My January Reading List

I realized that my summary of this blog states that I'm a part-time librarian and "wish-I-had-more time" reader. Luckily, in January I had a big chunk of time to devote to reading (mostly because BJ was off of school and around more to keep an eye on the kids while I got lost in a book).
Here's what I read:
I re-read the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Then I did something I've been wanting to do for years: I watched all three (extended) versions of the movies. I didn't do a marathon (which would have entailed about 12 hours in front of the TV) but watched one movie a week for three weeks. They were great. And it reminded me of just how much I loved the books the first time I read them. And this time I picked up so much more. They are true classics and have a way of sucking you in to a world that seems far more real than make-believe.
I read, based on the strong recommendation of my father-in-law, "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I thought this was the first time I had read Neil Gaiman but a friend pointed out that he wrote the children's book "Coraline" which I read on Thanksgiving (literally--it only took a day). I enjoyed that book (which has been made into a movie) but I loved "Good Omens." It was hilarious. I laughed out loud several times. Very cleverly written! Thanks for the recommendation!
Then I read "Sarah's Key." This was a fiction book recommended to me by a mom whose son is also in Toby's gym class. I wish I could say more about the mom because I really like her, but I don't even know her name. We "met" last semester during our kids' class; she was reading "New Moon" and was--she later said--a week away from having a baby. We've chatted off and on about Stephenie Meyer books and the Twilight movie. I'm embarrassed that I've let our conversations go so far without knowing her name that now it seems too late to ask. Silly me. Anyway, she said "Sarah's Key" was a great read, fast and engaging like "Twilight." Well while it was nothing like "Twilight" it was a good, fast story about a journalist living in Paris who researches the Vel d'Hiv roundup of Jewish families during the War. She gets involved in the story of one family that has connections to her own in weird ways. I kept thinking the story was going to go in another direction but I was happy with the way it ended up. The weird thing about this book is that I started reading it before we had finalized plans for our trip to Paris. Once we had settled on the decision that I would go with BJ to Europe it made the places in the book (Paris and Burgundy--both on our itinerary) jump off the pages. I'm very excited to visit the city she talks about in this book. (And on a side note, I read lots of books that are not like "Twilight" and I don't measure all of my book choices against that one.)
Lastly, I've been reading the organizational book "Never Check Your Email in the Morning." Kind of silly for a full-time mom to be reading, but I've actually taken away a lot of info about how to manage BJ's school and teaching schedules and to-do lists along with the day-to-day tasks of running our household. It's given me a handful of ideas on what I would do differently if/when I do return to the working world outside our home. Hopefully the strategies I implement from this book will help us to have a less hectic and more organized semester. :)

Now we're already halfway through February and I'm looking for books to take to Europe next month. I'm thinking about taking "The Dreams of my Father" by Obama. Maybe that will get us started talking to some locals on interesting topics. Last time we went to Europe when Bush was starting his 2nd term we had some rousing political discussions with both ex-pats and Spaniards on the American President.