What's On The "To Read" Shelf

I enjoy reading. I love books. No, sorry, I apologize, the word "love" does not truly convey my admiration for books. I LOVE books! Books make me weak in the knees. Visiting a bookstore makes me giddy with joy. Libraries are grand institutions. A full bookshelf is a work of art. A new book is a treasure. A pile of books waiting to be read is a beautiful thing. I simply adore books. Books are the great love of my heart (after Jesus and my family). I feel we could be having a conversation right now that would sound something like:

Me: "Hello, my name is Elizabeth.
"Readers" "Hello, Elizabeth."
Me: "It's been two days since my last book purchase."

Yes, bookstores may be my undoing. Not just bookstores, any place that sells books. You know those gift stores at museums and national parks. I am tempted to buy books on art, history, bird watching, or growing an editable garden on your window sill (and I kill plants). During the family vacation at Disney, I managed to find the one "writer's nook" tea and bookshop...I bought books. Book tables at conferences, used book stores, books at yard sales, Chapters, all these are more dangerous to me than shoe stores, craft stores, and places that sell board games combined. It takes a huge amount of self control, an act of God, and a lack of money to leave without adding more books to my library and that isn't always enough thanks to plastic and credit.

That was a huge lead in to say my "to read pile" is consistently growing. In 2009 I shared my list of 26 books waiting to be read....the list/pile has grown. The picture you see up there in the corner is the "to read shelf" at my office. There is another pile of books wanting to be read at home, which is seperate from the books I am borrowing form others or the list of books I am waiting for the library to get in for me.

Yep...I love books, maybe too much. For me the problem is choosing what to read next. The first half are books that are "new" and the second half are the books that are still waiting to be read two years later:

New-ish:
1) Call of the Camino
2) Spanish Steps
3) The Calvary Road
4) We Would See Jesus
5) Born Crucified
6) Why Pro-Life?
7) Traveling with Pomegranates
8) Contemplative Youth Ministry
9) Lost and Found
10) Starving Jesus
11) Losers Club
12) Up: devotions for teens
13) Come Thou Tortoise
14) When Nothing Matters Anymore
15) Volunteers that Stick -this will be a re-read
16) The Book that Transforms
17) Slumgirl Dreaming
18) The Woman's Complete Guide to Running -I picked this up when I still dreamed completing a marathon...giggle, I was so silly
19) Primal
20) Vintage Jesus
21) Hidden Sorrow
22) Sacred Spaces
23) God in the Ally -another re-read
24) Victory Over the Darkness -a re-read
25) Eternity in their Hearts
26) Experiencing God
27) The Bondage Breaker Youth Edition
28) The Red Letters
29) Leila
30) Escape from North Korea
31) Dalit Freedom
32) Operation Desert Light
33) The Productive Writer
34) Crazy Love
35) AIDS Action
36) Drops from a Leaking Tap
37) Youth Ministry from the Inside Out
38) Think Orange & the Handbook

Still Waiting to be Read:
1) Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions –George Barna
2) Every Woman’s Battle (and the workbook) –Shannon Ethridge -a re-read
3) Miniskirts, Mothers & Muslims –Christine A. Mallouhi
4) Do They Run When They See You Coming? –Jonathan McKee
5) This Beautiful Mess –Rick McKinley
6) A Fish Out of Water –George Barna
7) Why Not Women? –Cunningham & Hamilton someone borrowed this and it never came back
8) You Don’t Have To Cross The Ocean to Reach The World –David Boyd
9) Getting Honest With God –Mark Littleton
10) The Discipline of Grace –Jerry Bridges
11) The Pursuit of God –AW Tozer
12) Unveiling Mary Magdalene –Liz Curtis Higgs
13) Emotionally Healthy Spirituality –Peter Scazzero
14) Faith Teaching –Wamberg & Conaway
15) Can’t Wait for Sunday –Michael Walters
16) Litlith –George MacDonald
17) Leadership Essentials for Children’s Ministry Craig Jutila -a re-read
18) Effective Youth Ministry –Fawcell & Nylen
19) After You Drop Them Off –Jeramy Clark
20) Amir sSalaam –Qawii
21) Leading from the Second Chair –Bonem & Patterson
22) Do Fish Know They’re Wet? –Tom Neven -a re-read
23) The Ripple Church –Phil Stevenson
24) Walking on Water –Madeleine L-Engle

62 books! No wonder I struggle with what to read next, there are some great title in the "need to read pile. 62 books, wow, and that doesn't include the books I'm reading or are in the to read pile at home. Even if some of these are re-reads and more than ten were gifts I think I need to have another book buying fast. I didn't buy any books for about six months last year. I can do that again. It is decided:

No more buying books till both the office and home "to read" piles are under 40 books....I will think up the exceptions when I find a book I really want to buy.