Era Of Choice (Past, Present Or Future?)

"Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover"

(Or can you?)

With my love for reading I've gotten pretty good at picking out books! After all, I know myself pretty well by now! :) I can usually tell if a book is my "type" of book. I know what I will like & what I most likely wont. There of course have been a few mishaps along the way. I think a book sounds great & it turns out to be bad. I hate that! And there have even been a few times a book that I've chosen to read is so bad I can't even finish it. (And believe me, for me to put a book down, it has to be pretty bad!) Thankfully that doesn't happen very often.

But fortunately the opposite is sometimes true as well. I don't think I will like a book then I'm happily surprised when I do. I have a few criteria I go by when picking out a book. Now I know you are not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but lets just be honest here, we all do it! If a cover isn't appealing to me, I will pass it up. I have a few Authors that I know I like their writing style, so if I see a book by one of them, I will give it a second glance.

I also pay attention to what Era, or time period the book is set in. You won't find me me usually with a book set in the Prairie Days. Not even if other people tell me how great the book is, if it's set then, I'm not interested. I know this probably sounds strange knowing that my favorite book of all time is Little Women, which is of course set during the Civil War time. (I can't explain it either!) I know what I like is Modern Day Fiction. The only Historic Fiction I am interested to read is usually set in the World War II Period. That I like! I also enjoy books that are Nostalgic & go back & forth between decades. I've read a lot of those recently, some of my favorites have been: Firefly Lane, The Girls From Ames (Non Fiction), Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, I Think I Love You, The YaYa Sisterhood, to name a few. But generally I stick to Modern times.

But, recently I have been discovering a new time period that I'm enjoy reading about. When I started a Book Club, the first book we choose to read was The Secret Life Of Bees, a really good book, set in the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Being born in the 60's, of course I don't remember them much, :) but I've always known all men are created equal. And that the color of our skin shouldn't matter. But still, I wasn't prepared for how much I would come to love another book set during that time period . . .

Now, I had heard a lot of people talking about this book. I looked at it, the cover doesn't give much away, the story didn't seem like my kind of book. I didn't really understand what it was about, but it wasn't appealing to me at all. I had passed on it a number of times. Then I saw the Movie Trailer. I thought "I have to read that book!" It looked so good. So I got the book for Mother's Day. And now that I've read it, I must say, the Movie Trailer that made me want to read the book, I now look at and think how silly it looks & it better do the book justice!

I can not tell you how much I really LOVE this book. I honestly didn't want it to end. It was funny & touching & intense. I know I will always consider it one of my favorite books of all time. I loved it that much.

"Lines between black and white ain't there neither.
Some folks just made those up, long time ago.
And that go for the white trash and the so-ciety ladies to0."

"So you saying they ain't no line between the help and the boss either?"

"They's just positions, like on a checkerboard.
Who work for who don't mean nothing."
"All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries."

And because of how much I loved this book, I'm willing to give another Era a go. One that I've never really cared to read about before. The Future! What am I'm reading next? I'm so glad you've asked. There is another book series I've heard A LOT about that just didn't appeal to me. (Again with the cover & the story line) But everyone says how incredibly great they are! They are Young Adult Fiction (As is the Twilight Series) but the last straw for me was seeing a grown man pumping gas into his car with this book in his hand. I thought that book must be good, if a man can't even pull himself away from it long enough to pump his gas! So I'm giving it a go . . .

And just in time too I'd say, since they are making a Hunger Games movie to be released soon as well. I hope it lives up to all the hype! You can rest assured I will let you know what I think. :) So, what Era, or time period do you prefer to read? Have you ever been surprised when you find a book outside of your "norm" that you really like?