#BlogBossWinterChallenge Day 5

Here we are, with my post for day 5 of the BlogBoss Winter Challenge…and we are at the end of July already. My bad! I tried so hard to do a post a day. I really did! But I’ve also been struggling lately to balance working 3 jobs, being a wife and mommy, and church commitments, plus trying to throw in some self care along the way too. It’s all getting a little too much, and something had to give. So, I will end my 30 day challenge on day 5, with this post. Today I am telling you all about…

The best book I ever read…

I couldn’t think of a better topic to end my #BlogBossWinterChallenge on. Although, when I was thinking of which book to use for this post, I simply could not think of only one book. It was impossible! So, I am going to share with you some of my favourites books I have read, from primary school days onwards.

My “Sally Books”

I don’t know if anyone ever remembers reading these books as a child? If I remember correctly (and I’m pretty sure I do – Mom help me here please!), then my love for reading began with these books. I remember sitting for ages reading all about Sally and her adventures with her family, their pets and all her friends. I’d go so far as to say that I learnt to read with these books too! I vaguely remember having the full set as a child, but over the years I’m not sure where they got too. Shortly after Jason and I moved to Durban, we were walking through Windermere Cemter, walking in and out of the different shops, and in one particularly artsy, nik nak type shop, I found 7 of the Sally books. I remember the moment I saw them, it was love at first site! And I knew I could not leave the shop without these books. I think I paid R70 for all 7 of them – at the time we could not afford it, but I knew I would regret not buying them. I’ve kept them especially for our children one day, so now these special books have a space on my Noah’s bookshelf. I can’t wait to help teach my boy to read with the very same books I used when I was learning to read.

The Babysitter’s Club

Oh please tell me you remember reading these books as a tween? Gosh I loved these books! I remember Kristy was the main babysitter, and there was a girl named Claudia, who used to hide sweets, chocolates and treats all over her room. I also remember Stacy, who was an only child, and was the “popular” girl. I can’t really remember all the other girls’ names, but I do remember their characters. I would read these books and wish I could be a part of their club. They would have club meetings in Claudia’s bedroom, if I remember correctly. I also remember when K-TV played the Babysitter Club movies in their holiday tv programs – who remembers those? Gosh I loved those movies almost as much as I loved the books! Oh the memories!

Sweet Valley High and Sweet Valley University

Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. I went from reading all about the adventures of the Babysitters Club, to reading all about the high school and college adventures of twin sisters, Jessica and Elizabeth. I’m pretty sure I read every book in this series too! I remember that Jessica was the cheerleader, popular, party girl, and Elizabeth was the studious, good girl. And together, they had all kinds of fun adventures with their friends. I also remember when their books became a TV show we could watch on K-TV. Best ever!

John Grisham

John Grisham is probably my most favourite non-Christian author. I love his books. I love to read courtroom dramas, with detectives and judges and suspects and all the drama that goes with it. I love to read these types of books, as much as I love to watch these types of TV shows. I have always found John Grisham’s books, usually set in a small southern town in the USA, to be gripping from beginning to end. A good few of his books have also been turned into movies, and this is one of those rare occasions where the movie is almost as good as the book, every time – in my opinion. I mean, is it ever as good, or better than the book?

Francine Rivers

When I first started going deeper into my Christian faith and growing my relationship with God, I started reading Christian authors. Now I love reading. But I love reading stories. Fiction. I will rarely pick up a non-fiction book to read from cover to cover. I never knew you got Christian fiction stories. So when I was looking for Christian fiction books to read, I was so pleasantly surprised to see so much variety in the Christian fiction genre. The first author I ever read was Francine Rivers. Wow! She has a variety of different types of stories. Some of my favourites are where she takes stories from the Bible, and writes an entire fictional story, based on this particular Bible story. Characters in her stories have similar personalities and back story to the relevant Bible characters. One book like this, is Redeeming Love, which is based on the book of Hosea in the Old Testament. This was actually the first book I had read by Francine Rivers, and I was hooked. She tells the story so well, you can’t help but be left in awe of how God can work and use anything and anyone to help you.

Karen Kingsbury

I cannot say, between Francine Rivers and Karen Kingsbury, who is my most favourite Christian author. They both write so differently, with dispfferent styles and ways of telling a story. I find Karen Kingsbury tends to focus more or relationships, whether romantic relationships, family, children and healing any brokenness in relationships. The first book I ever read of hers was One Tuesday Morning. I remember my mom read it first, and she is not a reader. But she insisted I read the story. And I’m so glad I did. This book is a tear-jerker. I remember the tears streaming down my face by the time I read the last page. The story is base don the events of 9/11 and a family torn apart by the collapse of the World Trade Centers. I don’t really want to give too much away, because you need to read this series! I read the second book in the series, Beyond Tuesday Morning, and it was just as good as the first book. I never actually knew that there was a third book in the series – I only discovered that when searching online for images of the books. I’ll be adding the third book to my To Read list, for sure!

Do you have one specific book that is your all time favourite? Or do you have a specific author who you just love and have read most, if not all of their books?