Never Enough Books

My dream Christmas tree

Now that the seasons are rapidly changing and winter is making things more uncomfortable, I find myself burrowing in a bit more than usual.  Evenings find me fairly content to sit near the fire with a good book or other engaging reading material.  And, there's oh so many good trips to research and plan.

Over the recent years, I've noticed some changes in my reading habits when comparing them to the previous fifty years.

For one, I have shaken off the self-induced pressure to read all the way to the end of books that I am not enjoying.  Perhaps the book just didn't turn out to be what I thought it would be.  Now I stop reading, recycle it to other readers, and feel happy that I've offered the enjoyment of reading that book to someone more suited for its subject or story.

And secondly, I'm reading a "smorgasbord" now, rather than only sticking with one until it's done.  I never thought I'd enjoy doing that, but for me, it's like even more goodness going on all at the same time.  Almost like having five desserts on a plate, instead of just one.

Finally, I've adopted the habit of always having some sort of reading material in my purse, whether I'm just running errands or even going to the theater.  In fact, I'd probably think more of bringing a book than even a bottle of water.

Right now I'm reading a good mix of stuff.

As usual, there's always the monthly magazines, and now also a lot of the pre-Christmas shopping catalogs:

There's a light suspense/drama in the mix.  Entertaining, yet predictable.  At this point I haven't yet figured out whodunnit, but I will.

A bit more challenging of a read is the book I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist.  This one will take me a while to plod through.  In this very thought provoking book, the author defends his Christian faith without relying on Bible verses.  Instead, he uses logic, scientific evidence, and historical fact.  Hmmmmm.

Another book currently on my smorgasbord is The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, one of the books in C. S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series.  I'll be attending a theatrical production of this story in mid-December, and since it's an allegory and I'm taking my 7-year-old twin granddaughters along, I figure I should understand the story before we go.

And finally, for the grandkiddos, I've recently purchased another one of Target's latest seasonal releases.  Every year they sell a new handful of books at a price of $5 each, with all the proceeds going to a literacy project.  They are the kind of books that young readers enjoy revisiting and reading every year at the holidays.

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you may recall that I read a lot, and that I get excited when finding new words.  Tomorrow I'll share some of those fascinating new (for me) words I've come across.

What's on your reading pile?