I LOVE THE LIBRARY!!!!!!!

I went to the library tonight to return Lindsey's videos which were due and to pick up 2 holds (one for me, one for the girls). Even though I have 5 library books at home already in my TBR pile, I HAD to get more! Once in awhile I just have to return things and don't have time to get any more books and it just kills me to leave the library with nothing. LOL I just love, love, love checking for available books online before I leave home, making a list, then going to the library and browsing the new books besides looking at the ones on my list. My book bag is usually quite heavy when I'm done. I always think to myself how I, once again, got more books that I can possibly read in a month's time (or more). I have a ritual of what I do with the books when I get home, that's for another post. :-)

So besides the books already in my pile, I now also have 6 or 7 more books, including:

The Birth House by Ami McKay

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

The Berenstain Bears and the week at grandma's (oops, that one's Lindsey's!)

I also picked up from on hold, Winterdance by Gary Paulsen (my first book for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge). I'll read that one as soon as I finish my current read, Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker (good so far!). I read about 100 pages of Sassy Cinderella that I wrote about in my last post but it never really grabbed me so I quit.

Next week Thursday-Sunday I'm going to North Carolina to visit a friend and attend the state's homeschool conference with her. I can't wait! I'm going alone, never done that before! The book I plan to bring along for the plane is Black Ice by Linda Hall. I love her books! I hope one book is enough. :-)

Happy reading!

So Many Books!

I don't like to read more than one book at a time. Often I will have a fiction and a non-fiction book going at the same time, but I don't really like to do that. I tend to read the fiction book 98% of the time and only pick up the non-fiction occasionally. The exception would be books like my current read, The Innocent Man by John Grisham, or a really good biography or memoir, but if it's a Christian living or parenting or other such book, it takes me forever to read it if I have a fiction book going at the same time.

So what happened? You'll notice I have 7 books in progress right now (one is a magazine). I also have 2 fiction books waiting to be started, At the Scent of Water by Linda Nichols, and I Love Claire by Tracey Bateman. I can't let myself start either one of them until I finish up at least 2 or 3 of the other ones I have started. Yikes, I just remembered I have another book coming any day now from overstock.com, A Mother's Rule of Life* by Holly Pierlot, and 2 holds at the library which could come in anytime - Stop Dressing Your Six-year-old Like a Skank : and other words of delicate Southern wisdom by Celia Rivenbark and When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin.

So many books, so little time.

*I saw this book recommended here at The Common Room blog and it sounded like something that might help me to get my house in order, both physically and spiritually. I'm not Catholic but she says you don't have to be to appreciate this book. Oh that word "sloth" sure is convicting for me. I hardly ever buy books but they don't have this one at my library and on a whim I just went ahead and ordered it.

Reading Day

Before I had the girls, when Ben was old enough to be able to read and keep himself occupied, we used to have "Reading Day". It started out to be me, my husband, Ben, and my sister Ginny. After one or two reading days it ended up to be mostly me and Ginny. Every few months we would designate a Saturday for reading. We made special treats, put on comfy clothes, got out our blankets and settled in with our books. We usually started mid-morning and ended in the evening with a trip to Barnes & Noble, with a little more reading at home afterward before ending the wonderful day. So much fun! Well it's impossible now to do something exactly like that now that I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old!

I finally decided it was time to do it again, modified a little. Instead of having it here at my house, I went to Ginny's house. (She's single with no kids, human ones anyway. She has 2 kitties though!) Instead of having it last all day, it was from about 10:30 - 5:00. We didn't go to Barnes and Noble at the end (too cold anyway!). But all in all it was WONDERFUL!!! I really needed that break, and I even took a little nap too. :-)

I read The Message Bible, Blue Like Jazz, and With Love, Libby. We took a little break for lunch and another to talk about the Super Bowl* and what teams we like and don't like. Of course we're die-hard Packer fans! We agreed that the 3 teams we absolutely cannot stand are the Vikings, the Patriots, and the Broncos. Okay so I'm still holding a grudge against the Broncos because they beat the Packers in the Super Bowl 9 years ago. What can I say.

Anyway back to Reading Day. In 2006 we both had a book lovers tear off calendar . We saved all the pages and then yesterday we went through them all and decided which ones we want to read and which ones we don't. We have no timeline in mind for reading these, it will probably take us years to get through them all.

So that was Reading Day! I hope to do these every few months and eventually my daughters can join in.

*Go Colts! Down with Da Bears! LOL

Crow Lake and My Week of Reading

THANKS Becky! I loved Crow Lake! It's my favorite book read this year (though I've only read 4 so far!)

This quote really has nothing to do with the plot of the book but it stood out to me. "Considering that he's only thirty-four, he's very unfit. He has the kind of lean build that never runs to fat, but thin isn't necessarily healthy."

My sister and I have heard this silly comment many times when we have mentioned needing to exercise more: "YOU don't need to exercise!" They say this because neither one of us is overweight. As if the only reason to exercise is to lose weight. Everyone needs to exercise!

Anyway that is what I thought of when I read that quote. :-)

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I am currently reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I read this in grade school and I loved it. I read it again to Ben when he was in grade school (homeschool). I've never read the rest of the series so I plan to read them this year. I started the book yesterday and will finish it sometime today.

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I also read Night by Elie Wiesel the other day. I bought it years ago at a used book sale or something and had never read it. I read it in one day. It was, good? It's hard to say a book like that is good, it's sad. It's similar to other books I've read on the Holocaust. Maybe it's good to read one once in awhile to remember.

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So yesterday morning I took my girls to storytime at the library. I didn't get myself any books because I had several library books at home yet waiting to be read, and also have Anne of Green Gables which I own on my TBR pile. I try not to check out more books until my TBR pile is down to one or two books, otherwise I want to read the new ones I just checked out before the ones I already have. But then I quit reading The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult (read a few chapters, turned off by the subject matter) and couldn't get into one other random book I picked off the library shelves and I was halfway through The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe already and that left just The Shell Seekers and Anne. I decided I had to go back to the library. My husband says "You were just there this morning." I told him if my TBR pile gets too low I get the shakes. LOL So I went back and checked out 7 books:

Vanishing Acts - Jodi Picoult
The Secret Life of Becky Miller - Sharon Hinck
A Vow to Cherish - Deborah Raney
Dear Enemy - Jack Cavanaugh
The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg
Dancing at the Rascal Fair - Ivan Doig
Something Beyond the Sky - Siri Mitchell

After I finish my current book, I can't decide if I want to read The Shell Seekers or not. It's been on my TBR list forever but now that I finally have it I'm not sure if I want to read it or not. I'm not sure if I'll like it. Guess I should read it and find out! Then do I read Anne of Green Gables, or move on to my pile of library books? Decisions, decisions!

Have a great day!