Last week, we were in CA visiting family and friends, and I spent some time cleaning out boxes from my mom’s garage. I laughed out loud when I opened up a box full of Sweet Valley High books. Did anyone else read those? And what you see in the picture isn’t even all of them. I have some more here at home that are nestled in a box with my Sweet Dreams romances. Ah yes, that was my teen romance phase.

I went through my Nancy Drew phase, and I read all the Bobbsey Twins books. I loved Encyclopedia Brown and The Great Brain and all those eerie books by Lois Duncan. It’s been fun to introduce my kids to some of my childhood favorites, like Where the Red Fern Grows and The All-of-a-Kind Family. But I think I’ll shield them from Sweet Valley High and V.C. Andrews.

Secret Daughter tells the story of a poor Indian woman who gives her daughter up for adoption to an American couple. The book depicts the lives of both the mother and daughter and how their lives are impacted by the adoption. It’s a window into the heart-wrenching fate of girls in India. Beautifully written, it’s sad and hopeful at the same time.

My friend Maria told me that The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was a must-read. I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of science fiction or books for teens, but I was willing to give it a go. It’s a book set in the future when a totalitarian government is in power of what was once North America. As an annual punishment for a past rebellion, each district in this new country has to send 2 teenagers to a nationally televised event called the Hunger Games, which is a fight to the death. I was sucked into the book, and right after I finished it, I downloaded the sequel, Catching Fire, onto my Kindle. The final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay, came out on the day that my friend who borrowed my Kindle was returning from her trip. I went to her house at 9:30pm, got home by 10pm, and stayed up until 2:45am reading it. Needless to say, I enjoyed all three books.

Recently, I read the series that Suzanne Collins wrote before The Hunger Games. The first book, Gregor the Overlander, is about an 11-year-old boy who is sucked into the world underneath his home in New York City. There, he encounters a group of humans who have lived there for hundreds of years, as well as giant-sized cockroaches, rats, spiders, and other creepy crawlies. Like The Hunger Games, you can read it for pure entertainment, but you can also ponder deeper issues, like racism. I read all five books in the series in a week, and I’m sort of missing Gregor and his friends.

When we went to Banff, I brought only one book with me because I didn’t want to carry around any extra weight. Once I finished it, I wished that I had my Kindle, but I had lent it to a friend who was traveling overseas. But all was not lost. Hey, I can buy a new book. What a novel thought!

I popped into the Indigo Spirit bookstore (part of the Chapters chain in Canada) and started browsing the shelves. Buying a book is a serious purchase for me. I usually don’t buy a book unless I think it will be one that I will read more than once. Decisions, decisions…so many books, so little time, so little money. I spotted an old favorite, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, that had a sticker on it: Heather’s Picks. Hmmm….I wonder what that means. Then I saw The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini with the same sticker. I could be onto something here. It turns out that Heather is the CEO and Chief Booklover (what a great title!) at Chapters, and if you buy one of her picks and don’t like it, you get your money back. What a great deal!

I bought a book called The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (in the U.S., it’s published as Someone Knows My Name). There was an actual Book of Negroes that listed the names and descriptions of slaves who had helped the British during the Revolutionary War and then were granted travel to freedom in Nova Scotia following the war. The book chronicles the life of an African girl from freedom in Africa to slavery in America to freedom in Canada, and then a return to Africa. As with any book dealing with slavery, it’s a harrowing tale of inhumane treatment and inhuman behavior. But the perseverance and courage of the main character in the face of horrible circumstances is amazing.

I was excited to find a list of Heather’s Picks on the Chapters website. It’s been a great resource for me to find new books to read. I also go to the University Bookstore or Costco to get recommendations. I feel a little guilty when I take a picture of a book so that I can check it out from the library, but I figure that I’ll be buying books from them in the future.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova is a book about a woman named Alice who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. It’s written from Alice’s point of view, and it’s so revealing to see the progression of her mental decline. Because of the nature of her disease, she often doesn’t recognize the holes in her memory. I don’t have any family members or friends who have had Alzheimer’s, but the author does an excellent job showing how the disease affects those whose lives touch Alice’s. I was sobbing through the last third of the book because of the devastation that AD wreaked on this intelligent, vibrant woman. If you’re looking for a light read, this book is obviously not up your alley. But I highly recommend it if you’re willing to shed a few tears.