Fall Into Reading

One of my favorite things in life has always been, and always will be, reading! I love to sit down and curl up with a good book. I love a good word, a good sentence, a good description. I love the classics. I love mysteries. I love poetry. I love a good "escape" book. I love just about any sort of book.

As a child, I always had a book in my hand. I spent many a summer day lying on a beach towel in the front yard, engrossed in a book. I continued reading all the way through my teenage, college, and adult years. Even today, I always am in the middle of a book and I always have several stacked up on my bedside table.

The only problem now, though, is that it takes me longer to get through a book. I don't have the time to just sit and savor a book very often. Life has just gotten busy and made it harder to read like I'd love to.

So...this brings me to my Random Tuesday post today. It's actually based on a challenge I found originally at Gretchen's blog. She is participating in the "Fall into Reading 2007" challenge, which is based on the original blog challenge at THIS site. (Where you can go and see what everyone else is reading, which is really pretty cool in and of itself.)

The idea is to give yourself a list of books you are going to read between now and Christmas. There's no specific number of books required; you just challenge yourself with something you think you can accomplish.

I came up with seven books, all based on a different "theme" (I figured this number was reasonable for me to accomplish, but that it leaves room to add more books if I have time). I am SO excited about this and am going to do my best to get them all read!

My challenge to you is to either join this specific challenge, OR try and at least read little bit more this Fall than you usually do.

AND for this specific Random Tuesday post, I'd love to know:
~ what you're reading right now
~ a book you'd love to recommend for me to read
~ a favorite book of all time.

And now...here is my list of books I'm going to read between now and Christmas for the Fall into Reading challenge. This is gonna be FUN!

1. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd for my "It's been on my shelf forever and I've always wanted to read it" category

(Kidd's book, The Mermaid Chair, was one of my favorite from recent years, so I feel like I'm bound to enjoy this one.)

2. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella for my "Chick Lit" cateogory

(McKenna's read all of the "shopaholic" books and said I'd like them! She, by the way, is a huge reader and I "borrow" a lot of books from her bookshelf.)

3. Redeeming Love by Franicine Rivers for my "Inspirational" category

(I've heard so many people rave about this one over the years, that I figured it was time to read it.)

4. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassan for my "Mystery and Suspense" category

(I'm usually much more into "cozy" mysteries, but I actually have two or three of his books here in the house and have never actually tried them.)

5. The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck for my "Classics I've Missed" category

(I've always enjoyed Steinbeck and here's one that I had on my bookshelf that I've never read. I love so many of the classic authors, but don't take the time to read them like I should. Something I need to do more often!)

6. Selected Poems by Langston Hughes for my "Poetry" category

(I love, love, LOVE poetry, but again it's a cateogory that I don't stop and read too often. Some of my favorite poets are Emily Dickinson, Edna st. Vincent Millay, Ranier Rilke, and Pablo Neruda. I have read a few poems my Langston Hughes "here and there," but never read an entire collection.)

7. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer for my "Really Hot Right Now" category

(I have seen this book everywhere lately and, besides, my bff librarian Angela says this trilogy is one of the best in a long time. It's actually a young adult book--about vampires! And this is the only book I don't currently own. I'm spending this week's "mad money" on it for me! Yay!!)

I certainly will have time to read another book or two during this time, so please share with me your recommendations. Maybe I can add one of your favorites to my list!

I am REALLY looking forward to this!

Happy Reading to everyone!!