Books - Pocketful of Joules

In Dire Need of Good Reads

I’ve talked about how I’m a total bookworm before, but I’m having some trouble with my worminess.

That moment when you’re reading your Kindle in Noodles & Company and your book gets a lot naughtier than you were expecting. So, then you need to either look nonchalant while reading or just close your book and leave… 😳 #bookwormproblems

A photo posted by pocketfulofjoules (@pocketfulofjoules) on Jul 9, 2015 at 1:55pm PDT

The last few books I’ve read haven’t really done it for me and I’m dying for a new book or series that will excite me.

I have Amazon Unlimited for my kindle (you can find Reviewing Kindle Unlimited here), so there are a bunch of books to choose from… I’m just feeling a bit trigger shy after my last few choices bombed.

The last series I read and really liked was the The Origin Mystery trilogy (The Atlantis Gene, The Atlantis Plague and The Atlantis World). I recently finished the Jaime Baker trilogy (start with Being Jaime Baker) which was great if you like the supernatural world and a little bit of romance. I also drool over basically everything by Gina LaManna and devour her Lacey Luzzi books the moment they come out (start with Sprinkled). Due to the cute previews on TV, I read Me Before You (loved it) and After You (didn’t love it) by Jojo Moyes.

I’m down with YA books like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games. I also like romance, lots of silly chick lit and suspense novels.

So, now I need your help. What have you read lately that you really loved? Bonus points if it’s available on Kindle Unlimited!

6/15/16 Update: You guys are awesome and I really appreciate every single recommendation! Please, feel free to keep them coming. There were also a bunch of recommendations on my Facebook page, if you want to check them out.

Disclosure: Pocketful of Joules is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

4 Kids Books I Don’t Mind Reading Over and Over and Over

As a parent to a 3 ½ year old, we tend to get in book ruts. We have dozens of books on Jack’s bookshelf, but he will request that I read the same books over and over again.

It got so bad that I had to hide a couple books because if I had to read them YET again, I would scream.

So, as a service to the other parents, aunties and kiddo friends out there, I have a list of four books that are so awesome I don’t mind reading them a million times. Get ahead of the Christmas rush and order a few for your gift giving. Believe me, the parents will love you!

#1: Starlight Sailor by James Mayhew & Jackie Morris
Buy it here: Starlight Sailor
This board book had just the right amount of words on each page so I don’t feel like I have to “accidentally” skip any of them. The illustrations are beautiful and even after reading this probably a hundred times it looks as good as the first day we cracked it open. As an added bonus, on the last page of the book there are instructions for folding your own paper boat.

#2: How do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room? By Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
Buy it here: How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room?
There is a whole series of the ‘how do dinosaurs’ books, but this is the only one we have. I can totally see buying a few of them as a really fun kid birthday or holiday gift because they are cute AND super reasonably priced. Jack loves the illustrations of dinosaurs doing human kid things, like hiding teddy bears under his bed and putting his matchbox cars in rows. I love that it is a quick read and still hasn’t gotten stale after a straight year of being on our heavy rotation list.

#3: The Diggers by Margaret Wise Brown
Buy it here: The Diggers
You may recognize the author’s name because she also wrote the super popular Goodnight Moon book. If you have a kid who likes diggers and trains, you NEED to buy this book. You get to see how all sorts of animals, people and machines dig holes for different reasons. The amount of words per page is totally manageable for a bedtime story session and the illustrations are so pretty.

#4: The Prince’s Bedtime by Joanne Oppenheim and Miriam Latimer
Buy it here: The Prince’s Bedtime
I’m pretty sure that this is my favorite book that we have. The rhyming couplets are just so fun to read aloud and when Jack tells me that it’s my turn to pick a book I usually go for this one. The story is about a prince who can’t go to sleep, so everyone in the kingdom tries to figure out ways to make him sleepy. Believe me, I get it! It’s a little silly, a little sweet and all around one of my absolute favorites. It even comes with a CD if you’d like to hear it narrated by Jim Broadbent… we’ve just never actually listened to it.

Do you have a favorite children’s book that you can read over and over again?

Feeling a bit Bookish

Hello, hello, hello my fabulous Pocketful readers – I’ve missed you all so much! And yes, I know that sounds a bit lame. But I was home for 6 days straight and at no point did I lay out on a beach or even get any home improvement projects completed, so you know I wasn’t having too much fun.

Actually, I did have a BIT of fun since my husband was home with me and Jack on both Monday and Tuesday. Which means there was lots of comfort food making/eating, TV watching, fire building and all around family snuggling time. So that was pretty awesome.

With Jack battling bronchiolitis, Hurricane Sandy on the rampage and oh yeah me being super sick too, it was a very quiet few days. Our internet was also having massive issues, so I could only get online occasionally which was kind of annoying.

So, now that it’s Tuesday evening and I’ll be able to upload everything tomorrow morning, I’m finally taking a minute to sit down and catch up with my online life!

I DID have a chance to do a couple mini projects during my time at home. One of which made me think of my friend Katie from Words for Worms. I showed you all my den when I first changed things around, but here’s a little refresher on what it looked like before we moved in:

Here’s the den from the old online listing of our house. Nice boombox and GOLD fireplace insert.

And what it looked like once I got my grimy hands on the place:

fireplace — Back in March after I did my thing.

Well, I was never really IN LOVE with the stuff I threw up on my mantle. I liked it all individually, but it wasn’t really doing it for me perched up there. The mirror was kind of oddly sized and everything just felt a bit bare and sad.

Our main plan is to build some bookshelves in that odd little corner in the room, but that project is way down the list at this point. Also, I’m thinking that corner will be a perfect place for a Christmas tree – so I want to try that out before I made the big decision to start building shelves.

All of my lovely books were still living in boxes in one of our closets, which is just so incredibly sad, don’t you think? So I had the bright idea to bring some of them out and see how they looked displayed on the mantle… and I LOVE the finished look!

Ooh pretty — a roaring fire and a crapload of books!

Oh and for your sharp-eyed people out there I’d like to point out that NOT EVEN ONE of these books is a piece of highbrow fancy-schmanchy literature. They are my tried and true favorites that I actually like to curl up and read. So, no trying to impress anyone here! Unless you’re impressed with the Harry Potter series, Artemis Fowl, all the Stephanie Plum books and a crapload of chick lit. Actually, if you ARE impressed by that you are totally invited to be my friend because I think we’ll get along great!