If you want to laugh and celebrate the aging process at the same time, watch the delightful movie called Young @ Heart. It is the true story of a group of American seniors, (average age is 81), who sing everything from James Brown to The Clash to Coldplay in concerts the world over.

Watch Young @ Heart. You'll love it!

Story time at the library is not meant to force children to sit quietly, rather its aim is to encourage children to interact and listen to the stories they are being told. Incorporating movement into your story time actually has the ability to increase a child's attention span, and when a child uses their body to move around, they are actively using both sides of their brain.

One of the best family dramas I know of is the wonderful book by Mary Lawson called Crow Lake. Mary, an ex-pat Canadian, now resides in England where she's raising her children with her husband.

Crow Lake is Mary's first novel. It is set in northern Ontario and describes what transpires to a household of four kids when their parents die in a car crash. The 17-year-old 'head of the household' decides to raise his siblings on his own.

Read Crow Lake. You'll be moved by the experience.

If you're looking for a great book to get lost in, try Andre Dubus III's Townie. The book is an autobiographical account of Dubus' coming-of-age in a working-class, drug-infested, mill town in Massachusetts with an overworked mother and three siblings. The sensitive, underweight boy soon learns the necessity of pumping iron in order to defend himself and his family against perpetrators. Unfortunately, Andre learns all too well how to clock someone with a single punch.

Monday January 28th, marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's second novel Pride & Prejudice. It was a bestseller in 1813 as it remains today. Pride & Prejudice is one of the most beloved novels of all time and there have been countless spinoffs and spoofs made from the book.

It has also been made countless times into a movie. I love the Colin Firth version. See it here.