Recommended PBH reading

Here is a selection of books recommended by the PBH editorial staff in order to truly expand your understanding of the PBH lifestyle:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Francie rocks, she's smart, likes to read, is self-aware, and gets the boy. Makes us wish we lived in the early 20th century. We like trees too. And we totally would have told them that our name was Mary in order to get a doll too.

Model Student: Another bold heroine, this one is a model and a student (duh) at Columbia (though the author went to Yale). Juicy fashion info a plus.

The Perfect Mile: Roger Bannister is a god (and L has a weird love of skinny men), and the story of how he trained to break the four minute mile is the sickest thing ever. You cannot read this and not be inspired. Makes you want to a) run and b) go to England and marry a mile-running medical student.
--for more hot runner guys in print, and a dash of inspiration see Running With the Buffaloes
-- Lance Armstrong is also skinny and inspirational, so is Its Not About the Bike
--Running ultra-marathons is pretty tight too, K will kill me if I don't give Ultra-Marathon Man a shout out

Gone With the Wind: The most amazing heroine ever. Scarlett O'Hara is the pearls and a baseball hat girl personified, with maybe a little less bitchiness (though only a little...if we were facing the collapse of a civilization we would have been a little snippy too. but we would have told Rhett we loved him after we fell down the stairs...we hope. Also, we would have known Ashley was a dope).

Pride and Prejudice: Ok, when we said Scarlett was the best we forgot Lizzy Bennett. We love her. Other than the fact that Keira Knightly effed her up forever because of her crazy pout and emaciated chest, we totally commiserate with Lizzie's penchant for judging people (and the wind-swept dirty hems look). We rock at that too. Plus, dancing is our favorite pastime after rowing, and blogging. And we'll take stare-downs and witty repartee with tall, brooding gentleman any day.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (and the The Masque of the Black Tulip): Another Eli author. These books combine romance and history. The modern-day heroine is a little lame and needs to jump the hot guy she is hanging with soon before we all get mad, but the Napoleonic era plots are right up our ally. The equation (if you hadn't gotten it already) includes
an outgoing if somewhat judgmental heroine+ hot gentleman
they won't get along at first and will fight until the fight turns into a make out session. love ensues.

OUR NUMBER ONE BOOK, IF YOU READ ONLY ONE BOOK OTHER THAN GONE WITH THE WIND OR P&P READ THIS.
TAMORA PIERCE'S ALANA: IN THE HAND OF THE GODESS: Ok, so maybe you are reading this and thinking...shit, these girls are too boy crazy. We will say a) you are right and b) it is only because we read these books in our impressionable tween years and are now historical/romance obsessed. Alana ranks up there with Scarlett and Lizzie, she rocks the whole cross-dressing deal with narry a near Lesbian encounter in sight. No, she gets to hook up with Jonathon, the fantasy world's hottest prince. The scene in the garden is our number one hook up scene ever. This book changed our lives, and probably set our expectations for romance wayyyyy tooo high. Also, we've always wanted to kick some ass (ask K about the self-defense classes).