Today I finished a book

When I was in college, knee-deep in reading assignments, projects, work, the three-mile hike to the grocery store (at least it seemed that long....), I looked forward to the day when I could read for leisure.  I still have to pinch myself when I remember that the time for leisure reading has come.  As it goes in "Meet the Robinsons," "The Future Has Arrived"!  The problem is, now that I have time for leisure reading, I am running out of things to read.

The library has a pretty good selection, but I usually have to wait until the stuff I want becomes available, so I still need books in the meantime.  I do like to reread the books I have (Beauty is one I've read tons of times, and most of Jane Austen's works), but sometimes I want something new, so I look through the books that make up our library at home (i.e. the shelf in hallway).  Some of the books I've grabbed have been duds that I couldn't even finish ("Colorado Weddings" was one of those, but then again, what did I expect from the title, Shakespeare??).  So I was a little unsure if I should bother taking one from the shelf at home, or occupy myself with a wordsearch. 


I decided to take along the copy we have of The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd.  I remembered my mom had read it and thought it was good, so I thought I'd try it out.  Well, as I started it yesterday, I was hooked.  I have time to read during my breaks at work, and I found this one hard to put down when my breaks ended.  I became so engrossed in the story (a 14-year-old white girl breaks her black housekeeper out of jail during 1964 and they escape to a small town where they live with three black beekeeping sisters, and she discovers the truth about her mother who was killed when she was four - that's a cruddy synopsis, but you'll just have to read it for yourself!), and nearly cried during certain passages, which wasn't the most convenient thing to do since I was surrounded by co-workers while I read.  There were so many beautiful quotes, I wish I had a highlighter pencil for those lines.  Needless to say, I was engrossed by the story.  It helped to pass the time during my work breaks, but I couldn't save it only for work - I read the rest of it today after I got home.  A beautiful, touching story that was not only enjoyable to read, but thought-provoking as well.  I know I'll definitely read it again.

Now I need to find another book to read....