Winter Reading

I love to read. I believe my love of words and reading come from my mother who first read to me and then encouraged me to read. As a child I found I could be transported into other places and other times, simply by opening the pages of a book. The Little House on the Prairie series and Nancy Drew were favorites as well as Pippi Longstocking.

I still can become so absorbed in a book that everything around me goes unnoticed. I find myself identifying with the characters to the point that they seem to be real people. Like so many who read Jan Karon's Mitford series, I feel like I could really walk into Mitford and find Father Tim having lunch with his friends.

The shorter days of winter give me an excuse to curl up more often with a good book which is what you would have found this week had you peeked inside my home. I just finished "Her Mother's Hope" by Francine Rivers. First of a two book saga about the relationship between mothers and daughters, I simply found it hard to put down. Using her own family history as a foundation in writing this series, Francine brings life to her characters making it easy for the reader to identify with their struggles, emotions, hopes and dreams. I highly recommend it and will be purchasing book number two of the series online tomorrow!

For those of you who love to read, here are a few other books I've read in the past months that I believe are worth your taking a look at:

     Fiction:    Dogwood by Chris Mabry ( WVa author with the book's setting in WVa), Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron, Daisy Chain by Mary DeMuth, A Slow Burn by Mary DeMuth, Life in Defiance by Mary DeMuth,The Mailbox by MaryBeth Whalen, Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon.

     NonFiction:  Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick, Good Girls Don't Have to Dress Bad, by Shari Braendel, Communicating For a Change by Andy Stanley, Radical by David Platt, Thirsty by Amy Nappa, The Prodigal God and The Reason for God by Timothy Keller, Thin Places by Mary DeMuth, and Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado.

Have you read any good books lately that you would like to recommend? Then share your thoughts with us by commenting below.

Happy reading through the long nights of winter and...

Hugs,
Molly