There is something about the winter months, despite its low lights, that makes me want to curl up and read. Sure, I live on the internet and most days you’ll find me with the laptop on… you guessed it, my lap. But nothing beats the time you spend inside the pages of a book when it comes to relaxing your mind and purging it of problems for a while.

Next to my easy chair in my bedroom, I have a stack of books that I’m reading. Some, I’m reading simultaneously and others I knock off in one sitting.

Here are two books that I just finished reading:
This Much is True by Jackie Lee Miles is the story of 13 year old Andrea (Andi for short) St. James, a rich Southern girl who goes through some pretty challenging events in her life. First, her favorite brother dies, which drives her mother to drink, which then drives her father to sleep with another woman. Her older sister is being mean to her as she gets ready to get married and her only refuge is her best friend, the cook and the gardener. That is until her best friend has to move away and so many other twists and turns to the story that you wonder how this girl is coping with it all. That’s the beauty of the story. She does cope, and she does a lot of growing up.

Storm of the i is an Artobiography by Tina Collen. This is one book that you can enjoy beyond the first read through. It is a biography of Tina Collen but it is also a scrapbook of her life. Her own artwork populate the pages but so do works from her friends, her favorite artists, and her children. It is a fascinating way to compile one’s biography. The collection of memorabilia and artwork would probably been able to stand alone as a coffee book but couple that with her clear, easy to read writing and compelling story telling, and you have a book that cannot be put down.

I honestly recommend the two books above. The first, This Much is True, is appropriate for the same age group as the heroine, around 12 on up. While I would let my 13 year old daughter read or flip through the Artobiography, other parents may be more conservative. Some of Ms. Collen’s artwork labeled ‘fleurotica’ are quite beautiful but also a bit risque as are some other images within the book. The story itself though, the text, I think is appropriate for teens.

Today, a post from author Molly Harper about how she came up with the idea for her upcoming book, How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf. Interesting title, huh? I’m getting a review copy of this book so I am looking forward to reading a novel that came out of being stuck home without power during an ice storm.

I just wrote a book review for an amazing book and I think that you should check it out. I know you will enjoy the book as much as I did. Also, the author is giving away an autographed copy of the book and all you have to do is answer a question on any of the blogs listed below.

Storm of the i by Tina Collen

Visit the following blogs and read their reviews and interviews of Tina Collen and the Storm of i during the blog tour. Look in the comment section for a comment from Tina and how you can win the book.

WEEK 1
1/31/2011 James R. Ament
2/1/2011 Book Fetish
2/2/2011 Found Not Lost
2/3/2011 Sandra’s Book Club
2/4/2011 Doing it with Grace

WEEK 2
2/7/2011 Minding Spot
2/8/2011 CIPA Bookshelf
2/9/2011 Faye Quam Heimerl
2/10/2011 Thoughts in Progress
2/11/2011 Linda Lou, Live from Las Vegas

Do you ever read books simultaneously? I do. I’ve gotten up to five books at a time. I read each according to how much time I have and what mood I am in. Often one of the books in my lineup would be a collection of short stories or a book of poetry. That book, I save for when I have a limited amount of time. That way, I can read through one story or poem in one sitting. I save the books with hard to read content for weekend mornings when my brain is well rested and can better absorb what I’m reading. The easy to read novels, I save for just before bedtime to relax me and get me ready for sleep.

Right now, I am reading two books at the same time but I feel like I am reading one. I am reading one to review and the other for pleasure. Confused? I’m close to getting confused myself.

Their story lines are not quite similar, but can I say complimentary? It’s almost as if one book is answering the other and vice versa.

I am reading for pleasure Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love in anticipation of watching the movie of the same title starring Julia Roberts. I’ve also had several friends rave about this book so I had been looking forward to reading it.

To review, I was sent an advance copy of The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook by Matt Dunn. I’m only a few chapters in and I’m already hooked and at the same time highly amused that as soon as I started reading the book I started connecting it with Eat, Pray, Love. You see, Eddie’s girlfriend just left him to go to Tibet. In Eat, Pray, Love she goes off to Italy, India and Indonesia in essence to find herself after a divorce from her husband and a breakup with her boyfriend.

I like the way the Handbook is written already. Even the style reminds me of Eat, Pray, Love although the tone is of course vastly different.

For instance, in The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook, while commiserating with his best friend Dan at a pub, the following funny exchange ensues:

“Funny creatures women. Do you think Mrs. Einstein was impressed with all that stuff about Albert’s relatives?

Relativity, Dan

Exactly. Nope, she was more concerned whether he remembered her birthday, or forgot to put the toilet seat down.”

During Dan and Eddie’s conversation about the breakup, they come to the conclusion that maybe the girlfriend wants to be won back. That maybe if he makes some changes he can somehow convince her to come back to him.

While in Eat, Pray, Love during one of the many introspective moments (and in this instance also a moment of weakness), where she had just emailed her ex-boyfriend saying that they should end things now and should he find someone else, she would be happy for him. Even though the email she sent is full of bravado about moving on, she writes:

“I’m trying to ignore the part of me that is dying to find that he has replied: ‘COME BACK! DON’T GO! I’LL CHANGE!’ I’m trying to disregard the girl in me who would happily drop this whole grand idea of traveling around the world in simple exchange for the keys to David’s apartment.”

I almost feel like the two books are answering each other and I find it really intriguing. Sort of like a ‘He said/She said’ situation. I can’t wait to finish both books and I can’t help but swing from one to the other then feel a rather strange satisfaction when they end up responding to each other.

Watch for my book reviews when I finally finish them.

Just plugging a couple of posts on my other blogs…

I have a guest post on Found Not Lost, Jillian Gile who is a guest blogger at My Dog Ate My Blog. She writes for us, 10 Tips for Running a Successful Book Club. She has some really great and sound ideas if you are running a book club or if you’re setting up a new one.

On my cooking blog, I posted a step by step recipe on HOW TO MAKE SAUSAGE GRAVY. It was the highlight of our Weekend Leftover Brunch that I wrote about last night.