Mar 08 2010
Midway through the journey of Lent…
I received a new book.
No! No! I did not cheat.
It’s from the Duck’s Cottage Book Club. (My love of Duck’s Cottage, from my first visit to the Outer Banks in August 2008, is very strong). Every other month, Jamie, the cottage’s book buyer, sends us a new selection she’s chosen for us. It can be anything–last year’s selections ranged from Lost on Planet China to a Swedish novel recently translated into English.
In my mailbox today was the March/April selection, Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese.
I opened the bubble wrap envelope carefully and savored the new book. I read the letter Jamie included, telling us a bit about it and why it was her choice for her. I gently paged through the reviews. I might have smelled the pages.
This is what happens when you haven’t had a new book in 21 days. You really, really enjoy new ones.
I think that was also part of my Lenten abstinence–to realize what I have, and how pleasurable it is. God made everything good, Genesis tells us. I love reading. Books, and reading, are not inherently evil. But loving them above all else? That’s a problem.
We’re halfway through Lent, and I haven’t really had the desire to go book shopping (although it has crossed my mind a few times). But today I realized how much I love a new book.
