5 October Reads for the Young and Young At Heart

I love to read, but I've gotten so bored with many modern books.  They all seem to follow the same plot line:  Things are bad, misunderstandings occur, everything stays bleak and nothing gets settled--The End.  It's OK for some books to be that way, but c'mon, even real life has a happy ending now and then.  So, as the weather gets chilly and my thoughts tun more and more to curling up by the fire with a good book, I wanted to share my top five fall reads.  As a deviation from typical current book lists I've featured classics, new and old for young and old and mostly happy books that leave me smiling or deeply satisfied.  Enjoy :D 

Read Alone or Read Aloud:

1.  Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield  A sweet read-aloud tale about an orphan girl who has her

rigid world turned upside down and learns how to over come her fears and think for herself.

2.  Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder  Yes, yes, we've all probably heard this one, but how many of us have actually read it for ourselves.  especially at this time of year, I love to curl up in a window and read the chapters about the Fall County Fair, Christmas, and Almanzo's Birthday.

3.  All-of-a-Kind-of-Family by Sydney Taylor   A charming story about a turn of the century New York family with five daughters.  Ella, Henny, Charlotte, Sarah, and Gertie share adventures, and the everyday laughter and tears of being a family.






















Great Reads for Just the Grown-ups: 

4.  Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy  This is my all time favorite book.  I've read it many times and it always makes my heart ache and my eyes well up.  Jude is a man of little means who desperately wants to be a university scholar.  Studying on his own while working his trade to earn a living, it seems he just might stand a chance until infatuation derails his plans and love changes his life.


5.  The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood  So many levels to this book, it truly distinguished Atwood as a brilliant writer.  Two sisters, a suicide, a scandalous unpublished story, suspense, a love triangle--this book has it all.  If you've never read anything by Margaret Atwood, this is a phenomenal introduction to her work, and if you're already an Atwood fan, get ready to fall deeper in love with her wit, style, and story telling genius.