Books - Day 8 & Day 9

Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once

This is not an easy one. I've contemplated this for more than a day, sorting through the memory banks for books I'd say were on a lifetime list.

Every child should read or have read to them "Goodnight Moon," "The Runaway Bunny," the poems of Shel Silverstein and Eugene Field. And "A Wrinkle in Time, "Charlotte's Web," "The Trumpet of the Swan." And more.

I think every young adult should read "The Little Prince," "Catcher in the Rye," "Romeo and Juliet," "To Kill A Mockingbird," and probably a bunch more I'm forgetting.

And every adult should read many of the books that are on this list, although I'm not sure I agree with them all as 'must-reads.'

But the two that I probably would recommend (okay, okay, so I don't always follow directions) that I believe are the most helpful for generally living your life are:
***drumroll***

What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles
...wherein you learn valuable information about what you like to do, what you want to do, and how to make it happen,

and

Alcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book
...wherein you learn a blueprint for living your life that will help you in EVERY SITUATION you will ever encounter. You need not be an alcoholic to benefit from this: its basic tenets have formed the basis for 12-Step groups dealing with every sort of addiction, including things like food, sex, and drugs. But it also helps with such issues as control, anger, even 'sin' -- I once taught a Sunday school class using A Hunger for Healing -- based on the 12 steps -- which was one of the best, most popular series we ever did.


Day 09 – Best scene ever

The one that leaps to mind is in JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where Dumbledore dies.

I'd already finished the book, horrified and shocked. A few days later my daughter called me near midnight -- always a scary thing to have the phone ring at midnight -- and wailed, without explanation or identification, "He DIED! How could he DIE!" And I knew what she meant.

I'm sure there are other scenes that have left me breathless, that I raced through to find out what happened, but this is the most recent memory.