Books, books, books...

There is one thing about that I know will never change as long as I can breathe or think, and that is my love of books. I doubt that even marriage will change that. If I marry, I want to bring books into our home, whether we have children or not. And if we have children, all the better, for I want to pass my love of reading to anyone and everyone who will listen.

Summer has always meant books to me. Stacks and stacks of books to read, read, read as long as the day is warm. Growing up, my mother, siblings and I would walk down to the local library once a week and choose books to bring home. It always felt like heaven and we looked forward to our trips, in spite of the uphill walk home.

Today, I still think summer is about books. While friends go away to camp or go to parties, I prefer to stay at home and read. Perhaps that is why I am a spinster today (at the grand old age of twenty-three)! My summer appears to be uneventful: work, work, work, read, read, read, with a few summer movie flicks thrown in. And yet, it is exciting…it is exciting to escape into a book after a long, hot day at work. It is exciting to both discover new places, new friends and renew old friendships in old familiar places.

I'm re-reading Winnie-the-Pooh, but also discovering the little joys of Betsy-Tacy and Noel Streatfeild's "Shoe" books. I'm digesting books on writing, slowly chewing and savoring them. I'm reading adventure stories with brave heroes and battles against evil. Real stories about real men and women - including one about young rebelutionary men and women.

I may not be able to go away to exotic places or even to the wilds of Maine, but I can escape here at home.

So, if your summer is lacking a little excitement - or nourishment! - pick up a book. Go to the library. Get a book. Dive in.