NPR's Backseat Book Club

NPR's All Things Considered is sponsoring a kids' book club aimed at the age level of my younger two. I love it because it's a great source for new titles for the kids from a reliable source. So far, the books have been The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, all winners. DH read The Graveyard Book aloud to the kids about a year ago; I listened in a few times and was hooked- I read it myself when they were done. I finished Breadcrumbs a few days ago and now I'm in the middle of The Phantom Tollbooth. I don't read everything the kids read but I enjoy children's literature so I'll read anything good. (I'm passing on Martha Jr.'s Warriors books, thanks.)

I'm fortunate enough to be part of a grown up book club. I love it both for the company of some really great women and for the book suggestions. I haven't enjoyed all of the books (and even HATED one I suggested!!) but they've almost all been books I wouldn't have found otherwise. There are so many titles out there these days that it's hard to narrow it down to just the exact book you want to read at any given time. Now that it looks like bookstores are going away (sob) I don't know how I'll pick out books because I do, in fact, judge books by their covers. It's easier to choose a book if I can see it, pick it up, and leaf through a few pages. I read the back cover and the flaps. That doesn't always work, but it helps "sell" me on a book. That's not the case with choosing books on my Kindle. I find it's a lot harder to make selections in the Kindle "store" than in a real store; a lot of the time I wind up not choosing anything. Sometimes I'll see a book in the bookstore (or Costco or wherever) and then go back and buy it on my Kindle. They need to have stores with "sample books" you can go and hold and look over, then decide on whether or not to buy them electronically. (And I think Barnes & Noble is going that way.) I just pray that, even though I love certain things about my e-reader, that actual, real, paper books will continue to abound on this planet.