Summer Reading!

Ah, the sun is shining its warmth and encouraging us to head for swimming pools or air conditioner. I love the summer! Cherries are ripe and the fruit is sweet. :0) And for me, summer time is an excellent time to READ! I mean read even more than I usually do. So this time of year, I make myself a summer reading list. I asked my facebook friends for suggestions.

Here are the ones that they named that I have read:

The Help - LOVED IT
The Mitford Series books - SO wonderful end easy and sweet!
Chronicles of Narnia - Classics
The Shape of Mercy - SO good
Chasing Lilacs - WONDERFUL
Redeeming Love - One of my favorites of all time
Eat, Love and Pray  - So much better than the movie

Here are some they suggested that I haven't read:

Crazy Love - I have it but haven't read it.
The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
The Jack Reader series by Lee Child
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
A Ship Possessed by Alton Gansky
Same Kind of Different as Me
Introverts in the Church
The Power of the Blood
Downpour by James McDonald
I Know This Much is True
Jane Adams Diary

So I'm looking at the second list and trying to decide. Do you have any suggestions? Have you read any of the second list? Help! And have a wonderful summer. Pick up a book if you haven't read in a while!

The Joy of Reading

Right now I am in Columbia and it is hot and sweaty and the putrid smell stings my nostrils. Despite the attack on my senses, I enjoy every moment. Why? I am following THEM. SHE is a young girl who is about to marry a doctor, almost begrudgingly but with a passion hidden in her heart. HE is her forgotten...stalker? They loved each other through notes and telegrams for years. But then she rejected him. Suddenly. Completely. I watch them and read their thoughts. I am more than curious to see what will happen next.

If you haven't figured it out, I am not actually in Columbia. I am reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. The joy of taking a trip with my imagination through his craft of writing is delicious, like my mom's old peach cobbler on a summer night.

I love reading.

Last week, I sat in Pennsylvania next to a man as he said good-bye to his dog. I'd watched that dog grow up and laughed at all of his antics. Now I cried; unashamed at my sobbing, I too, experienced the grief of losing a family pet. Josh Grogan's Marley and Me was a treat. And yes, when I finished the book, I hugged my own dog Scooby just a little harder.

It is a shame to think that everyone doesn't take advantage of the travel agency called Public Library and ship off to experience adventure and heartbreak and intrigue. My boy Noah is a reader. When I see him pick up a book, it is like watching him buy a ticket to another land.

Last week, John and Noah and I went to a local Christian bookstore to pick up some reads. John picked up Oliver North's Heroes. At home, Noah's curiousity caused him to ask if he could read a few pages. John said yes and for the next few days, Noah took off and met some heroes. After his conversations with these men and women who have defended our country, he told John and I about them.

I love reading.

As I post this, I am sitting at the library surrounded by the words, the magic carpets, of people throughout the world. Noah is upstairs at his Pokemon club and I knew I needed to post (it's Thursday :0)) so I came to the computers.

But I will be honest with you. I am typing fast. Why?

Columbia awaits...