Happy International Book Giving Day!

And Happy Valentine's Day, sure. But who doesn't LOVE getting a book as a gift?

This year, I gave my son My Golden Ticket, a personalized Willy Wonka book from Wonderbly. I actually bought this book back in 2017 when I first saw it, since I'm a huge Roald Dahl reader. I was just waiting for him to also fall in love with the author. A few months ago, he read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and saw the play, so I figured the time was right! He loves how this book makes him feel like part of the story he already knows so well.

For previous International Book Giving Days, I've combined the holiday with Valentine's Day and given (and received!) heart notebooks. The Pete the Cat bookmark was one of the Valentines my son gave him class one year, as was the bee paper and bee with a heart. The bee paper is seed paper, so his friends could plant their Valentine and watch it grow instead of simply recycling it after the holiday passed.

And, of course, there were the good ol' days of my kid being so little that he wanted to have me read countless picture books to him. These were just a few of our favorites. Check out a few others we loved, along with some books and a craft I shared with adults with disabilities.

Scott Smith Books: A Simple Plan and The Ruins

I read The Ruins when it first came out back in 2006. I was a writing student in college and it blew me away. It stuck with me over the years and I thought of it often. I figured it was time for a re-read and I was so happy that it stood up to the test of time. I didn’t remember all of the details, nor the ending, so it was almost as good as reading it for the first time. I can’t recommend this enough. It sticks out as having such a unique concept and writing style.

I mentioned it to a friend in passing and he mentioned Smith's first book, A Simple Plan, saying it was just as good. I don't know how I'd managed to read just one book by an author and then skip the other, but I was glad to have a new one to read now!

I re-read The Ruins first, just because. As I mentioned, I remembered just enough to have the basic concept of the story, but the specifics and the writing style felt like new in the best way.

In A Simple Plan, I could definitely tell that Smith has a set writing style and it works so well for the stories he tells. I love how it feels so natural as it builds up. It's a great example of how one small moment can truly change the course of your life. And with his signature writing style, there’s no time to pause and think, “There’s no way this would happen in real life” because it’s totally realistic. Even as the characters make their choices, you’re not trying to steer them in a different direction because it seems like there IS no other direction. I recommend this just as highly as I do The Ruins.

Have you read one or both of these books? What did you think?

If I loved these books, do you have any similar titles in mind you'd recommend?