epiphanies, luck, and relatives: what I’m reading

what i am reading

This isn’t news. I live for the bookstore. I like the eavesdropping, the cafe, and the ability to turn any corner and be inspired. I love that I’m invited to be still and quiet, that they sell organization calendars and Godiva truffles. Shelves upon shelves upon tables and end-caps of cookbooks. Hello.

Is it sick that I want to buy a book just because it has a scrumptious bowl of spaghetti on the cover? I don’t even care what’s inside. Because right there in that image is a promise. I’m buying a feeling. I’m buying cozy and comfort and hope to escape my sore throat and dry skin amid cypress trees and bowls of noodles, with characters that will light me up from the inside. I like stories that nourish.

I also like stories that make me laugh. Except I’m not really big on laughing. I know it’s good for us. I don’t chuckle either. I think I only actually laugh when I’m nervous or when someone is dangerously close to a truth I don’t want to admit. 

“You totally have a crush on him!”

“OMG, I do not!” THIS is where my laugh gives me away. Then I can’t stop laughing. Oh, God, and when someone is absolutely furious, especially when that someone is Phil, I can’t stop. I just laugh. And he’s fuming, and seeing me laugh just pisses him off more, but I can’t help it. I laugh when I’m nervous.

But I adore humor, especially the type of humor where someone is suffering. Torture is good fun. Agony, even better. That said, here’s what’s on my bookshelf this month, and what I’ve already pre-ordered…

And, here’s another note: I truly believe in supporting other writers, helping them sell their books, share their voices, light up other lives. When you pre-order a book, you’re REALLY helping that author out because these best-selling rates and equations look at the first week of sales, maybe the second week. That’s it. If it’s doing well, the publisher will keep spending money to push it. But if people aren’t pre-ordering, the publisher does what they can, then they bow out, onto promoting the next book. So, pre-order. It will make you feel good knowing you’re doing something nice for someone nice.

On my (truly talented and funny people) pre-order list:

with a little luck

With a Little Luck: A Novel by Caprice Crane

its all relative

It’s All Relative: Two Families, Three Dogs, 34 Holidays and 50 Boxes of Wine A Memoir by Wade Rouse

I have not read these books yet. That’s why they are on my pre-order list. But here’s another that I have read, a non-funny book for the soul…

epiphany

Epiphany: True Stories of Sudden Insight to Inspire, Encourage, and Transform edited by Elise Ballard*

I guess no one wants their book to be described as non-funny, so let’s see if I can do this last one some justice…

This book is something I savor. I keep it on my coffee table for guests. The stories contained in Epiphany are like little snacks for your soul. They sing to you, make you want to do a jig, make you want to change your life, interact more, be kinder. They made me cry, a lot. But that good cry. The cry you have when you watch Jane Austen movies, where the character finally realizes she’s in love with the enemy and he loves her just as she is. You blubber is what you do. Epiphany will make you blubber in the best possible way imaginable.

This is a book that I will read to my children in time, a book I share with friends now, and a book that makes my inside, deepest self, want to sing and bust out the tap shoes. It’s glorious.

*Oh, and if you’re in AUSTIN, TX, Friday, February 4, there will be a Book Signing with Q&A at 7:00 pm at Book People (6th and Lamar) with Elise Ballard. If I am in town, I will absolutely be there!

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