11,900 & Counting . . .

by Cindy R. Williams

Two weeks ago on this blog, I began a book count for no reason other than I'm curious about how many books we readers and writers at ANWA Founder & Friends have.  

The total to date is 11,900 books.

Please take a few minutes to walk through your house and guesstimate how many books you have then post it in the comments below. I hope to reach at least a 100,000.

I have this idea that "By their books you shall know them."  This includes not only what we read, but how many books we collect.

I grew up reading fantasies like the Wizard of Oz series. I devoured all things Hans Christian Andersen and Grimm's Fairy Tales. I couldn't get enough about fairies, mermaids, goblins, princes and princesses. Then I added Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series. Upon joining ANWA, I discovered Janette Rallison's wonderful sense of humor in her teen books and became a fan.

At some point I began reading tons of romances. Hard to admit, but 'tis true. I found I would often  skip pages because I was uncomfortable with . . . well you know. Then I found "sweet romances"--a much better fit. I still love a good clean romance, especially historical, medieval, and the  regency period Austinland type stories. How great it is to have clean romances books written by our good friends, Joyce DiPastena, Donna Hatch, Sarah Eden, Joan Sowards, Theresa Sneed, Betsy Love and the ever funny friend from Hawaii, Susan Corpany Curtis.

I just finished a book called "THE MOST IMPORTANT CATCH by Jaclyn M. Hawkes. It kept me up late several nights. Yummy.

I read all my children's school assigned books. This serves a dual purpose; it feeds my passion for reading and it keeps me up on what they are studying so I can help them with assignments.

The Harry Potter series and the Eragon books by Christopher Paolini are favorites. Books by James Dashner and Jeff Savage make me smile. The Lord of the Rings series is amazing. I love to have a good book by my bed. I use them to escape the crazy world. (Much more fun to read about the challenges of a good character where I know there is no real risk to me.)

Nobody does a good western saga better than Marsha Ward, not even Louis L'Amour.

Being an LDS woman in today's world, like many of you, I don't neglect my regular reading one of the most powerful books every translated, THE BOOK OF MORMON. Now there's a book! One that will change the world, one person at time. I just finished an interesting book about eight non-LDS scholars studying the BOOK OF MORMON to document its authenticity. It's called OUT OF DARKNESS by Keith Terry. It is full of fascinating facts along with a story of conversion, love and intrigue.

Ah books . . . I could go on for hours with list of books and authors I love to read. How about you?