What Are You Reading?

Nothing brings me more joy than a box full of books. Okay, my children, my husband, my dogs—but other than that, nothing brings me more joy. I love when my UPS man drops another box onto my porch with a wink and a smile....wondering how soon he'll be back. Today I'm expecting another box, but this one is for my youngest daughter (lucky girl). I'm sure it will cheer her up after a long day of schoolwork and choir practice.

I just finished Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah this past weekend. Her characters leapt off the page and I was a wreck by the time I closed the book. My husband looked over at me with a smirk on his face that said, "Again? Really?" He wonders why I put myself through such torment over "fictional" characters.

I'm half-way through Diane Keaton's memoir, Then Again, which is really a love letter to her mother. She has melded together some of her fondest memories with a collection of entries from her mother's journals into a book that is tender and sweet, funny and heartbreaking.

I'm also knee-deep into yet another book about writing (Robert's Rules of Writing) which I'm rather enjoying although not fully agreeing with. Sorry Bob. I do like his no-nonsense approach and most of his tips are spot on, so if you want to snatch up a copy, just be sure to understand that what works for some writers doesn't always work for others—and vice versa.

I have several books stacked neatly on my shelf waiting to be read with the word "sister" in the title (hmmm, I wonder what that means?) and a couple of books from an author I'm just getting to know both on the page and personally. I'm not sure if I want to save Maryann McFadden's novels until I hit the Cape or break with tradition and read pages filled with summer sunsets and beach sand when the snow starts to fall again.

And have I mentioned that I'm a Jane Austen fan? Well, I am. Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility are always around to keep me company, even if I just read a few pages here and there.

Photo: vi.sualize.us