On my shelf . . .

I hate to read.  

Okay, so let me back up and explain.  Lately,  I have hated to read.  And hated is not the right word either.  

So, lately reading stresses me out, therefore removing all the joy I previously had in the event.  I read so much for school that at the end of the day, I want only to eat chips and salsa (my Achilles' heel), and catch up on some TV show that I'm behind on--like Bones, Outsourced or Alias.  (Okay, I'm not really behind on Alias--it ended six years ago and I've already watched the whole series once from beginning to end.  I may have a problem.)  

Anyways.

See, as a student in an MA program in English, sometimes I feel like all I do is read.  Currently I'm averaging about 400-500 pages of reading a week.  As this week is spring break, I'm trying to step away from all my academic reading and rediscover why I love reading.  

Let's get a glimpse at where it all began.  They started indoctrinating me early.  I'm so gangsta, I'm so thug.  Okay, not really, but check out my backwards hat.

Perhaps I was foreseeing my future days as a disinterested MA student?  Dad, on the other hand, seems thoroughly engrossed.  

We read a lot.  In that chair.   

"Look, Daniel, reading is FUN!!!!"

After I reached about age 5, my mother subjected me to the Dorothy Hamill haircut, and I stopped being cute.  For years.  But I didn't stop loving to read.  

And I really STILL love to read.  For all my whining, grunting, groaning and pouting about the sheer amount of reading that I have this semester, I still love to read.  Weeks like this, spring break, are when I get a chance to remember what it was like to experience books before deadlines and papers and proposals.  

As part of my New Year's Purposes I determined to read more outside of school reading.  I thought it would be good to give you, my readers (since I'm narcissistic enough to imagine there are invisible reader folk waiting with baited breath for my next post) a peek into what I've been reading lately.  Some of the following are books but a few are also blogs.  I've become quite an avid blog reader (read: stalker) since August.  So, in no particular order and just for the fun of it, here is what's on my shelf (real or virtual):

1. The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde -- This series is easily the most English nerd-y thing I've ever read.  It's all about a woman (Thursday Next) who is a LiteraTec--a person who insures the validity and safety of literature--in an alternative 1985 where the Crimean War still rages and people travel by Gravitube through the center of the earth.  Thursday learns how to read herself inside books, has her husband eradicated by the ChronoGuard and comes under the tutelage of Miss Havisham from Great Expectations.  This series highlights all the things I love about books and reading while picking at the things that I find annoying or snooty.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this series.

2. Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff -- I've been an avid reader of Mr. Acuff's blog for a over a year now, and it can make me laugh until I'm crying.  Whether he's discussing Christian side hugs with 3 or 4 blessing pats or the differences between the "cool" and "uncool" van on church youth group trips, Acuff captures Christian culture in a way that is funny and poignant.  His book includes many of his bests posts as well as some other posts yet to be featured online.  Check him out.  Just don't Jesus Juke him--or he'll get mad.

3. The Pioneer Woman blog by Ree Drummond -- This blog/woman may be the sole reason I started blogging.  Awesome recipes, photography and humorous life stories about living on a ranch with her own personal Marlboro Man and four punks (read: children with said Marlboro Man).  Check her out, buy her cookbook, make her recipes, and stalk--I mean follow--her like I do.  Maybe I'll quit grad school and go live on a ranch.  

4. Marriage Confessions blog by Katie Brown -- I found Katie's blog through the Pioneer Woman--they were both up for Bloggie awards.  Seeing as only a million of my friends are getting engaged/married right now, Katie's title caught my eye.  And I have been reading through her archives ever since.  Seriously--I'm reading backwards so it's a little odd, but Katie is one of the most engaging, honest, and open writers I have ever come across.  I feel like I am sitting in her living room, watching Bean (her son) crawl around and talking about what to do with a degree in English.  Katie's candor and her frank discussions of her relationships, faith and family put her high on my list of favorites.  

5. Living Beyond Yourself:  Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit by Beth Moore -- I am actually doing the Bible study for this, rather than reading the book.  But Beth's sweet way of talking to me as if we were friends all the while confronting me with the (sometimes) difficult truths of God's Word make this Bible study priceless.  Beth has clearly studied up, and I'm enjoying digging deeper into the Fruit of the Spirit.  She's very transparent with her struggles and the lessons she has learned along the way.  It's an encouragement because I'm a slow learner, but God is always so well-timed in bringing me to a lesson that He is trying to teach me just when I need it most.  I love that.  

Of course I follow numerous other blogs and have about a million other books that I have begun but not yet finished.  I'm really looking forward to having some time this week to dig in with my books.  I plan on having a library like the one in Beauty and the Beast one day.  

For now, I'll keep reading.  Even when I don't always feel like it.  Because I know deep down inside, I'm still this kid: