Business first:  I’ve decided to end my bloggy vacation early.

Now let’s talk about those books!

Books seem to come into my life in multiples.

I can go months without purchasing a single book  (the library makes this possible) and then comes a day where I acquire anywhere from three to 20  at once (library book sales also make this possible).

This week  brought one of those days.  First, I wandered into the library’s used book shop  and walked out with four, like new, books.

They were;  Brideshead Revisited by Waugh, Ar’n't I a Woman? by White, Waiting for Superman edited by Weber,  and God is not Great  by Hitchens.   Grand total -$4.00.  Score!

Why these particular titles?

Brideshead Revisited   is written by an author I’ve heard good things about.

Ar’n't I a Woman?  intrigued me because it is non-fiction about female slaves on plantations in the south and it also reminded me of the popular youTube of Alfre Woodard reading a speech that Sojourner Truth was said to have made  .

Waiting for Superman  is a companion guide to a movie I had recently watched on recommendation from a friend. The movie is a documentary on America’s failing public education system.

God is not Great  is one of those books that I would have been scared to touch a few years ago, for fear my hair might catch on fire…or something.

But over the last few years I’ve had opportunity to read portions of Hitchens’ work  and to see him in action in debates  and I’ve developed a solid respect for him.

I read a large chunk of Hitchens’ memoir last year, which is saying something because the thing is HUGE.  I didn’t finish.

Cancer recently ended his incredibly interesting life.

Anyway,  I’ve spent too many years listening to fellow Christians seemingly  make up stuff about what atheists do/do not believe  and I think it’s worth having actual facts to avoid making ignorant assertions.

I went home and took my new stack of  books upstairs.

I plopped down and picked up the  half-read copy of Quiet  that I’d checked out from the library three weeks previous.

The half I’d read bristled with post-its.   Clearly this  book is own-worthy.     Then I saw the library slip which showed that my half-read book was actually due back THAT DAY.   * sigh*

When I originally stumbled across Quiet, at a bookstore,  a couple months earlier, I immediately went home and requested it from the library.

Then I waited.

and waited…

I was only #45 of 45 holds.

*another sigh*

To my happy surprise,  I only waited two months.

Now it was due back?!

Ohhh…the moral dilemma!!

It would be inconsiderate to hang onto it knowing that others were waiting as eagerly as I had.

Impetuously, I decided to jump in the car and go to Barnes and Noble.

I had a plan!  I’d go in and grab Quiet and quickly leave.   (yes…I’m fearlessly delusional at times).

I wasn’t inside 30 seconds before I found myself standing in the aisle of  gorgeous journals.   I longingly re-investigated the journal my friend, Marci, had shown me during that visit, two months earlier,  when I had discovered Quiet.    Now, that journal simply refused to leave my fingers.

Five entries on each page, each one done a year apart.   See the nice little spaces?   Nothing terribly daunting  and who doesn’t love the idea of having 5-years worth of jottings in one journal?   It gives me a little feeling of glee to picture my great-grandchildren giggling over some of the stuff I will put in there.

Thus ends the tale of my most recent literary acquisitions.

Coming Soon:   a Review  of Quiet.  The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.