Books, Books and more Books!

I love to read! It has been a hobby of mine for as long as I can remember. I am sure it has a lot to do with my competiveness and my 3rd grade teacher! She decided that for every book we read, we would write our name on a giant colored circle. Then she put the circle on the wall by the ceiling. Eventually we had a giant caterpillar-like string of circles going around our classroom. My competitiveness drove me to have the most circles than anyone in our class! Thus, my love of reading was born. Makes sense, right?

I had another reading type marathon the summer before I started 7th grade. My mom used to babysit kids and during the summer it was simply unbearable for me (an almost teenager) to be around so many kids younger than me.....can you imagine? ;o) So, instead of helping my mom out like a good daughter, I holed myself up in my room with Nancy Drew and the Sweet Valley High Twins!

I have to say after I got married and moved into the real world, books weren't a high priority on my list of things to do. There was a new husband, jobs, then kids, etc... Our first summer having three kids, Bill was home with me since he had gotten fired from his job that April. I am still so grateful for that time that we all got to spend together, and I got to keep my sanity! Anyway, he isn't one for sitting around the house all day eating bon bons and watching soaps (LOL), so he took the girls to the city library. With flashbacks of our college library in my head, I had no desire to tag along. Then one day, I did......

Now, four years later, and I am hooked! There is not a week that goes by that I don't visit our library at least once, but usually two or three times! And being the nerd that I am, I have taken reading to the next level by keeping a database of books I have read and need to read. I keep track if the books are available at my library, and if they are not, I keep track of them until they are, so that I can be the first to request them. I research my favorite authors (only about 50!) so that I know when to expect their latest best seller! Like I said, I am nerd and just a tad obsessed!! ;o)

My favorite genre is mystery. I have two favorite authors that I simply cannot live without and they are J.D. Robb with her Eve Dallas In Death Series and Janet Evanovich with her Stephanie Plum Series! It is really a shame that I read so fast, as I finish the new books so quickly and am left wanting more! That's a sign of a great author, though, right?!?

I also enjoy contemporary romance novels. And, I need to clarify that a lot of these novels have their share of smut, but they (almost) always have a great plot to carry you through. A couple of my favorite authors here are: Nora Roberts, Janet Evanovich, Carly Phillips, Catherine Coulter, Heather Graham, Jennifer Crusie, Linda Lael Miller, Suzanne Brockmann....Okay, I could really just go on and on with this list!

You would think with my extensive list of favorite authors, I would hardly be out of books to read from the library. But it seems a cold spell has descended and I am left re-reading some of the oldie but goodies! I have restarted the In Death and the Stephanie Plum books. I usually cannot stand to read the same book twice, but I have really been enjoying it so far. There are 25 In Death Novels with 3 anthologies thrown in the mix, and there are 13 Plum Novels with about 2 anthologies thrown in. So, it has been awhile since I read the beginning of these, and I found that I had forgotten quite a few things like how Steph and Joe got hooked up when she detested him so much and just when did Peabody hook up as Eve's aide.

If anyone is interested in starting either one of these series', you'll need to start with:

Also, be sure to check out my Recent Reads list on the left to see what else I have been reading! My friend, Joni has a really cool tool on her blog powered by Library Thing, and I just had to get it, too! It will automatically update your recently read books when you add it to your list in Library Thing! If you are an avid reader, it is definitely an awesome tool to have!!