Time And A List Of Books

I slept for eleven blessed, peaceful hours last night.

This morning, I am moving slowly. My hand reached for the coffee cup with smoothly rounded edges, aware that I'd have time this morning to sit and hold rather than throw back and gulp.

That's a morning, right there.

So I am listening to a little Hezekiah Walker, proclamations that Every praise is to our God!! ringing loud and clear, my mind at ease, because gospel music is never boring (hello, key change! hello, crazy atonal transition riffs! hello, ANOTHER key change!!!) and nothing stresses me out more than boring music.

It is a gift, this morning. No stress, for the moment.

My friend Dianne created a list of her twelve favorite books and asked me to create a list of my own. I'm not sure what the rules are (only fiction? only ten?), but I don't really care.

Here are some books I really like. I recall them like favorite friends, and hold a piece of each close to my heart.

The Bread of Angels - Stephanie Saldana
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
The World According to Garp - John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving*
The Stand - Stephen King
11/22/63 - Stephen King
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt**
Travelling Mercies - Anne Lamott
An Altar In the World - Barbara Brown Taylor
The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris
I Am Charlotte Simmons - Tom Wolfe***

Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
The Neon Rain - James Lee Burke****

I read everything Patricia Cornwell writes, but it's kind of like eating M&Ms; they're really good in the moment, but they don't have a lot of staying power...

*(I could actually make a list of all of Irving's books and be done....)
**(of course)
***(detest most of the characters and the plot, but oh, how this man can write...)
****(Burke is one of the most underrated authors of this generation; the Dave Robicheaux series is brilliant)