When I was a baby, a guy knocked on the door selling “Journeys Through Bookland”, an eleven-volume set of the classics for toddlers to teens, from nursery rhymes, to Aesop’ s Fables, to every classic fit for a young person’s consumption. My mom bought a set.

The Kennedy children got used to really great bedtime stories, usually from one of these volumes.  When I was almost 4 years old, my father taught me how to read, and within a couple of years, I was falling to sleep with a flashlight under the covers.  And history repeated itself with each of my five siblings.  As adults, we are all voracious readers. When my parents downsized, I grabbed these books.

While I was on vacation, I got an email from Margaret Woda that she’d MeMe’d me on the 5 Favorite Books.  Five all-time favorites?  I would have to think about this!   So, here’s my list:

1.    They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45: In the early 1950s, author Milton Mayer visited Germany and began to interview a lot of ordinary people – the butcher, the baker the candle stick maker types – to try to get a grip on what happened there in the 1930’s and 40’s.  I first read this one during the Watregate scandal, as more and more shocking stories of the President’s men were becoming public.  Today, this book is even more relevant.  The point that so many of the people make in his interviews with them:  the changes were so gradual that we accepted them, one little change at a time.  By the time we understood the cumulative effect, it was too late.  This book is beautifully written and a cautionary tale in this time of orange alerts and security cameras on every street corner.
2.    Seabuiscut:  Laura Hillenbrand’s amazing horse story just grabbed me!  It’s a great yarn, beautifully written about three underdogs who do amazing things.
3.    Suite Francais: Irene Nemirovsky’s novel is about people fleeing Paris during occupied France during World Was II, and the writing is exquisite.  And the story of how it was finally published (in the afterward) is just as gripping! 
4.    John Adams: David McCullough’s biography of our second president is a fascinating history lesson – if they used it as a text in American History 101, students might actually get it!  I was especially blown away by the communications, not only the letters between John and Abigale Adams, but also the back and forth instructions from Congress to Adams and Franklin while they were in France!  Like 3-month deliveries – unless the frigate got sunk on it’s way across the stormy Atlantic!  McCullough also helps the reader appreciate what a total miracle our founding  fathers pulled off!
5.    The Irreverent Guide to Real Estate: Buying, Selling and Making Money:  OK, including my own book on my book MeMe list is shameful self-promotion, but it was a labor of love that I am really proud to have written.  It is a book with advice to buyers and sellers on many issues that agents tend to feel comfortable discussing.  Several companies are now using it in their new agent training to give them an idea of what life on the streets is really like!  My favorite chapter titles include: “Your Family Calls Him ‘Fido’; Your Agent Calls him ‘Fang’”, “Buying in Sin”, “Liar, Liar, Pants of Fire”,  “The Bank of Mom and Dad”, “Revenge of the House Nerds”, “Home Invasions”, and “Broom Clean”.  And throughout the book, there is a lot about the relationships that become at issue during the transaction – agent-client, couples buying together (married or otherwise), buyers-sellers and the rest of the cast of characters.  Agents who’ve read it either love it and buy it for their clients, or, in one case, threatened to file a complaint with the Maryland Real Estate Commssion, claiming that I was http://activerain.com/lennharley"embarrassing the profession."  Too bad they didn't follow up - I could have used the publicity!

And, now!  Who to pass the torch onto? 

Todd Clark whose posts I enjoy reading

Randy Chapman, the Blogger Dog because I really like his dog. 

Lenn Harley because she must have read a lot to have become such a prolific writer!