Henry Ward Beecher once said “A home without books is like a room without windows.” I quite agree. Every room in my home has books and I can’t imagine it any other way. So when I was tagged for a book meme by one of my favorite bloggers, Elle of A Complete Thought, I really didn’t mind. I love books!

1. Do you remember how you developed a love of reading?

I think it was the escape from utter boredom and by finding out that I could be elsewhere rather than stuck on a farm in Tennessee. Reading opened my mind to something more than my small existence and let me dream of becoming more than my parents seemed to believe I would ever be.

2. What are some books you loved as a child?

I read Heidi and The Robe and a series about a boy named Danny Orliss a bazillion times because our family owned few books and the school library was my only access to more books. A friend loaned us Grace Livingston Hill books, which I devoured. Like syrup, to which they bore a distinct resemblance.  I read every biography and Cherry Ames book in my school library and longed for more.

3. What is your favorite genre?

I enjoy a good mystery, and  humor, particularly with Southern sensibilities as in the Mitford novels. I love the language of Jane Austen novels. Mostly, I love reading books that challenge my thinking and my heart.

4. Do you have a favorite novel?

Nothing leaps to mind, so I think not. But I do look forward to reading it! Leave me your best suggestion in the comments!

5. Where do you usually read?

Curled up on the right end of the sofa, with a quilt unless it’s absolutely too warm. Libby-dog is often at my feet, sharing the quilt. Especially if I’m nibbling on some tasty morsel.

6. When do you usually read?

Since I work full time, I read devotionally every morning; extra reading at night. I read a lot on Sunday.

7. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?

Yes, indeedy, I do. I’m guessing I’ll be reading The Existence and Attributes of God the rest of my days. In the meantime, I read other things that don’t make my head spin as much and I usually throw in a novel for light reading when I’m tired.

8. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?

I underline or mark or take notes when I read nonfiction in an effort to remember what I’ve read. I read nonfiction much more slowly, and tend to blaze through fiction.

9. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?

I buy them, almost always at discount, and sometimes second-hand. When we lived closer to a library, I checked them out a lot, but now it’s not very convenient. I never borrow.

10. Do you keep most of the books you buy?

Yes. I like to re-visit the favorites.

11. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them?

I read endlessly to my sons when they were small. I think I read Go, Dog, Go to my older son 2,876,324 times. He loved it; I didn’t. My favorites were the Bible stories set in rhyme. It helped the message stick in the head and heart.

12. What are you reading now?

The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World, by Sinclair Ferguson; Emma, by Jane Austen;  and I’m just starting Because He Loves Me, by Elyse Fitzpatrick.

13. Do you keep a To Be Read list?

Only in my head and what’s on our bookcases. There are lots of them. So many books; so little time! Bloggers mention books I’d like to read.  I should write those down because I forget…

14. What’s next?

I have to finish reading a couple of books that I’m reading as research for my husband’s writing project. As they’re not worthy of your time, I’ll not name them. See why I’m putting them off? I want to read Dorothy Sayers instead.

15. What books would you like to reread?

Pilgrim’s Progress; Curate of Glaston, George MacDonald; most any of Piper’s books, or Oswald Chambers or from the Puritans. And Jane Austen.

16. Who are your favorite authors?

John Piper, George MacDonald, C.S Lewis, Jane Austen, Elisabeth Goudge, Annie Dillard (An American Childhood, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, The Writing Life; some of the others, not so much), Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers, Jan Karon, John Bunyan. And on and on.

So there you have it. If you haven’t done this meme, consider yourself tagged! Let me know when you post the meme and I’ll come read it add it my list of books to read!