Books Again: Old and New-to-me

It is clear that “I {heart} books” is going to be my mantra for this year. It’s true, I do love ‘em. Through high school I read books every moment of every day that I wasn’t absolutely required to be doing something else. Pretty much eat, sleep, and read. Then through college I worked in the college library. I like to think that I pretty much ran the place. :) And despite the frustrations and boring times, I really did love that job. Surrounded by books? I can do that. Even if I didn’t have time to read any of them.

So really it comes as no surprise that I continue to babble on and on about books. Hope you don’t mind. I just think they are important! “Readers are leaders” so the old saying goes. And its true!

I mentioned when I made my 2012 reading list that in order to read 24 books this year (2 per month) I was going to have to add some new ones to my shelf. I am planning on re-reading a bunch, too (go to this post to get those deets) but I wanted some more new ones as well. I’m happy to report that I have found a few! Here they are:

I saw this James Herriot one at a local thrift store and knew I had to read it. We have a collection of short stories that he wrote that I’ve loved since I was a kid...I’m hoping this book is just as good!

So then I was browsing around for another book, because at this particular thrift store hardcover books are BOGO - and who can resist TWO books for $0.60?? Not this gal!

So I also picked up this one:

Its the autobiography of an astronaut. Sounds kind of interesting, eh? I’m sure it will be at least worth the $$ I have in it, haha!

As usual, I carefully flipped through these books before I bought them to see if they were any good. I do NOT read books full of swear words or immoral conduct...I do not believe those kinds of books are beneficial to read! So while I can’t give a blanket endorsement until after I read them, on a superficial look-through, these books seem pretty good!

Another new book I have is this one, that I won from a blogger friend’s giveaway:

I am in the middle of this one now and enjoying it immensely! There are so many correlations to my own life! Thank you Sarah!

While I’m on the subject of books, I just have to show you what we found recently. We were looking through some things from my childhood and found these books:

This first one is such a sweet book, given to me by my grandparents when I was very young. It is a fun, but delicate book with pop-ups and surprises on every page.

Two little girls....

...become three! Surprise!

The poem on this page is about a girl and her doll, her constant companion.

And about her and her best friend Amy. When you pull the tab, the picture changes!

The other one is this (clearly well-worn) favorite book from when I was a little girl:

It is about a little girl who has to go to bed, but is not at all sleepy. So she says to her mother, “Tell me a story.” Each page is a different animal saying the exact same thing as the little girl, until finally, all the animals and the little girl fall asleep.

The horse is one of my favorites...see how he takes off his shoes before he goes to bed? =)

As a small girl I had this book memorized, because I had MY mother read it to me so many times! (And yes, she had it memorized, too. :)

I'm excited to read my new-to-me books really soon, and to read my old books to Judah! He LOVES to read books already...I've made sure of that. :)

What do you think about reading...love it or hate it? Do you have any books or special toys from when you were a child? Anyone else every read The Sleepy Story?