One of Life’s Little Delights

Saying I read a lot is a bit of an understatement. I always have something to read. To me, there’s nothing more relaxing than losing yourself in a good book.

I come from a long line of readers. My Grandmother was an avid reader all of her life. Her children are readers. My brother and I are readers, too. That’s one of the things I should thank my mother for, I guess. Thanks, Mom. (She reads my Blog, of course.)

Hubby loves to read. So does his Mom (my mother-in-law). Our kids love to read, too. Shannon reads more than any of the other kids. Amy is too busy being a Mom to squeeze many books in at the moment, but she’s been known to devour books when she has time. Eric is too busy being a computer-game-addicted teenager at the moment. But he’s read his share as well.

I can’t imagine life without books. Lately, I’ve been focusing more on short stories. But after finishing all of the short story collections I got for Christmas, I picked up a novel I’d bought at the library for fifty cents a while back, The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett.

Because I read so much, it’s rare that a books really delights me. That one did. It was a really good story. My mother-in-law agreed. She read it pretty quickly, too.

Usually, those stand-out books are far and few between for me.

But I just finished another really good story. Written by Michael C. White, who I’d never heard of before, A Dream of Wolves is one of those books that had me wishing it never ended. Not because the ending wasn’t good, but because I felt like I knew the characters so well. The author made the characters and their town so real, I wanted to know what else happened to them, where their lives went after the story ended.

Two great books in a row. What’s the likelihood that a third will similarly captivate me? Slim. But every now and then I get lucky.

Every now and then, I find myself on a roll. Like now.

I finished A Dream of Wolves on Saturday afternoon. What I failed to mention is that I’d bought that one at Ollie’s, a close-out/surplus/overstock store where Hubby and I buy lots of books really cheap. It set me back $3.99, which is less than half what a paperback costs nowadays.

Fearing mediocrity, but at a loss for anything else new to read, that’s when I started another hardback I’d gotten at Ollie’s for $2.99, The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant. It is 261 pages long. I only have 50 pages left. Does that tell you anything?

So now the question is, will my mother-in-law get these gems to read next? My Mom? Or one of the kids. With my Mom in Virginia visiting my brother and this month’s Thirsty Third Thursday pushed back to next week, I’m guessing my mother-in-law. Time will tell, I guess.