I routinely have several books going at any given time. They get laid down and picked up whenever I come across them again. Some books get laid aside so long I forget the story line. I'm not sure when I developed this habit, but I don't recommend it.
While the above is true, I also often I find myself absorbed in one good book that keeps my attention, and at the moment that book is Light in the Darkness by Lynn Austin.
Lynn Austin is a Christian Fiction writer and I've yet to read a book of hers I didn't like. The characters in her books discuss faith without being preachy. The characters are real - very much works in process like all of us. Candle in the Darkness is Book 1 (of a series of books that take place during the Civil War era. The protagonist in this first book is the daughter of a slave owner, and she comes to an understanding (through learning about the personal lives of her family's slaves) that slavery is wrong, but coming to a full understanding of its evil is a process. A process that isn't easily understood by our modern sensibilities.
Looking forward to reading the other two books in the series once I'm finished with the first one.
I've shared earlier this month that I am culling through the over abundance of books in our house. Well, not only are we book collectors, but we also collect bookmarks. Cheap promotional bookmarks, free bookmarks picked up at the library, pretty beaded bookmarks, and bookmarks made of pictures. Some of our bookmarks are older than the 38 years we've been married!
I keep them in this old wooden tool chest:
In just one drawer of this toolbox (did you think every drawer was filled with bookmarks?)
I should have put my hand in there and stirred the bookmarks around
to give a better glimpse of all of them.
to give a better glimpse of all of them.
While there's never a shortage of nice bookmarks in this house, let me assure you I do a fair amount of scrounging for something to mark my place when I don't have the foresight to get a bookmark before I sit down to read. I'll make a bookmark of anything that will fit between the pages. Business cards, gum wrapper, receipts, scraps of paper, a stray yarn band, a string of yarn...
Don't get me wrong. All of these things make perfectly good place holders in books, and I'd never scoff or moralize over their use.
But I have to admit there's something about a pretty or clever one, that adds to my pleasure of reading. A proper bookmark makes me feel settled in. Committed. It says, "This book is spoken for." And I'm much more likely to take seriously a good read than when I don't use one.
Of course, maybe that's just me...
Oh dear - now I have to find this author (hope our library has her!). I flatly refuse to buy any more books until we have read at least half of what's stuffed under our bed. I usually only have one book on the go at a time (rarely there might be a craft book being read too) and am ashamed to say that I have one rather well-loved bookmark that I treasure. There are bookmarks in the drawer and you'd think I'd grab one of those to replace my ratty one, but no.
ReplyDeleteLynn Austin was my very first introduction to Christian Fiction - 8-10 years ago, I imagine. I think using the same well-loved (even ratty) bookmark is kind of neat. :)
DeleteFound the book at the library and put in a request and got it already! Looking forward to a good read....thank you.
DeleteI will definitely be looking for those books! Thank you for the recommendation. I have a 'bowl of bookmarks' and like you I always forget to grab one when I start a new book and I am too lazy when I'm in bed reading to go get one. I have also been known to use receipts and yarn and business cards. My favorite bookmark was given to me by my grandson, Uriah. They had pictures taken at school several years back and you could get bookmarks too with your child's picture on them. I cherish that bookmark and love looking at his picture every time I open or close my book.
ReplyDeleteI love your old chest where you keep them and I see one of your doilies you made and what is that cute little fuzzy dog or owl? Did you make that? So cute! You are a great decorator...I just know I would love your home. I can tell it is very cozy and 'homey'. Have a nice weekend!
How sweet is that bookmark with your grandson's picture! :) That little round thing is a cat, made of strips of newspaper - imagine a pom pom made of paper. I have no idea how it's all held together. I found it at Hobby Lobby years ago and it tickled me so it came home with me. (After I paid for it. ;^) Once I got it home, I had no idea what to do with it. So it's been sitting on this little tool box (just inside my front door) ever since. I almost removed it for the picture, but I though, "No, leave it there like it always is." My house is a bit of a mess at the moment. Decluttering is messy business. I don't even think I'll decorate for Christmas this year. I think I'm just going to stay in the mode of cull and toss. Cull and toss.
DeleteI've read a few Christian fiction and they were good. Yeah, I appreciated how they weren't preachy and were clean in their language and actions.
ReplyDeleteClean - yes! I read a fairly wide variety of books. And it's really refreshing to read a book that is just pure wholesomeness. Something I could recommend to anyone.
DeleteOh goody....another author I will add to my list. Thanks my friend.
ReplyDeleteI have 3 bookmarks that are so special. Two are tatted crosses from my cousin and ine is fillet crochet with a rose in the middle. They are my go tos for marking my place. The only other ine I have is flowers from the Holy Land butn8t resides in my Bible.
Those sound really pretty, Marsha.
DeleteI like bookmarks too much. I don't want to spoil them, so I use scraps of paper instead!
ReplyDeletelol
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