On Saturday I went to the Literacy Austin Book Fest 2006 and came home with a plethora of booty. There were Golden Books for a quarter that I had long forgotten existed until I saw their cover – it amazes me how much of my childhood was defined and milestoned by books. I love that, and want the same for Tate. She’s on her way, seeing how all she wants to do is READ. She’ll read in the car, read at home in her little Tate-sized chair we found at Goodwill, and she’ll beg to be pulled into a lap in the rocking chair for story time. She loves going to the library for official story time. Yep, we’ve got a reader, and I couldn’t be happier. I got her several of those Golden Books, along with a few more about farm animals (her current pasttime is making animal sounds).

Anyway, like mother like daughter, I’ve amassed quite the summer reading collection. I tend to gravitate towards fiction in the summer, I suppose because the heat melts my brain and makes it incapable of the deep thinking required for more of the non-fiction I tend to read in the fall and winter. Nonetheless, here are a few books I hope to tackle this summer, and possibly into the fall as we head out and do our traveling…

• Anna Karenina – I’ve had it for a long time, but have never gotten around to finishing it.
• The Chronicles of Narnia (specifically books 3 and on) – my favorite writer, my favorite children’s literature.
• Three Junes – I’ve heard great things about this book, and I was psyched to find it for $1 at the Book Fest.
• The Pilot’s Wife – I don’t know much about this book, but I hear Anita Shreve is a great writer, and I’ve wanted to read her stuff. So when I saw this on Saturday, I snagged it. Hope it’s not too depressing.
• Confessions of a Shopaholic – for my totally brainless, shallow vacation reading, if I can even stand it. Normally this kind of reading totally doesn’t attract me, but it was $1, and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. The title alone is ironic; in my life I almost NEED to be a better shopper and not feel guilty for buying things we really do need (like, say, diapers). I definitely want to get to the other books first.

So that’s on my nightstand so far, along with finishing Cresent & Star, which I almost have. I’ve thought about hitting the Book Fest again today, to see if there are any more juicy deals, but I don’t know. That’s like an alcoholic wandering into a bar just to see what’s on tap.

posted: 06 April 26
under: