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Sunday, October 26, 2014

4 Books



Kristen @ Sweat Courage started a new blog series- 10 Day You Challenge.

Today is 4 Books!

I am going to have to go with types of books today. It is simply impossible for me to pick 4 of my favorite books. When I was a kid, reading was my favorite thing to do. In fact, when I would get in trouble, my mom would ground me from the library because that was worse than anything! As an adult, I don't make the time to read as often as I would like to. The summertime is when I usually start devouring book after book.

Anyhoo, here are my 4 favorite types of books, and of course some of my favorite books from each genre!



1. True Crime.

Some of my favorite cases to read about... O.J. Simpson (he did it), Casey Anthony (she did it possibly by accident... and by "accident", I mean drugging her daughter with chloroform so she would fall asleep, not die. Girl is EFFED UP.), JonBenet Ramsey (Patsy did it), and Lizzie Borden (her sister did it).

The most informative book about the OJ case I have read. 
I had read countless books about the case, but when I read this one, 
 learned so much new information that the other books did not cover.


This book is written by one of the lead detectives on the case.
There are so many clues that point to Patsy being the killer.



I'm going to have to read this book again because I forget a lot of it.
But Spiering made a strong case against Lizzie's sister.


2. Young Adult novels by Christopher Pike.

Please do not compare Christopher Pike novels to R.L Stine's Fear Street. Pike's novels are much more deep and actually well written. Granted, a lot of them deal with sci-fi/fantasy type stuff, which I am not into, but a good number of them are in more of a "whodunnit?" or "howdunnit?" format.

I have read most of Pike's books several times and I am rereading a bunch of them yet again. Here are so of my favorites. I put the taglines from the front covers under the book title since they are so silly/dramatic!

"It was their last year of school- Maybe the last year of their lives!"

"They killed her- but she comes back."

"Death came along for the ride..."


3. Memoirs/Biographies.

I read all kinds of memoirs. I'll read "deep" stuff like Hillary Cinton or Princess Di, but I will also read "fluff"... like Tori Spelling and Bristol Palin. I also like to get both sides of the story. For instance, I read Amy Fisher and Mary Jo Buttafucco's back to back. Here are just a few of my favorite memoirs...


Natalie Wood                     Kathy Griffin


Jane Fonda                      Greg Louganis


4. The Catcher in the Rye.

Okay, maybe I will pick a specific book. I freaking love The Catcher in the Rye, and I loved it from the moment I read the first sentence.


''If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.'' THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (1951), J.D. Salinger 
Do you have an absolute favorite book/author/genre?

9 comments:

  1. I LOVE reading, When I was in elementary school, we went to the library practically every day in the summer, I remember doing "Book It' with Pizza Hut and was always in Reading Competition Club. In college I was so happy when I got to take a break from practicing saxophone and got to read a textbook. I literally read more music than words in college, and I don't have nearly enough time to read now.

    I haven't read much lately, but these are some of my recent favorites:
    1.) Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series- These were soo good! I loved the suspense.
    2.) The Hot Zone- it's non-fiction about the Ebola outbreak in the 80's in Reston, VA I read it last year BEFORE the current Ebola outbreak, I feel so well informed! I'm not worried about Ebola, if people read this book, they wouldn't be either.
    3.) Gone with the Wind- This is my absolute favorite book, I think I've read all 1,000+ pages at least 10 times.
    4.) Currently reading: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. It's a challenging read because of the style (scientific text written in the 1850's). I get to teach evolution to 7th graders this year, and I'll need to be as well informed as possible. I learned the concepts in my biology classes, but I feel like I need to read from the first person to write about it.

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    1. I couldn't imagine reading Origin of the Species, it sounds like a really hard read! I heard a lot of good things about the Dragon Tattoo series. I should probably try them out! Thanks for sharing, Andrea!

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  2. I love reading but pretty much just fiction - it is my escape!!! I like a variety of authors and types but always come back to law and medical based stories.

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    1. Do you like Patricia Cornwell? I was really into her for awhile!

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  3. Okay, I need deets on Patsy Ramsey and Borden. Why Patsy??

    And I didn't even know Lizzie Borden HAD a sister!! Okay, I know what's next on my reading list.

    My students recently had a project where they found 2 news articles and had to write summaries and then their own reactions, and one chose the Simpson case. He was like, "wait but how do you KNOW he's guilty, Mrs. K?" and I was like "OMG there is too much to go over but let's start with his book 'If I Had Done It' lol"

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    1. I honestly do not remember much from the Borden book because it was so long ago. I want to reread it. But her sister supposedly had traveled somewhere the day of the murders but it was totally possible for her to have come back and committed them. And A LOT of people would have benefited from the parents being dead. Also, the timing... Lizzie would have been COVERED in blood and she wasn't. It is a creepy book- read it!

      As for JonBenet, Patsy was wearing the exact same outfit the morning she called the police as she was the night before at the Christmas party. She claims to have gone to bed. Also, her handwriting was not ruled out from the ransom note. The ransom note was written with a pen and paper from inside the house- and it was a LONG note. No one sneaking into the house would have taken the time to sit there and write it. Also, the way JonBenet was found.. it was almost as if John Ramsey LED them there. Like he KNEW she would be there. The author (who was a detective on the case) thinks Patsy accidentally killed her in a fit of rage and then they tried to make it look like a murder. Oh one other thing (sorry this is disjointed) JonBenet had pineapple in her stomach and the parents claim she did not eat pineapple that night. Why would someone sneak into the house, lure JOnBenet downstairs for pineapples, kill her, and then write a ransom note IN THE HOUSE?

      That is funny that your students were skeptical about OJ. His blood, Nicole's blood, Ron's blood, and I mixture of all 3 of their blood was found AT the crime scene and on OJ's property. The interesting thing about Mark Fuhrman's book that I listed was that after reading that book, I actually understand why OJ was acquitted. The prosecution FUCKED UP on so many things... first starting with the location of the trial. Some people say, the case was already lost by the time they named the jury members.

      I love true crime. :)

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  4. I never read any of RL Stine's books but I loved the Christopher Pike books ... Remember Me is my favorite!

    I really like sci-fi books, especially the kind that come in series. When I read a book that I really like I get so sad to finish it which is my series are my favorite! You can approach to the end without any apprehension!

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    1. Loooooove Remember Me! I am with you on the series thing. That is all I read growing up, and even now, I'll get hooked on a single author.

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  5. I love Forensic Files and Dateline too! Do you watch 48 Hours Mystery? There were a couple good ones on recently. My DVR is set to record all that shit... Great shows to watch while stretching and foam rolling!

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