Books, Glorious Books

I have always loved reading.  By the 1st grade, they say I had a 6th grade reading level.  I devoured books growing up.  Many times my entire family would sit down at the dinner table and eat in silence while we each read from our individual books.  (Shut up about how we should have been having conversation around the dinner table.  My mom home-schooled us and my dad worked from home.  We were together all day, every day.) When I was little and my friends would hurt my feelings, my Gramma would say to me, "Lauren, you are never alone when you have a good book to read."  And that's what I did.  I found a book, and I read it from cover to cover. 

As an adult, my love for books continued.  Books were a place to have adventures, to escape loneliness, to stomp out boredom, to learn, to grow, to discover.  They were a place to live out the love story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, to cry alongside Rilla as she experienced life during the first World War, to escape into Narnia, or just to feel like you were having a chat with a good friend. 

The past few years, I kind of lost touch with books.  My real life became full of a boyfriend and two precious little boys.  I still loved reading, but I just didn't often make time for it.  Sometimes D and I would get out our individual books and spend time reading while we were together, but it didn't happen often.  Occasionally I would pick up a book and make my way through it, but the old hunger for reading seemed to have hidden itself away.
Well, let me tell you, it' has made itself known again this year.  I think it must have started around the time I started working from home.  Not being tied down to an alarm clock each morning, made it a whole lot easier to justify late night book devouring.  I started by re-reading about 10 different old Lori Wick books.  I'd blast through one of those suckers in a night.  Then I started hitting up the library again as well as downloading free kindle books.  A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with an old friend who has a book review blog.  (Check it out if you are into young adult or middle grade books. )  She gets tons of books from publishers so she can review them, and the she loaned me a bunch.  I've also been downloading audio books to listen to while I work or drive.  People, I'm obsessed again, and I LOVE it!

Pictured are just a few of the books I've enjoyed recently.  Jepp, Who Defied the Stars was actually an audiobook, which I would highly recommend.  The story was unique and the voice actor was wonderful.