I can’t take a trip without a book. Now that I have an IPad, I can carry multiple books in one device – although I still prefer packing heavy paperbacks in a book tote for long vacations and dragging them along for the ride. I’m panicky if I finish one and don’t have another at the ready. That almost happened today, when the need for books is even greater. Kyle left to go back to Tulsa and I need a little distraction – or maybe escape is a better word. We are having a great trip, but now someone is missing. Books help.
Here is my reading list for the trip: Orphanology (finished) Pillars of the Earth (in process) Fields of the Fatherless (in process)
I only have one chapter left in Pillars of the Earth, and it’s so good that I’m flying through it. I’m halfway into Fields of the Fatherless and it’s a short book (unlike Pillars which is 970 pages), but it’s causing my worldview to expand in an amazing way which makes for a speedy read. So I’ve had to put the brakes on both of these. Why? Because it is Sunday and although I could easily have finished both of these books today, unfortunately the one bookstore in town, Moonlight Books, is closed. It was a panicky moment when I realized this. So I bought a Better Homes and Gardens to take down to the San Juan River where I sat and watched the girls swim. I copied a few recipes, snagged some decorating ideas (which will never come to fruition), and basically devoured it in under an hour, so as soon as we got back into town I headed for the book section of the City Market grocery store. The book section consists of one aisle that is mostly Harlan Coben, Nelson DeMille, John Sandford, Danielle Steel, Julie Garwood, some Amish love stories, and a couple of books about people that have traveled to heaven. Oh, and about a million teen supernatural romances (translation: vampire novels). In the midst of all these rejects, I found a book called Stay. It’s a dog book (another overdone genre), but I bought it anyway. I may not even read it since Moonlight is open tomorrow and I’m confident they will have a better selection. But I couldn’t take the chance. If I finished Pillars and Fields both, where would I be? Thumbing through my Better Homes and Gardens for the umpteenth time, or worse – actually cracking open the crossword puzzle book I bought for my dad at the grocery store? No, I need books. And I need stacks of them weighing down my book tote, like ladies-in-waiting.
So I’m racing through Pillars tonight, and finishing Fields in the morning, knowing that Stay is waiting for me – and better yet, Moonlight is open on Mondays.
Comments