About Me

My name is Afton, and I am a home-schooled 16 year-old transplanted Texan girl living in the beautiful sand-hills of Nebraska.   My greatest worldly passions are reading, writing, music and animals, but I strive to place God before all.

I learned to read when I was 4, and have not stopped since.  My parents did their utmost to give their “book-gobbler” good books to read, and I have read it all.  The classics have been the books I’ve read the most, since those were the ones that filled our library.  At about age 7, I read the original unabridged  “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and it was my favorite book.  That experience kinda reminds me of the super-heroes that had something done to them, and later realizes how incredibly beneficial it was for them.  For example, Spider-Man being bitten by a radio-active spider and later seeing what good he can do with it, for himself and those around him.  Although I don’t have any super-human “reading” powers, I do feel that the excellent book diet that my parents let me “stuff down my throat” has given me a great advantage in my life.  It takes a much different and better book to satisfy me than most of the latest bestsellers, and it surprises me just how many of these “bestsellers” are simply re-writes of the old classics!  It is rather difficult for me to find literature that really fit my criteria of good books.  So, when I do, I get very excited and want to tell all my friends about this awesome book.  I know I’m not the only one out there that has a hard time finding good books to read.  So, hopefully this can be helpful to others as I share what I’ve learned about good books.

My Goal

My goal here at Read Good Books is to present reviews of books that will allow you to decide whether you want to read it or not.  Although I will not give away the story, I will detail any material that could possibly be inappropriate for a young child.

My Reading Pet Peeves

There are some things in a book that just grate me to the bone.  Bad bridges is one of them.  Now, there is a history to my definition of a “bridge”.  Are you interested in hearing about it?  Good, I was hoping you were still with me.  Well, the bad ones (bridges) have bothered me for a very, very long time, but it’s only been in the last year or two that I’ve been able to put a name to that “thing” that makes me squirm, a bad bridge.

I first realized this “bridge” thing when I read an unpublished manuscript.  There was an event in this book that was rather silly or so I thought.  To me, it was plain that the author wanted her main character wounded and the path that she chose to get there was ridiculous.  Suddenly, it dawned on me exactly what happened;  the author was “here”, and where she wanted to go was “there”.  The bridge she forged to travel on between the two of them was a weak one.  Light-bulbs flashed in my head, and I was nearly stunned with the realization that I had finally put a finger on my “problem”.

That book was a turning point in my reading “career” and I have never been the same reader since.  Now that I understand the bane of my reading existence, I see it everywhere!  You wouldn’t believe how many books that are considered good have weak bridges!  I see it frequently in movies, books, radio shows-  any place that a story is involved.

So, that is my biggest pet peeve.  I also dislike;

• Characters without any .
• Predictable Events
• Lame Dialogue

and

• Stories that have far too many direct copies.

I guess that about covers my most disliked story glitches!

What I Do like in a Book

Pretty much the opposite of what I don’t like.  Although, there are extensions to them.  Such as I greatly appreciate a story in which the male and female characters are actually like males and females.  Some books just really capture the nuances of each sex.  Robert Louis Stevenson is particularly good at this in his novels “The Black Arrow”
and “Catriona”.

I also like a story that catches me off my guard and startles me.  I love it when I nearly leap out of my skin because the newest turn of events is so unexpected!  And I also love when I’m desperate to know what happens next!  Some books or radio shows have rather lame chapter or episode endings, so that you’re kind-of ho hum about the next chapter of episode.  I adore it when I’m scrambling to flip the page or skip to the next track on my MP3 player!

One of my favorite things in a story are characters who endears themselves to you, so that when the book ends, you look back on them as old friends and with fondness.  After all, who doesn’t like having friends, especially ones so admirable as you can find in a book?

Let me Know Your Thoughts…

If there is a book you’d like to see here, let me know!  If I haven’t already read it, I’ll see what I can do.  I would love to hear any suggestions to improve this site as well.  You can share your thoughts here or leave a comment on a review.  Thanks for reading this long page…I hope to hear from you soon!