Last Saturday, after we had a delicious dinner somewhere around Central Mall, we decided to forgo a movie and take a trip to the bookstore.  It's something I can do for hours but the boys are a little less patient so I convinced them with the promise I would buy them a "graphic novel" -- or comic book as they are known to non geeky people.

We went down Southwest Sheridan and Dillon asked me if I had run out of books to read.  Well, of course not!  I always have books to read.  I read paper books, digital books, wrappings on food, the back of the shampoo bottle and I listen to books, too.  I'm always around literature.

The number of 17-year-olds who read almost every day has fallen from 31% to 22% in the past 20 years. During that period, television watching has grown by a steady 3% per year and 87% of all kids now play video games in their homes.

In our home, we limit the amount of toys and video games and stuff we will buy Dillon.  We have a no limit policy on books and will buy him any book any time.

Since I read the stat above, I thought it had been awhile since I published my "what am I reading now" list.  I will caveat by saying I usually can't read one book all the way through before starting another.  I have anywhere from 3-10 books going at the same time and pick them up wherever I am and switch to different stories when I am in a different mood.

Let me know what YOU are reading in the comments below!

If you like really messed up and disturbing stuff:  "You" by Caroline Kepnes.  It's more than just a book about a stalker -- it's so inside his head it totally freaked me out.  It mostly freaked me out because I was kinda rooting for him.  Lots of graphic (GRAPHIC) language and sexual situations, so beware.  I listened to this as an audio book narrated by Santino Fontana and that gave it a little extra crazy.

If you liked Dragon Tattoo:  "The Girl in the Spider's Web" by David Lagercrantz is the latest in the Lisbeth Salander series.  Of course, the original author died before the first trilogy was completely published so this author was chosen by his family to extend the work.  I freely admit I'm not done with it yet, but it has the same style and flow as the originals and that has me very hopeful.

If you are an 80's video game geek:  "Armada" by Ernest Cline is an ok follow up to his really brilliant "Ready Player One."  This one is not as good as the first but it still has enough gamer geek that if you like that kinda thing, you'll like this, too.  I think he ripped off a little too much from "The Last Starfighter" and "Ender's Game" but you feel he really loves those stories so I give him a pass for writing as if he is honoring them.

If you like true stuff mixed in with your coffee and mountain climbing: "Dead Mountain:  The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident" by Donnie Eichar.  It's a story about a group of mountain climbers who died in a really crazy way and no one can piece together how it actually happened.  I was unfamiliar with this true story until reading this book but now I'm as fascinated as everyone else who has tried to imagine how they ended up in one of the strangest death scenes ever.

If you like Sherlock Holmes but want a little more murder:  "Murder as a Fine Art" by David Morrell is a good read and has lots of great period detail.  This is, I believe, part of a series but it's my first exposure and I'm liking the adventure into the past with ideas of how the first real detectives learned their art (while the bad guys learned theirs).

If you didn't have to read it in high school: "The Catcher In The Rye" JD Salinger is on many high school reading lists but I have never read it.  In fact, it was a frequent mention in one of the other books I am reading, so I picked it up and prepared to snooze through it.  It's not as deep as Franny and Zooey but shows that teen angst is never just for the current generation of teens.

I would like to end by saying I am reading three other books right now but I'm still on the fence, so once I get through them and start a few others, maybe we'll find something new to read together.

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