My Summer Reading List

My friend Amanda is having a Dishing It! party to get bloggers talking, and this time the topic is (loosely) reading.

I've always been a reader, and I have fond memories of summers when I was about junior-high age...I would lay in bed reading until long into the night, and then sleep late in the morning.  In Michigan it was usually cool enough at night to have the windows open, and somehow that's part of the memory package:  cool night breezes blowing across my bed while I was deeply engrossed in a novel.

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Now that I'm an adult with responsibilities, I don't always make the time for reading.  Well, I always have books going, but often it's some kind of self-help or parenting book that I can read a chapter here and there and have no problem putting the book down.  This summer I made a conscious decision to read for fun.

And I've been reading a lot.  It's "light" reading, mostly Christian fiction.  Our library marks the spine of the books with a sticker indicating the genre.  I've been going up and down the aisles looking for the blue cross.  I've found some new-to-me authors that way.

I always like to read a little bit before I turn out the light at night, but this summer I've returned to my youth and have been reading late into the night.  Craig is the one who has to get up and go to work in the morning, but he doesn't seem to mind having the light on while I read in bed beside him, plus my new lamps have two bulb sockets, and I put a 25 watt in one side just for my nighttime reading, so it's nice and dim and cozy.

Here's some of what I've been reading:

Karen Kingsbury:  I tore through all five of the Redemption series one right after another.  This series focuses on the Baxter family and their ups and downs.  I enjoyed it very much, but in hind sight I would have spaced them out a little bit.  By the last couple of books it was starting to feel  a little deja vu.

Melody Carlson:  a new-to-me author.  I read the 86 Bloomburg Place series (4 books--again, should've spaced them out), A Mile in My Flip-Flops, and These Boots Weren't Made for Walking.  Fun, light reading; romantic/relationship overtones, but clean (Christian), and not too heavy on the romance.

Robin Jones Gunn:  I have in the past read the Sisterchicks series (favorite:  Sisterchicks in Gondolas) and the Katie Weldon series (fun flashback to college).  Last week I read Gardenias for Breakfast, and I really liked it...the southern grandmother reminded me of my grandma.

Judy Baer:  I just finished Norah's Ark.  It was pretty good (maybe 3 out of 5 stars), and I appreciated the way Norah made seeking God's guidance through the Bible a daily thing.  Several months ago I read Recipes and Wooden Spoons, one of the Tales from Grace Chapel Inn series.  That series is huge and has several different authors (Melody Carlson is also one);  I'll read more of them at some point.

Now to answer Amanda's questions:
Genre: fiction (historical, Christian, chick lit, etc)
Favorite mags:  Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Living
Island companion: Robinson Crusoe, maybe, because he knew how to survive
Make time:  at night
Fave book place:  public library
Next up: Limelight by Melody Carlson

Can't wait to see what everyone else recommends!