Why Book Reviews?

If you could dissect my brain you would see a few giant sections labeled "animals", "books"," crafts", "patterns", "garden", "food", "kid activities/teaching", "country music", and "writing".  My passion and energy tends to filter into these topics.  As long as I can remember back, I have been creative and  have loved books and animals.  When I was a kid I had some sort of book club subscription in which I would be sent a book a month.  I still have some of them.  They evoke a wave of warmth and good thoughts when I see their covers.  Among them, the "Harry the Dirt Dog", and "Lyle the Crocodile" series and "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" are a few of my favorites.  At the risk of giving away my age I can still hear Captain Kangaroo reading some of these over the TV.  Ah, fond memories, simpler times.
      Snap back to present times.  Point being here is that I simply love books.  I have an extensive library of craft books.  I'm talking bordering on hoarding here folks, as crafting is a huge part of my life.  Although it's so fast to look up recipes on line (that's fodder for another post and obsession), I still have some favorite cook books - "close to" bordering on hoarding - that I refer to.  Then... I still LOVE children's literature.  The teacher and big kid in me adores picture books.  Over the past, oh 30 years, I have read literally hundreds of picture books and countless chapter books to my students and my boys.    We have some favorite chapter book series, too.  I have read to my children since their first day home from the hospital and we still read to our ten year old.  It's a special moment at the end of the day.  When my boys were little I would leave the library with 35- 50 books a week and we would read every last one of them, critiquing each one.  Me thinking, "wow great, witty book".  Or we'd all say  "I can't believe that book got published, we could have written a better book."  Currently, I also volunteer in boy#3's school library.
     Lastly, there's the adult reader in me who can't go to sleep at night without reading at least a page or two of the book de jour.  Although my favorite genre at the moment (ok, big reveal here at the risk of being judged) tends to be in the romance category, with present day cowboy/ranch  and historical early American/follow the Oregon trail/life as it used to be in the 1800's books on the top of the heap.  I think I must have had a past life living in a cabin out on the prairie somewhere.  Guess that's the farm girl in me.  Occasionally, a friend will recommend a read that sneaks into the pile, too.  Sometimes, I devour them, sometimes not so much.  At the end of the day, I simply don't want to have to think.  I just want to be entertained.  Reading at 10:00 or 11:00 is not my best thinking time - period!
     So why all this blabbering on about the types of books I like? Part of  my intention with this blog was to review craft books because I have so many I love and when I find a book (or recipe) I love I want to shout it from my roof top, take out an ad in the  paper, and buy advertising time during the Superbowl just to share it with anyone who will listen.  OK, a little extreme, I know.  But really, it's all about my love for these gems.  However, as the blog grows so has my big picture for it.  I have decided that I'll be reviewing kid books,  a few cook books and big girl books as well, when I find one that makes me want to jump with joy.  Some of these will be older books because information is often timeless OR can be updated in your mind and still have some merit.
    So there you have it.  Get ready to love books right along with me. Happy crafting, happy cooking, happy reading.