beach books!

It's sad but somehow I only manage to find time to read when I am at the beach. This week I have managed to finish/read 3 books, all of which were aaaammaaazing! Each one stole my mind away from its current paradise {soft, sandy, white beach and clear blue water} and dropped me into its world where I was able to somehow resonate with each of the characters in some way or another. I love reading good books and that feeling I get when I finish one... where my mind is stuck in dreamland, still focusing on the characters and their stories. Its a happy escape.

So far I have read/finished these:

Glorious stories!

Emily Griffin's "Something Blue"
Kathryn Stockett's "The Help"
&
Ree Drummond's "The Pioneer Woman"

I have debated about this over 2 glasses of red wine, on a big porch, getting scorched by the summer sun and come to the conclusion that I will tell you my opinions on each of these books. Book reviews are scary... what if I totally missed the meaning of the book? What if my writing fails miserably to do these great books any justice?

Oh well, the red wine and the scorching sun is telling me to "type it out sista!" {blog manager boyfriend agrees with said red wine and scorching sun too}



{THE HELP by Atlanta's own Kathryn Stockett}

You should know that I have typed out two reviews of this book and both were accidentally deleted by my fat fingers. I blame the wine, or the home-made sticky buns, this afternoons home-made mac & cheese, yesterdays beers, all of the seafood, the desserts, basically any and everything that I have consumed since this family-fun 2011 beach vacation began. Bad amanda. Sad fingers. 

As i was saying {before being so rudely deleted by said chubby fingers} i began this book last year this time during the 2010 family- fun seaside beach trip. i just loved it- fell deep in love with the stories, the many characters, their troubles and their lives. It was neat to jump back into history and read "how things were" through the eyes of "the help" and the women of the time. A lot of it made me sad, a lot of it made me laugh and all of it had me hooked. So hooked that I didn't finish it during the 2010 family-fun beach trip and it became a "home accent" in my newly re-decorated bedroom until the first day of the 2011 family-fun beach trip. so sad, i really did like the book!!! {but i also like the delicious shiny gold cover that matches my room so well}. Fast forward to this year and i enthusiastically whipped the book out of my beach bag while sitting on the beach next to my mom. excited to join the journey of Skeeter and Minny once again, i settled into my beach chair and dipped my toes into the clear blue ocean water. Then...my mom spotted the book and enviously acclaimed that "all of my friends have read that book, i want to read that book, the movie is coming out soon, blah blah blah." I told her I would read quickly for her sake, and it didn't take long and i was reading quickly for my sake too. Law, how I had missed those characters and their lives. It didn't take me but hours to finish the book, and I finished with tears in my eyes. This is a book that transports you out of your life and into theirs, your heart actually pangs for them. I am so happy to have completed this book and highly recomend it to everyone!
 
{SOMETHING BLUE by Emily Griffin}

An ALL TIME favorite book of mine! I read "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" in college {or was it high school?} and absolutely died for the stories. Emily Griffin is that girly-girl, books-made-for-the-beach and written-to-one-day-be-turned-into-a-chick-flick kind of author. And when the preview for "Something Borrowed" caught my eye, I craaaaved the books. Looked high and low for my copies, but no where to be found. Hopefully they are in the hands of one of my dear friends and they are enjoying them as much as I have. But back to me :) my very next Target trip was built around my need for the books and I didn't think twice about spending money on 2 things that I have already owned once before. I sped through "Something Borrowed" even spending 3 consecutive evenings walking on the treadmill and reading for 60 minutes at time. Skill, I know. The characters in these books are people that you feel like you are friends with, maybe you are, maybe you are one of the characters, or a bit of both. It is easy to see yourself and your friends in these books, easy to drop yourself into the stories and pretend it were you. I love books like that.  Both of the books are fantastic reads, they are quick to read and a great little escape. I closed "Something Blue" after finishing it and announced to my family and Josh that "I WANT TWINS!!!" "And to live in Europe!!!" No one else joined those hopes & dreams with me....

{THE PIONEER WOMAN by Ree Drummond}

OOOOh my law! {The Help has caused "law" to stick with me}. Boy oh boy was I excited when I spotted this little gem in the Seaside book store! The Pioneer Woman is an ALL TIME favorite blogger of mine, nothing brings me more joy at 12:15 pm every day when I receive my "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" email in my gmail inbox. Each day she delivers a recipe for some sort of wonderfulness and the absolute best instructions ever on how to make it myself! I read her recipes like I read a book. For the instruction, information, inspiration and her hilarious writing and tidbits of stories of her life. Back to the book- it is truly a loooove story. Mushy gushy young love. The true-life story of her and her hubby and their first few years of their life. The way she writes is just like her blog- just like you are there, or she is sitting next to you talking to you like an old girlfriend of hers. I can't wait to pass this book around to my girlfriends, I know they will love it too. She writes so honestly about her thoughts and any girl can appreciate that. Bonus, it has recipes in the back of it! Oh and when I finished the book, I totally closed it and announced to my family and Josh "I WANT A BABY!!!" Still...no one else joined in. Just me and my hopes & dreams for now :) 

 happy reading :) amc