Reading

I have always loved reading! My mom read to me often when I was a child ( I especially remember the Ramona books), and as I got older she encouraged me to read. I remember one time when I was little, the library had a reading program and you put a sticker on a chart for each book read. I filled quite a few of those charts! As a kid I loved reading Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew etc. Now I enjoy reading a variety of things. I love to read fiction (Stephen King, Christian fiction, all sorts of novels). I am into reading literature, some of which I read years ago, and some I have never read. I also like to read history because I feel like I didn’t retain a lot from the history classes taken in schools since you are rushing to go through in several weeks time stuff that happened over hundreds of years. I also like reading books that have to do with entertainment—TV, movies, and so on. And I love reading theology. I am usually reading several books at the same time—some theology, a novel, something else.

I go to the library occasionally and check out books, but I really like to buy books. The problem is, I have so many books, they have pretty much filled all my shelves at home and at my office at church. But that won’t stop me from buying more books. I actually can get overwhelmed in a bookstore, but overwhelmed in a good way. I stand there and look at all those books, and am so excited about the possibilities. Each book offers an opportunity to learn or to be entertained or to be challenged in the way I think. Books can take you to another world. Writers are pretty amazing, and I hope someday I can write a book that will make people say, “Wow!”

In addition to reading books, I also read magazines (Time, Entertainment Weekly, Good News, Lutheran Witness, etc.). And I enjoy some online reading--my friends' blogs, and also other random blogs. It's cool to read people's stories or their opinions about things. The Internet offers many possibilities for learning about various things, and I often can find articles about things I'm interested in and do research for the book I'm trying to write.