A Post about Reading

I have been working through my summer reading list and am finally down to the last 4. It may not sound like a triumph, but when you consider that at the beginning of the summer, I ordered 4 books from Amazon and already had 3 in my pile to read. Add that to the 4 or 5 my sister lent me and I am well on my way. Needless to say, I love to read.

In any free time that comes my way—early in the morning, on the treadmill (no, I don’t get sick), free minutes in the afternoon, and especially before bed every night—I am reading. For as long as I can remember I have always had a book I was reading; The Babysitters Club series and Sweet Valley High books took up the majority of my bookshelf growing up, and then as I got older I began reading books like Christy and Julie by Catherine Marshall. When I started blogging, it opened up a new arena for me to learn about books from all genres and as I came to love the writing of certain blogs, I found that their reading selections/recommendations were not to be missed (Chatting at the Sky and Flower Patch Farm Girl). I have my all time top 10 books that if anyone asks for a recommendation, those are the ones I am quick to refer.

Thankfully my husband shares a love of reading (although he tends to read more theology and apologetics, then switches to Louis L’Amour) and we have, since we decided to start a family, been growing Anna Claire’s library as well. She has caught the book bug as well and we are thrilled!

Okay, now on to the point of this post, I came across a blog somewhere (I have no idea where, who, what….) and she was reviewing a book. She explained that she received FREE books from publishers and in exchange, because she had a blog, they requested a short review of the book. In addition to posting it on her blog, they also require you to post it on another order site (amazon, Christianbook.com, etc.).

Now, for me FREE + BOOKS = an opportunity to not pass up as we build our family and personal libraries. And with having a blog…well that works out perfectly. I began thinking about what books I might like to read and review and I think this will give me a great opportunity to read outside of my comfort zone. I don’t read a ton of non-fiction and I will be honest when I say, I do judge a book by its cover, it has to be pretty for me to read (anyone? anyone?), so I think this will be good for me to read and expand my reading repertoire (I don’t think I’ve ever used that word). Rest assured, Nesting in Pleasant View isn’t going to become all books, all the time, I just figured that since I already read, I’ll just share what I’ve been reading. So, if you enjoy reading, and I’m kinda under the assumption that you do on some level since you are reading this, there might be something that I come across that interests you as well.

I received my first book over the weekend and will be reviewing it tomorrow. Head’s up…it’s a children’s holiday book.