For Books. . .

I've written before that one of the things about me is I love writing and the flow of words. Well this love of course started with reading. I learned to read at five, and have been a reader ever since. I don't have enough bookcases in my house, and when I go shopping at Costco for groceries, the book isle is one I have to try to stay away from. There is guaranteed at least three to four books I want at any given time. I don't spend my time at the mall shopping for clothes, no books are my vice. At the cottage I will spend every day laying on the dock devouring book after book. When I pack for the cottage I usually pack one entire suitcase of books. I can never decide how many I'll get through and which ones I want to delve into next. I love all books, fiction, non-fiction, action, romance, mystery, thriller, history, biographies, self-help, poetry. There isn't a genre I don't like. Books are an escape that let you take an adventure without leaving the dock and delve into another world for just a few hours. There are favorites that I will return to again and again and pour through again and again. Anne of Green Gables is one of those, The Princess Bride, The Poisonwood Bible, the Narnia series. Occasionally I get a dud that I hate but often I find something redeeming in most books. Gil wanted to buy me a Kindle one year because of this love of books I have, and I'm so glad he asked me first because although I understand the practicality of it, my love affair with the book has so much to do with holding it in my hands, the smell of the book, how it feels to steadily work through it seeing your progress as your place in the book changes, the paper in your fingers. Yes it would be easier than hauling around a case full of books, but it wouldn't' be the same. Lately I've been reading books that are considered youth books. Mainly because I see my daughter preferring to read then to watch TV, and so I become curious as to what has her attention. I want to be part of her world and so I take up the book so that I can see a glimpse inside her. The Hunger Games was the first of these, followed by the Divergent Series. I then find myself hooked too, and having something in common with her to chat about is always nice. The part I love most about books is when you find truth in their pages, a quote that you can glean a lesson in. The Poisonwood Bible is full of those, and this time in the last of the Divergent books I found two I found especially meaningful. The one because it is exactly how I feel about marriage and love, and to find it described this way in a book that is being consumed by 15-17 year old girls is so wonderful. "I used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterward. And maybe that's true of beginnings, but it's not true of this now. I fell in love with him. But I don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day I that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again and he chooses me." Veronica Roth That's an amazing quote to find in a secular book. It's how I feel about Gil. Then there's this quote from the same book; "Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can't escape that damage. But now, I am learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other" That is how I feel about me. Only the words I would use is that life wounds us, and we can be healed. I know that being in community and having friends has healed me, so we do heal one another, but we also have a healer that comes in and restores us. He can also work through us to those who are wounded and in need. So you read this long blog to get to the point that tonight I am grateful that I have a love of reading, that I can find adventure, find truth, relate to my daughter. I am blessed because of this passion and that there is always more books out there to read.