The lifetime book-lover and English teacher in me was thrilled with this week’s theme.  Just this week, in preparation for a much-needed and fast-approaching spring break, a colleague and I were discussing how much we miss the days of adolescence when we could read into the wee hours of the morning, only to roll over on a sunny Saturday morning and pick up where we left off and read until well past noon. 

The reading I get to do as an adult is often more out of obligation and necessity than pleasure.  And yet, there forever lives  the insatiable desire to soak up the stories hidden between the dusty covers.  Hours spent poring over the new releases on bookstore shelves are hours of pure bliss. 

So, how do I reconcile my responsibilities as a wife, mother, teacher and reader?  Technology, of course!  While nothing beats the tactile experience of curling up with a romantic tale on a rainy afternoon, I’ve recently realized the benefit to listening to unabridged books on tape or my iPod.  Now, it isn’t just lying in the hammock on a sunny afternoon that I get to enjoy a good mystery – wait!  Since when have I enjoyed just lying in the hammock at all, let alone to read? 🙂  Now, the characters of my recent stories journey with me throughout chores, errands or exercise.

Perhaps the strangest book I’ve “read” was Feed by M.T. Anderson, a science fiction book  that follows teenage main character who meet one young girl trying to fight the “feed” that practically everyone has embedded into their brains at birth.  In many ways, my iPod felt like my feed, which was both disconcerting and ironic. 

Currently, I’m reading Three Cups of Tea in preparation for the author’s visit to a nearby university next week.  So far, this book too feels slightly “wrong” to be experiencing through technology.  Hearing about the upper elementary students meeting for “school” at the top of the mountain, without the benefit of a teacher to teach them because it costs an entire dollar per day which the community cannot afford – it seems inappropriate to be sharing their story in the midst of my own excess. 

Yet, those feelings, those challenges and thoughts that are stirred within me are exactly what I love about reading, about the transformational power of books.  I also, can’t help but listen with curiosity to Mortensen’s experience as Garth and I prepare to take a missions trip to Panama this summer.  Beyond the subject, there’s so much I enjoy about the way these shots go together.  Jaimee captured a beautiful image in honor of the upcoming holiday.  I love the reds in these shots and while I am only early in the book, I can’t help but connect the content of my text and the “Sorrow Will Turn to Joy” heading in Jaimee’s shot. 

Speaking of books…thanks for reading my novel of a post today!   Be sure to swing by Melody’s to see what other’s came up with for this week’s Team-up Challenge!