Yo...What You Reading?

I ran across a disturbing statistic that has nothing to do with how fast a doughnut's calories morph directly into belly bat. That would just be horrifying. What disturbs me is the downward trend of good, old fashioned reading. According to a recent research study put out by the Labor Department, here is how much time average Americans spend reading on weekends and holidays (when they should theoretically have some kind of leisure time to read):

15-19 year olds  =  4.2 minutes
20-24 year olds  =  10.2 minutes
25-34 year olds  =  7.8 minutes
55-64 year olds  =  26.4 minutes

What's up with that? Too busy texting? Facebooking? Stuffing their faces with french fries and Big Gulps?

Let's reverse that trend, people. Save an author; read a book. Here's what I've currently got my nose stuck in. . .

GHOSTWRITER
By Travis Thrasher
For years Dennis Shore has thrilled readers with his spooky bestselling novels. Now a widower, Dennis is finally alone in his house, his daughter attending college out of state. When he's stricken by a paralyzing case of writer's block and a looming deadline, Dennis becomes desperate. Against better judgment, he claims someone else's writing as his own, accepting undeserved accolades for the stolen work. He thinks he's gotten away with it . . . until he's greeted by a young man named Cillian Reed--the true author of the stolen manuscript.
What begins as a minor case of harassment quickly spirals out of control. As Cillian's threats escalate, Dennis finds himself on the brink of losing his career, his sanity, and even his life. The horror he's spent years writing about has arrived on his doorstep, and Dennis has nowhere to run.

THE DAY SHE DIED

By Bill Garrison

John has been living the perfect dream with loving family and a successful business…until his wife quits talking to him and he discovers his coffee shop is deep in debt.

What if he had it all to do over again? If he hadn’t quit baseball? If he’d saved money? And if he hadn’t gone out of town the weekend his college fiancee Kim disappeared for good?

John inexplicably wakes up back at Oklahoma University, reliving Kim’s last day. Can he find some answers? Or prevent her death? But if he succeeds in changing history, what happens to his wife and kids?

MULTIPLY

By Francis Chan, Mark Beuving, David Platt

Jesus gave his followers a command: “Follow me.” And a promise: “And I will equip you to find others to follow me.” We were made to make disciples.

Designed for use in discipleship relationships and other focused settings,Multiply will equip you to carry out Jesus’s ministry. Each of the twenty-four sessions in the book corresponds with an online video at www.multiplymovement.com, where New York Times bestselling author David Platt joins Francis in guiding you through each part of Multiply. One plus one plus one. Every copy of Multiply is designed to do what Jesus did: make disciples who make disciples who make disciples…. Until the world knows the truth of Jesus Christ.

THE SECRET THOUGHTS OF AN UNLIKELY CONVERT

By Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Rosaria, by the standards of many, was living a very good life. She had a tenured position at a large university in a field for which she cared deeply. She owned two homes with her partner, in which they provided hospitality to students and activists that were looking to make a difference in the world. There, her partner rehabilitated abandoned and abused dogs. In the community, Rosaria was involved in volunteer work. At the university, she was a respected advisor of students and her department's curriculum. And then, in her late 30s, Rosaria encountered something that turned her world upside down-the idea that Christianity, a religion that she had regarded as problematic and sometimes downright damaging, might be right about who God was, an idea that flew in the face of the people and causes that she most loved. What follows is a story of what she describes as a "train wreck" at the hand of the supernatural. These are her secret thoughts about those events, written as only a reflective English professor could.