Usually I’m reading at such a rate that I don’t really have time to sit down and blog about it. I just pick up whatever by who ever, read it in a day or two and move on. But this summer is really a busy one for me and I haven’t had time to go through the books as quickly as before. And then I hit that spot where I’d read everything I had and was on the verge of a library visit.

That’s when Zelda loaned me a collection of books by Barbara Kingsglover. I had loved the Poisonwood Bible. And the collection so far hasn’t disappointed. I’ve read two of the four in the collection: Pigs in Heaven and Animal Dreams. Both stories take place in desert type places, though Pigs in Heaven travels all over and most of it ending up in Northeastern Oklahoma. There’s something about reading them during the summer that really makes you feel the stories.

Also, what I really like about the books is that I have to take my time with them. I can’t zoom through them like regular airpot fiction. I feel like the stories move slowly, but with an intentional slowness. She makes you savor the words. As I neared the end of Animal Dreams, I started sobbing. Chris made me put the book down. I had to read that chapter three times to get all the words.

I have two more books to go. I’ve started Homeland which is a collection of short stories and then I finish it off with The Bean Tree. I’m kind of thinking at this rate, these may last me through the summer.