What I'm Reading

Every night before I go to sleep I spend 15 minutes to a half hour reading something.  Anything.  Lots of things.  I just cannot hit the pillow and drift off unless I'm super tired.  So I read until my eyes start closing, turn off the light and sleep.

I tried making a list of all the books I've read in the past year.  I went to a site called Library Thing and used their search function to list the authors and books I've read in the last decade, and topped out the 200 things you can put in for free.  If you want to list more you have to pay.  So that ended that.

On my nightstand right now:  Nights in Rodanthe, The Woman Who Heard Color, Legacy of Ashes - the History of the CIA, and V is for Vengance.  I started The Woman Who Heard Color but the beginning is kind of choppy, so that one sits while I read Legacy of Ashes.  I'm holding V is for Vengance for next week.  Then today a guy at work stopped by my office with a Steve Berry novel, asking if I'd like to read it.  Historical Fiction, you bet!  I can read several things at once and keep them straight.  If something gets juicy or really interesting I'll read that until it's done, but I'm good at multi-tasking.

My favorite types of books are (in no particular order) biographies, mysteries, detective novels, historical fiction, history, drama and comedy.  I think I've read everything Agatha Christie wrote, and nearly everything by Robert B Parker and James Lee Burke.  I love the victorian novels of Anne Perry and the ones by Elizabeth Perry, and I don't think they're related.  And Dick Francis wrote the best novels ever about horse racing.  I read Julia Child's bio before they made it into a movie. I've read all the Harry Potters, all the Nancy Drews, and all the Anne of Green Gables too.

Did I mention I like books about sewing and knitting?  Oh yeah, I love those, shelves and shelves of them.  I have two five-shelf bookshelves of books about crafting.  Embroidery, quilting, garment sewing, applique, knitting hats and mittens and scarves and on and on and on!  When someone I know needs a reference book, I probably have it.  I do use them, probably not as frequently as I should.  However, I did teach  myself to knit socks, do redwork and Sashiko embroidery, and Hawaiian Quilting, all with books I own.

I'm passing on the love of books to the grands.  They all get books from me for birthdays and Christmas, and I buy them books I can read to them and with them.  They love reading together.  I tell them "reading makes you beautiful".

I love book books, real books with paper pages.  I was given the gift of a Kindle when they first came out with the small version.  I like the size of it, and it beats lugging a bunch of books around on airplanes and car trips.   Sometimes the Kindle version of a book is free or less than the price of the paperback.  Sometimes the idea of a pile of books is nice and other times not so much.  On the Kindle at present I am reading the Biography of Benjamin Franklin, The Egyptian Cat Mystery, Here We Go Again by Betty White, and the Bible. 

I don't mind used books.  I buy used books quite frequently.  Downtown Books in Milwaukee has an awesome selection, as do a few other places.  And after all, the words are the same the 19th time they're read as they were the first time.

The library is also a good place to get books -- that is, if your card is current.  I have to check on mine, I think it may have expired.  Besides, they want you to bring those books BACK!

Here's my favorite quote about books:  Outside of a dog, man's best friend is a book.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.