More words please!

I've been reading a lot lately. I feel like I have a short window in which to read everything I can get my hands on because once I start into the Master's program at Asbury, there won't be a lot of time available for me to do any extra-curricular reading.

While I absolutely adore and can't imagine functioning without my incredible fiction habit, I've been reading a lot of stuff that I can't believe I find interesting! I certainly wasn't reading all of this while I was in business or working on staff at a church. Had I been, I might have driven everyone crazy, I suppose with my insistence that they read along with me.

Seth Godin's new book, "Linchpin" is amazing. This guy is fun! He really challenges us to set aside our traditional outlook on business, life and all that goes with it and begin to find ways to make ourselves more than what we are. We are more than a cog in a great big machine, we need to find ways to make ourselves indispensable - a linchpin.

In other words, we need to dream big dreams and then find ways to go after those dreams. For some of us, those dreams might be in our hobbies, for others of us it might be in our career. This book has been an exciting read for me.

Last fall I read his book, "Tribes" about building connections with the people that will make change with you. Amazing book. Amazing man with great ideas! And his blog? It rocks.

While in the middle of this book, I've also been reading Shaunti Feldhahn's book, "The Male Factor" which is a great look at how men and women react differently in the workplace and how women who work with men can shoot themselves in the foot by not understanding what they are doing to their bosses and coworkers.

I've also been reading "Freakonomics." While this has gotten rave reviews in the world, I find that I'm not a fan of economic theory - especially those that seem to portray the underbelly of the world. They make a lot of assumptions based on statistics.

I thought a lot about why I didn't like the book and by the time I got to a conclusion, I had traipsed over so much territory in my brain, I wasn't sure of the path any longer. But, one of the things that drives me nuts is how they interpreted the statistics they were working with. And of course that lead me down the path of incorrect interpretation and how I also can't stand the misuse of scripture to prove a point, especially when it is taken out of context. That was an entirely different and very long thought process.

Now, the problem with all of this reading on the Kindle, is that when I purchase a book, Amazon starts recommending other books that I might find interesting. Oh yes, I certainly do! The other awful part of my life online is that I follow a lot of authors on Twitter and on Facebook and you know what author's do? They read ... and then they recommend.

There is not enough time for me to read al of these books! And I can hardly wait to dive into some of them.

Next up for me is "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield and I'm into the "Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things" books, the "100 Words" series by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionary and I'm still working through "The Lexicographer's Dilemma" by Jack Lynch. Oh, how I love words!

So, if you want to know why I haven't written so much over the last few months, a lot of it has to do with the fact that I've been reading and reading and reading ... a lot! A Kindle battery is supposed to go for a long time and I have to charge mine at least every other night, sometimes every night. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I find a way to read. If I'm waiting in my car at Arby's, I'm reading my Kindle ... if I'm waiting for rehearsal to start at church or at my community choir, I'm reading my Kindle. If I get somewhere early and have to wait, I read my Kindle.

Words make me a very happy girl.