Open that book...when you get a chance

Reading has always been something I truly find irresistible. It is a perfect rainy day (like today) to curl up with an intriguing book and hot chai. I am hooked on reading "this biography", "that manual", or "this novel". Even cookbooks. When I was younger, I read every single Sweet Valley Twins (do you remember Jessica & Elizabeth?), Babysitter's Club, Encyclopedia Brown, Mandie, Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Anne of Green Gables series, Sherlock Homes and I'm sure many others not mentioned. Getting older, I migrated into Beverly Lewis, Francine Rivers, C.S. Lewis, Nicholas Sparks (grab a tissue), Karen Kingsbury, more fiction by L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, biographies, and missionary stories.


But it seems lately, the furthest I get in reading are my Bible, devotional, and magazines. I think I posted a while back about how I was reading "My Grandfather's Son", the autobiography of Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court judge. Nope. Never finished it. To be completely honest, I kept telling myself I'd finish, even until I incurred $6.00 in late fees to the library! Ack! Horrible, horrible, I know.

It's probably because I set the bar way too high. Currently, I'm itching to start on The Warrior by F. Rivers, The Longing by B. Lewis, When Joy Came to Say by Kingsbury, 1/2 Price Living by Ellie Kay, and I even peeked at a couple others. Secondly, gone are the minutes and hours I can waste away on Prince Edward Island or in Amish country, in my imagination anyway. Now it's a snippet during bathroom break, while I'm waiting for a load to wash/dry, or oven to heat up.

My hubby doesn't mind this addiction one bit! It doesn't cost anything AND certain books often lead to organization, cleaning of the house or cooking a new recipe. Oh yeah, of course he likes it.


One bit of advice. Do not read Nicholas Sparks during PMS. I think I tend to gravitate toward those kind of books and movies when I am feeling the hormonal rollercoaster. You should have seen me reading Dear John, A Walk to Remember, or The Notebook. Mike would come home to a trail of Kleenex leading to his sniffling, depressed wife. Yes, N. Sparks novels can do that to you.


I enjoy novels (fiction) written by authors that give meaningful storylines about real-to-life problems and situations. But one of the reasons I am drawn to biographies and non-fiction is that they are true. I learn a lot from other peoples' lives, especially those of missionaries and women/men of faith. I can re-tell the story with the confidence of knowing it actually happened, and be inspired to learn lessons from their failures or successes.

I will never "grow up" in the sense that I am often swayed by characters. We tend to choose a person(s) in the book that we like and don't like. If the gal is an amazing cook, I'll likely cook a great meal that night, too. Or if they are the fashionista, often I'll get into the fashion gear myself! Ha - how easily influenced I am by my reads.

Another favorite of mine is reading old journals. Have you ever done this? It is an amusing, and can be, an embarassing time. In huge letters I've written at one time, "I hate my brother!!!!" I read another entry about "a boy I like" and think "I'm glad he didn't turn out to be my Prince Charming." I especially get a chuckle at "so and so is my best friend today" then "I hate said so and so!" the next day. Or the best - "when I grow up I want to have red hair and green eyes". Ha! Too funny for a girl with brown hair and eyes. Just checked again...still brown :D

Reading is quite the adventure, even if you can only get a peek at a couple paragraphs. If you get a chance, take out that book you've been meaning to get to...and peruse. I did so today - at the dentist's office, for about 2 minutes!

You won't be sorry. And you just might have a jolly time.