“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.”
– Jane Smiley
My husband says I should get out more.
And he’s probably right. The wake-up call happened when I broke yet another vacuum by clogging it with all of my hair. “Do you think I have a problem? Am I losing too much?” I ask my hairdresser. She tells me that everyone loses about 100 hairs a day. “I lose a lot of mine here at work,” she says as she snips away at my dead ends. “Maybe yours are all just falling out in your house…do you spend a lot of time there?” I sit quiet in the chair.
I’ve taken my husband and my hairdresser’s advice to heart. I really have. I make sure to call up friends. Schedule things in places outside of the house where I can shed my long strands of hair. There have been beautiful nights like this one…
And even though the flies swarm in like a SWAT team the moment you sit down, forcing you to retreat to the car, you know that you are so gosh darn lucky to have hearts as warm as these just a phone call away. (Thankfully the chocolate tastes just as good on the drive home as it would have tasted while curled up on the picnic blanket).
But then there are the books. SO many books. I just love them. I get giddy over them. I add titles to my “Want to Read” shelf on Goodreads as if they are coins going into a slot machine. One more. Just one more. Okay last one, promise. Let the dopamine rush begin.
Reading is such a pleasurable thing. Some people jog. Some people surf. Some people dance. And I read. I guess all that I’m trying to say is this:
“It’s not that I don’t like people. It’s just that when I’m in the company of others – even my nearest and dearest – there always comes a moment when I’d rather be reading a book.”
– Maureen Corrigan
This summer has been one of lighthearted, funny novels and memoirs. I loved falling into the world of Don Tillman and his friends in Graeme Simsion’s novels The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect. I can’t wait to get my hands on the third book – The Rosie Result. (I’m only 11th in line at the library!). When I found out that Where’d You Go Bernadette was being adapted for film – starring Cate Blanchett! – and being released this month, I put the book on hold immediately. Lots of laughs in that one!
E-books are what get me through the hours of sitting at the soccer field and the swimming pool with my kids. I even got a good chunk read while waiting in a long line for fish tacos the other day! It was fun getting to know Drew Barrymore and Lauren Graham more through their memoirs, Wildflower and Talking As Fast As I Can (I’m sure you can figure out which title belongs to who). I love stories by famous people that tell their journey of failures, wrong turns, self-doubt and eventual success. I use the Libby app (thanks for the recommendation Jen!) which you link to your local library. There’s e-books and audiobooks and it’s all free. Just keep in mind that if you’ve been dying to read Liz Gilbert’s new book City of Girls you’ve got about a 6 month wait…
To balance out all of these funny and witty reads I’ve kept a copy of Abundant Simplicity by Jan Johnson on my nightstand. I’m reading through it with a couple of friends and we get together every couple of weeks to chat about what we’re learning. The main question we’re being challenged with is this: What can we let go of in our lives to make space for more of God in our lives? The letting go part can be brutally hard. But man do I ever want more of God! This book is actually helping to shine light on practical changes I can make (i.e. less shopping, more praying).
I can’t wait to see what books the next season brings.
Happy reading everyone!
xo Andrea
before you go 