk backward.

"Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher."

- Flannery O'Connor

I think this comment lends itself to discussion from my blog readers. What best-seller should have never been? Which is the worst written yet made millions. My first vote was Eclipse but when I though about it further I relized Eclipse was much better than some others. I vote the worst best seller that I've ever read was Scarlett. This was a early 1990's reamake of Margret Mitchell's classic Gone With the Wind. Apparently some people thought the last line

"Frankly my dear I don't give a damn"

the oft quoted line of Rhett Butler's needed a poorly written 800 epilogue which only served to further prove that Scarlett O'Hara is one of the most self centered characters of all times.

So what do you think? What best seller do you wish you'd not spent money on and instead checked out from the library. Which one was recommended to you and suddenly you don't trust that person to recommend books? Please please leave your comments or I'll assume that you frankly don't give a damn.