Books!

I love books.  I love to read.  I have a problem, though.  It takes me awhile, sometimes, to make it through non-fiction books.  Case in point, a couple of months ago I met a friend for coffee and had a book in hand.  We talked a little about it and went on with our conversation.  A couple of weeks later we met again and again I had a book in hand...it was a different book though.  I had to fess up.  I keep a book in my car.  It's one of those "emergency" books that I can read if I'm early to a meet-up or need to escape to sit by the ocean for an hour.  The book I had our first meet-up I had just bought a couple of months prior.  The second book had been in my office for three years.  All of these books are non-fiction books, by the way.  I love me some fluff books and can get through those really fast.  Non-fiction takes me a little while longer. 

I decided that this year I need to actually finish the books I have started reading.  I don't usually write reviews of books.  I know what it is like to try to write something and then hold your breath while waiting for someone to say something bad.  I know how much I invest of myself into what I write, so I tend not to say anything.  I also can't get all analytical about books most of the time.  I like to read, I read for enjoyment, I don't read to critique everything, so I don't review books.  I think though I need to break my own "rule".  Let's call it a tour around my bookshelf.  I've finished a couple of books recently and I want to tell you about them.

The first is called What Women Fear by Angie Smith. I picked this up because a blogger I read recommended it and, again with the honesty, God and I have been doing a lot of talking about things that I fear in life.  The title hooked me, the overview sold me and I now own the book.  There are some chapters and examples that  don't necessarily apply to me but 90% of the book is dead on.  I feel like the author delved into my head before writing this book.  Which makes me feel strangely comforted to know that I'm not the only woman who deals with these fears.  The author makes some helpful observations and never says "here's how to fix it" but leaves the reader to pray and think about how God is speaking to the reader about the subject.  This is a book that I will need to revisit in a few months simply because the topic is relevant all the time. 

The second is a book called Diary from the Dome:  Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina by Paul Harris.  I've had this book on my "to-read" list for two years.  I picked it up and started reading it this last December during The Great Windstorm of 2011.  That was a mistake.  I was reading the author's description of being evacuated to the Superdome as Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast while listening to the wind blow violently outside my window.  At one point as I read the author's experience being inside the Superdome with 20,000 people, no air conditioning, with a septic system that stopped working within days of being inside, I actually began to feel like I was right there.  It didn't help that the power was out, at least 5 generators were being run in the neighborhood and the wind was blowing.  I could feel my chest start to tighten, began to get anxious and stared to feel trapped.  I finally had to put the book down and go find someplace warm with power.  

The book made me wonder, yet again, about the state of the South and race relations.  I want the US and the world to have made greater strides in looking beyond skin color and class.  The stark reality is that events like Hurricane Katrina remind me that we still have a long way to go...that I still have a long way to go.  It still bugs the heck out of me that FEMA, the then mayor of New Orleans and so many agencies were so unprepared for this disaster.  It really, really bugs me.  I'm glad to have read this book.

So, there are two books from my bookshelf.  In my car right now are two more...are you ready?  Dating Jesus and The Search for God at Harvard.  Yep, I've got quite the bookshelf.