As far as I'm concerned, there is never enough time in a day for the reading I want to get done. Whether it be fiction or non-fiction, self help or romance, the Bible!, or whatever, I can't get 'er done. I LOVE to read, and my addiction is never satisfied.

Don't get me wrong...I can veg in front of the tv with the best of them. Brad and I have a standing 10pm date on Wednesday nights to watch "Top Chef". We're not sure what we're going to do after next week's season finale. Somehow replacing it with "America's Top Model" doesn't seem the same.

But, I digress. Back to the books. At any given time, I have a huge stack of books next to my bed. I have discovered that most of the "self-improvement" books are half read...I get into them with all my good intentions, then start to feel overwhelmed, so back onto the stack it goes. (I am NOT going to have that happen with The Love Dare though. I am committed to getting that one done. More on that a different day) I can't read more than one fiction book at a time - it's too confusing to try and keep it all straight in my simple mind. But, if I start one that I love, I typically read before I fall asleep at night, sometimes in a nice hot bubble bath if I feel the need to really reward myself! However, I have also noticed that reading before bed causes me to dream the characters, or the situation many a time. Talk about getting caught up in a book!

I have to thank my friend Suzanne for putting me onto the Mark of the Lion Series. Thank you, Suzanne, for causing me to neglect my family and forego thoughts of meal prep, laundry, and general household chores in order to sneak away to steal yet a few more moments with Marcus and Hadassah. Thank you for not telling me that I would need to have the 2nd in the series on hand as I would finish it over a weekend when I couldn't get it from the library. Thank you for the sleepless nights after I read until 2:30am and was haunted by my ineptness as a Christian witness. Thank you for the jump start to walking on the treadmill because it was something I could do with a book in hand. Thank you for tuning me into the realization that the Lord has placed me in a time where I am better situated, as I would have never survived in Rome, Ephesus, or any other area in that part of the world, or in that time. Thank you for living so far away that a book club would never be possible face to face, and all we could have together is a virtual cup of coffee. Yep, thanks for all that. You're a great friend. :) I laugh at the list I gave you to read...NONE of that compares to this type of historical fiction...

Like I said, I love books and I am thankful for eyesight to read, hearing to listen to books on tape, and the ability to type to tell you all about them. My kids are showing great desire to get lost in a book, and I couldn't be happier about that. Where else can you escape to another world, learn more about your favorite topic, become a thing-finder in your own backyard, laugh with Don Quixote and his misrepresentation of windmills, laugh at the misconceptions of all the mismatched love stories in "A Mid-summer's Night Dream", and deepen your faith in Christ Jesus? All of that in the past couple of weeks...the written word is amazing.

Off to curl up with book 2...

And, here's a quick picture of what's on my bedside table...minus Echo in the Darkness, which was next to my rocking chair at the time of the picture...what a variety of titles...