The 16th Thing I Love.

#16 - Books.

I LOVE reading, and I LOVE books. You might not know, but those are not in fact the same thing. People who love to read might love reading anything - magazines, captions, street signs, who knows. But then there are people who love books. I am one of those people. I love their smell, their feel, their sound. Yes, their sound. When you open a new book and the pages come apart for the first time, there is a sound. I judge books by their covers (sorry), and I get practically giddy when I have time to wander aimlessly around a book store (comfortable shoes and clothes you can sit on the floor in are a must for this to be a truly worthwhile experience).

I love books so much that my sister has forbidden me from buying more until I have the room (and the money) for additional book shelves. I own dozens of books that I haven't read and I've read dozens of books that I don't own. My favorite kind of book is probably a memoir. I love reading true stories of people's lives and cultures. I love learning from the way they deal with and analyze their experiences and emotions. I feel connected to the people I read about (whether real people or just really well written fiction).

Some of my favorites, you ask? I'll give you a couple from each section. Yes, my bookshelves have categorized sections. Go ahead and make fun.

Memoirs/Biographies - The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, Wild Swans by Jung Chang, Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, When Invisible Children Sing by Huang Tang, Mother Teresa by Kathryn Spink, Night by Elie Wiesel, Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski

Christian Living - The Chase by Jerry Bridges, Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend, Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot, The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, The Wounded Spirit by Frank Peretti, Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper, God's Big Picture by Vaughn Roberts, The Externally Focused Church by Russaw & Swanson, No Future without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu, The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey

Fiction - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I have other favorites listed under "favorite books" on my Facebook profile, as well as a list of what I'm currently reading, just in case you are interested.