do you remember when......

it was embarrassing to have undergarments showing? instead of having bra straps proudly on display and it be completely "acceptable".

or when cartoons were actually FUNNY? instead of just varying degrees of crude/disrespect?

or childrens' books were actual works of literature? instead of just varying degrees of crude/disrespect (and may I add- seriously dumbed-down vocabulary and pitiful story lines)? Case in Point:

(and many others just as rotten).

Times are a'changing, my friends.

But here's what got me thinking about all of this:

Last week I went to the library and checked out Wind in the Willows as a read-to-the-kids book. I remembered it had something to do with a Mole and a Toad, but I had forgotten, or probably never even realized, exactly how WONDERFUL it is.

You know, I've read books that I thoroughly enjoyed before...you know the type: they're so good and have such an addictive story that the whole house could look like an F5 tore through, you feed your children nothing but cold cereal for 3 days, and if you're feeling really generous to those around, you might even take a shower and brush your teeth....all because you can't wait to finish the book.

But this is in a whole other league. I never want this book to end....this is the type where I want my house to be spotless (or at least *clean*), windows open with a fresh breeze blowing in (or at least have the a/c cranked up so high that it feels like a breeze is blowing in), kiddos asleep in their beds, and me in my p.j.s, curled up in bed with my favorite drink (cranberry juice/7-up mix...).... Because then I'm not just plowing through the book to see what happens next....instead, I'm able to get lost in the book. I can actually *enjoy* and soak in the prose...I can reread passages like this as often or as slowly as I like:

"The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea."

*sigh*.....

I'm a bookworm as it is. But books that have such amazing prose and imagery and fantastic characters just deserve a blog post.

Now tell me *your* favorite books.....please :)