What's On Your Reading List?

I LOVE to read.

Anytime of day.  Anywhere. And just about anything.  Give me a book and some quiet and I am a happy camper.

But as I've lamented, at least once already on this blog, I have not had a lot of time this summer to read.  And I have been very sad about this.  Very, very sad. In fact, you could would say that it has even made me just a little bit cranky. (Ahem.)

Thank goodness for August.  It came just in time and with it a slower pace, less activity and, finally, some good quality reading time.  Since the beginning of August, I have devoured a couple of Karen Kingsbury books, 5 or 6 Susan May Warren's (one of my new favorite authors that you can read about here) and 2 or 3 others that I can't remember the name of right now.

But that is just the tip of my (reading list) iceberg.  I have been collecting books to read all summer and now my reading 'list' looks like this:

Not pictured:  "Core Lies" (Sarah Mae), "Quitter" (Jon Acuff), and "What Women Fear: Walking in Faith that Transforms" (Angie Smith).  "Core Lies" is a short e-book I just printed out.  It looks really good and it was a free download.  If I like it, I'll share the link with you so you can get your own copy.  "Quitter" and "What Women Fear" are new releases that I just ordered from Amazon (for FREE using gift-cards I earned through SwagBucks - Score!)  Can't. Wait. to get them.

Here's a closer look with a little more explanation:

Click on Picture to View a Larger Image

 Missing from the list:  A good thriller.  I love a good thriller but it seems all my favorite authors in this genre are on hiatus right now.  What's up with that, anyhow?!?  Like something good by Frank Peretti.  Love him but he hasn't put out anything new for years. Or T. Davis Bunn.  Or John Grisham *pout*  Thankfully, Scott James has the next installment of his 'chess' series coming out in September and my library already has it on order (cause I requested it.  Ha!)

Some of my Reading Rules: (Hey, Garbage In = Garbage Out!)

No sex.  A little romance or relationship drama is ok.  But,please, keep the intimiate details to yourself.  I don't want to read about it. 

No romance novels.   Blech.  Half naked Hans with his endless supply of money to whisk you away on tropical vacations and fly you to NY for a private rooftop dinner before shopping and a then viewing that hot new Broadway show.  So unrealistic.  And dumb. (Ever notice Hans does not have a job?  Or has a 'job' but never seems to need to actually go to work? Just where does he get all that money from anyhow?) Not only do I just not enjoy that type of book but I also believe that, for women, they are dangerous (Some call them p*rn for girls and I would agree, but that's a whole other blog topic.) .

Keep the potty language to yourself. Enough said.

And like I said, I love a good thriller but keep the gore to a minimum.  I have recently decided to put one of my favorite authors aside for this very reason.  I own 23 (yes, 23!) of his books and because they have always had a very positive underlying theme of God's love and redemption, I have kept reading them.  But after the last two, I decided that he has crossed a line that I am not comfortable with.  This makes me sad but I know it is the right thing to do.  Just as I would not let my children play certain all-too-realistic video games, I cannot be reading about it either.

Some of My Favorite Authors: Besides those listed above, I also like Neta Jackson, Roxanne Henke (born and bred in good old ND!), Beth Moore, Jan Karon, DJ Phelps, Tim Lahaye/Terri Blackstock and the early works of Lillian Jackson Brown.

Well, that's enough for today.  I've got a book (or two or three) to read!


What's on your reading list? What do you like to read? Do you have any "reading rules". And do you have any favorite authors that you just can't pass up?