Book Reviews!

I've been reading quite a bit lately. I tend to go in cycles where I'll read a bunch, then stop completely for a few weeks. But once I pick up a book, I normally have a hard time putting it down. I'm behind on the books I've read, so I have 3 books to tell you about!

The first is "Firefly Lane" by Kristin Hannah.

This book is about a 30 year friendship between two women, starting when they are about 14. The book starts in the 70s and goes into the 2000s. I literally both laughed and cried while reading this book. I think the most funny parts in the book are when the trends of the decades are so nonchalantly mentioned in the book. For example, when the girls are in college, one of them gets dressed and to impress someone at an interview, she puts her hair in a BANANA CLIP!!! This is one of those books that you won't be able to put down once you start reading it. The friendship goes through many ups and downs and has an informative ending. Buy it!

The next book on my list was "Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella.

This book was just plain cute! This is a book that you will pick up and blaze through quickly, smiling. I stumbled over the British slang, but overall, it's pretty easy to read. I have heard that movie got so-so reviews and has been put down because of the "shopaholic ways" in today's crumbling economy. I don't know how well the movie follows the book since I haven't seen it, but the book is hilarious! The humor lies in that Becky Bloomwood (main character) is a Financial Journalist, yet she's deep into debt through her shopping habit. She has to put on a front that she is financially knowledgeable even though creditors are practically knocking down her door. Pick up this book for an easy - and fun - read!

My last book is my "responsible" book. It's "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey.

"The Total Money Makeover" was recommended to me by a friend. Truth be told, I read the introduction before I ever started the previous two books. I just forgot to pick this one back up. A few days ago I was sitting in my chair watching TV and saw this book laying on the floor. I told myself that I should probably read this book, so I finally turned off the TV and started in. "The Total Money Makeover" provides layman's terms advice on how to get out of debt as fast as possible and become rich. He tells you to keep money on hand for emergencies and keep building it up. Dave gives great advice when it comes to fighting off creditors and figuring out how to pay off debt little by little, starting with your smallest debt and going up to your mortgage.

Most of the advice didn't apply to Jason & I because we don't have a lot of debt. We have no car loans and our credit card is paid off every month. We have enough in savings to pay our bills for about a year if Jason ever lost his job. I do have $50,000 in student loans on top of our mortgage. Even though Dave says to pay off the student loans before you tackle your mortgage, I disagree. My mortgage will cost me much more money than my student loans in the end, so I am choosing to tackle the mortgage first. But I agree with everything else Dave preaches. He even gives great advice on saving for your children's college fund and goes a little bit into investing. It was a little humorous to read this book when today's mutual funds are losing money, but since I am still so young, I have plenty of time to wait for my returns.

What I have taken from this book is that I need to buckle down on our monthly spending to pay off our long-term debt faster. In the end, we will save ourselves a TON of money and be able to live a better life faster. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has any type of debt.

Thanks for reading through all of this! If book reviews are horribly boring, let me know & I'll quit posting them. Or, if you have reading suggestions, comment away!