Some good books

Recently I told you I'd read these good books:
Same Kind of Different As Me
To Kill a Mockingbird
Mark just finished To Kill a Mockingbird, and enjoyed it just as much as I did.

Since then I've read a few more good books, so I thought I'd let you know, because if you're like me, you're always up for some good book recommendations:

Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

I'm embarrassed to tell you that while I have seen both movies- the old movie; based on the book, and the newer Steve Martin/Bonnie Hunt version; which doesn't actually follow the book at all- but I had not read the book itself. Not only had I not read this book, but I assumed it was a fiction book. I did not know that it was a memoir; that this was written based on the experiences these two children had in their own family, with their own father.

All that aside, I have to say: I loved this book. It was laugh-out-loud funny at parts, and I can't tell you how many times I read aloud sections to Mark, who laughed right along with me. This dad was the ultimate creative, homeschooling-type of a father, and I was utterly enthralled by the ways he taught his children. It is written in a witty, engaging way and definitely worth the read. I've bookmarked it as one to read aloud to the kids, when they're older, too.

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

I can't even remember who recommended this book to me, but I'm glad they did. I could not put it down. It is historical fiction, and Stockett's debut novel. The story is set in the 1960's, in Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter, a young college graduate, wants to write, and is encouraged by a mentor to write about something that disturbs her. She sets out to write about the black maids in Jackson. We learn women in particular: Aibileen and Minny, who work for white families, love and raise white children and yet are despised by those same white families for the color of their skin.

I loved these characters- Aibileen and Minny in particular- and the story that Stockett wove.

Other books I've recently read or am in the process of reading:
The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn, which has me once again contemplating how we can live more simply, but with the purpose of being able to be more generous.
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, by Francis Chan
Belles on Their Toes, by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen.)
Living Simply with Children by Marie Sherlock, recommended recently by Andrea.

What have you been reading?