What’s on Your Reading List?

Every time I see someone reading a book – or an E-book – I wonder what it is they’re reading. If they look friendly enough I might even be so bold as to ask them. Even though I’ve already got at least 30 books in queue I’m always looking to see if there’s a fantastic book that I just don’t want to miss. I need to learn how to read faster!

I still laugh about what my girlfriend said when she turned 40. She had just been to the library before stopping by my house. She said, “All I could think of at the library is that I’m forty years old and there are so many books. How can I possibly read them all before I die?” I’m not sure I can even read all the books currently on my Kindle before I die much less the ones sitting in the library!

So today I thought I’d tell you about a few of my recent reads in case you’re looking for some summer reading inspiration. I really only talk on my blog about books I’ve really enjoyed because as my mom used to say, “If you don’t have something nice to say it’s best to say nothing at all.”

Twirl by Patsy Clairmont(Christian Living) First off you have to know that I adore Patsy. She is my kind of funny. She also has a spiritual strength that is undaunted by circumstances. I actually met her last fall during an event at her home in Franklin, Tennessee. It was then I was gifted with an advanced copy of her book. I didn’t delve into it right away (which sort of spoils the whole purpose of getting an advanced copy, I suppose) but as I mentioned, there’s a long list of books on stand-by.

This book was written to remind us that in the midst of our frenzied lives it’s important to take time to do the things that bring us renewal of spirit. Things like reading, resting (turns out Patsy loves naps as much as I do), and creating. I think my favorite line in the book was found in the chapter titled “Yes.” Writing about her marriage of fifty years she says, “Somehow, even though aging is the natural progression of life, when we said yes, we didn’t actually expect to get old like our parents. Yet here we are, smack-dab in the middle of prescriptions, indigestion, and leg cramps.” It was a particularly true and laugh out loud funny thing to read in the midst of John’s cancer treatment. And, oh how I needed the laugh. There are many more laughs in this book accompanied with some great spiritual insights. One fun thing about Twirl is that you can literally twirl your way through it. Each chapter is self-contained so the book can be read in any order. I highly recommend it.

The Meeting Place by Janette Oke and T. Davis Bunn (Historical Christian Fiction) – I downloaded this book to my Kindle for two reasons. First of all, it was free and secondly, I have read Janette Oke books before. She’s the author of the Love Comes Softly series from which many a Hallmark movie has been based. I spent hours of my time in the early 1980’s letting my house go to pot and my kids go unsupervised as I made my way through that series so I decided I should give this book a try.

Though this book didn’t grab me at the beginning, by the time I got to the end I couldn’t put it down. The story takes place in the Acadia region of Nova Scotia during the 1700’s when the French and the English were fighting over possession of the land. Two women, who are basically leading parallel lives, one French and one English, meet up in a meadow between the two villages where their “kind” live. It’s a story of friendship, love, and devotion between two families in the midst of the political drama surrounding them.

I love reading historical fiction because I really stink at remembering much of what I learned in history classes so it’s like a mini refresher course, but a lot more interesting. I’ve said for a long time that if they could have given me more historical fiction in high school I would have done better on the tests.

By the way, my plan was just to read the first book in this Song of Acadia series because after all, it WAS free. But guess who’s smack dab in the middle of book two?

Dying Out Loud by Shawn Smucker (Biography) Okay, so I got a little wordy in my first two reviews and I was going to skip this one but seriously, it’s an amazing read. Stan, his wife Ann, and their two children give up their comfortable southern California existence to move to the Middle East.  (And I thought moving from California to Minnesota was tough.) While they were there they didn’t just land in one town but traveled all around through some very remote regions in an effort to share hope with the Muslim world. Stan and Ann were highly respected by those who came to know them so when he was diagnosed with an incurable cancer everyone they had befriended was stricken with grief. Through his death Stan was able to share the joy he knows as a Christian in a way that he’d been unable to relate to the natives through his life. I know, it sounds depressing, but really, it’s a fascinating story.

What’s on your summer reading list? Please don’t let me miss out on anything really good, okay?