Attachment to Books

I love reading and doing so for fun has taken a back burner for far to long.  My last book was read via my Nook on my way home from a business trip to Oklahoma back in October. I found I was hungry to dive into the story and had completed the book before the plane touched down in Minneapolis. I admit I enjoy a bit of mind candy books with no real historical or intellectual value, but with normal characters living normal lives, but involved in  situation or an event that is out of their norm.  I love series books that allow you to really get to know the characters and learn more about them as additional layers  come off, revealing more about their personalities.

My all time favorite author is Elizabeth Ogilvie, who passed away about 6 years ago.  She has a whole series of books, the Bennett Island Series, that actually starts in the late 1920's in a small Maine island community, and travels over the decades to the early 1970's.  Historical events are the back ground, but not the focus of the stories.  I can't even get the books in the library anymore-all are out of print, but through the magic of on-line used book stores, I have the whole set.  I'm thinking of getting additional copies just in case something happens to the old.  She has many other books usually with the Maine coast as the setting.  Reading some of them again and again bring me joy-almost like meeting up with old friends for coffee or a glass of wine. I've found that others share my love for her writing, and there was actually a book, and former web site devoted to her writings, A Mug Up with Elizabeth. Of course I have that book as well. The book, The Season's Hereafter, was my first introduction to Ms. Ogilvie when I was 16, and found Vanessa a troubled soul, but with an air of dignity, that made me know I needed to control my own destiny. I've reread her story over the years as a young wife and mother, at age 30, Vanessa's age in the book, and would like to now that I am practically old enough to be her mother, and know life will turn corners on a regular basis. We get to meet Vanessa in three future books in small doses, one of which provides some closure on Vanessa's story.

I am open to more suggestions, and gladly take book recommendation from others, but rarely borrow books because of the long gaps I have in finding time to read.  I love that my children have that same enjoyment.  DD#2 has been on a reading marathon since Christmas.  She never finishes a book in a series unless she physically has the next volume in house to read. She once shared that she likes reading more than television or movies because it is like the whole thing takes place in her mind and she can picture the story how she wants. She is a major critic of movies based on books if she doesn't feel the picture got it right. In the  months between DD#1 undergrad and starting her masters, she plowed through book after book for fun. With all my son's moves, books were the constants for packing and unpacking, rather than purging.

It's not a resolution, but I hope 2015 is the year of more casual reading.  I also would like to branch out and do a little biographical reading as well.  What is on you book shelf, real or virtual?  Do you have any beloved authors or characters that you visit again and again? Your suggestions may need to wait.  I think I'm going to enjoy a mug up and explore my book shelf for an old friend.