A new poll released this week indicates that 1 in 4 adults in the US did not read “a single” book last year. When I saw that headline on a news website this morning my immediate thought was “I can’t imagine not reading books!” In previous posts I’ve mentioned how much I have always enjoyed reading – from the days of Ramona Quimby & Nancy Drew as a school girl. These days my reading list seems to include a little bit of everything.

It is hard for me to go into a book store (or even Costco) without picking up a book or two to add to my overflowing library. Christmas gifts in the Artisan family always include a slew of books – one of our traditions on Christmas afternoon is to see all of us in the living room with our noses in new books that have just been unwrapped.

In the last couple of months I have made my way through quite an assortment of books.

In May I read an advanced copy of Peony in Love by Lisa See. Similar to Snowflower and the Secret Fan, this novel provided me with more education about Chinese culture and ritual. For me, this was a fast read.

Also in May, we discussed The Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez as our bookclub read. This book sparked a lot of interesting conversations among our group – from the writing style, to the focus of the book, etc. This was a very quick read – my initial reaction was that the book seemed better suited to be a paperback rather than the hardcover that I picked up.

Another preview book I recently read was The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard. The tone of this story of “small town suspense” reminded me a bit of the stories of Jodi Picoult or Midwives.

This summer I thoroughly enjoyed reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. This week my bookclub will be discussing this read – I look forward to the discussion!

I have always been drawn to narrative non-fiction books and find that more and more of them appear in my reading lists. While at home in GA last month I picked up The United States of Arugula by David Kamp and quickly devoured it – it was a fun walk through the history of our foodiness.

I also have several of “these type” books in the current rotation: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin; Tulipomania by Mike Dash; Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay

The books in the picture above are in the “just barely started” category: Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert; The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan; A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. And of course that are more “to read” books around the house that didn’t make it into the photo.

I’m lucky to have family and friends that are avid readers – we always have a rotating library of books on loan among us. In fact, many of these reads will be enroute to Maya in Texas soon.

Just as many knitters experience “Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy” I’m sure that many ravenous readers have “Booklist Beyond Life Expectancy.” What about you…what good books have you read recently? How long is your booklist?