Good, clean fun

I love the library. I always have. Of course the thing that makes it better than a bookstore is that you can get all kinds of books for free! Reading is one of my favorite past times, although I am often awful at completing a book. If it is a novel and I enjoy it I will usually finish, but self-help or spiritual books I have a hard time finishing to completion. I guess I feel that I get the point by a certain chapter.

I could spend hours in the library just thumbing through all the books. I have been known to come home with 10 books because I can't decided which one to get. Then I place them all next to me, read the first chapter of each and decide which one I want to start first. Bob thinks it ridiculous, I think it absolutely wonderful. One of the reasons I miss our house in CA the most is because I could walk to the library and get all the books I could get my hands on. Now I have to drive, but it is right next to a yogurt shop so I am not complaining too much.

I just feel a settling in my soul when I step foot into a library. I lean more toward the introverted side, so I think reading fulfills that well. I think the best place to read though is outside under a tree, near a river or at the beach. Luckily I have options with where I live. I went to the library today to pick up books for a beach trip I am going on with friends this weekend (yeah!). I limited myself to two books and chose them by reading the first paragraph of each and seeing which I was drawn to. Right now I feel more into memoirs and nonfiction than novels with characters. I also feel drawn toward memoirs of women and trials they've faced and how they have overcome. I must need a little inspiration here. I am finding that there is such a raw beauty in women, in me, and it is often squelched by how we think we should act, look, etc. It is wonderful to me to discover through books ways women have begun to see this about themselves. I feel that the earlier I can do this the better and more grounded person I will be. Of course this has to be initiated by God's work in me, but I want to become more open to it.

I am looking forward to a weekend with girlfriends to discuss these issues, laugh, eat, read, and just be.