30. The Survivor's Club: The Secrets And Science That Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood

This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, but a lady in my book club chose it for the month of May. Even though I was a little reluctant to read it, once I got started I couldn't stop. I found the book absolutely fascinating. The author, Ben Sherwood, had gone around and interviewed all these people who had survived crazy things. Then he tried to figure out why they survived or what factors contributed to their success. The book is organized into different things that affect your survival and different kinds of situations. For example, there is a whole chapter on surviving plane crashes, and one on how much God and your faith affect your chances. Just the true stories of the people who survived are worth reading. The people survived everything from jumping off the Golden Gate bridge to being attacked by a mountain lion to a horrendous knitting needle accident (seriously, knitting needles can be very dangerous--who knew?) My favorite part is obviously the stories, but the tips on surviving difficult situations were almost as interesting. And I think the overall tone of the book is very positive and uplifting: not "look at all the horrible stuff that can happen to you" but "here's what survivors do and you can do it too." I really liked it and would recommend it to anyone.

80. The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura Schlessinger

I honestly thought I'd hate this book. I thought it would make me feel guilty because we all know that I hardly ever actually feed my husband. I picked it up out of sheer curiosity because I have a friend who gives it as a present at every bridal shower that we both go to. I have to say that, though I love this person, we don't have a lot in common. But as I picked it up and started to read, I was fascinated by how mean women can be to their husbands and not think it is a problem. Wow!! Some of the stories were mind-boggling to me. I couldn't put it down. I found that it actually made me feel better about myself as a wife, because I think John and I have a pretty positive relationship. I try to be nice and he does too. (We're not always nice to our kids, but we try to be nice to each other.) I'm definitely not perfect. This book definitely gave me a few things to think about. But over all I found it positive. So if you like your husband, I think you might enjoy this book. If you think your husband needs to shape up, this book might make you feel really guilty, but it also might help you have a better relationship. Dr. Laura is definitely anti-wild feminism. But she basically advocates a golden rule philosophy and putting your family first. I think what the church teaches protects women from a lot of the more liberal things she discusses in the book. So it's up to you. You may or may not like it. But I definitely found it interesting.