It’s MY turn to host the Friday Five! Play along, why don’t you? 🙂

You probably have, like me, a study full of books. Maybe they spill into another room. They go with you in the car to appointments when you might have some dead space in your schedule. In my study, the books are double-stacked and in somewhat precarious piles. I’ve always dreamed of a study that looked like a warm and lovely space to read and ponder… and yet… that’s not my reality!

Recently I decided to re-organize my study and put books of like topic and purpose together. (Of course, they don’t stay that way — but that’s another matter!) I also culled out some books which I hesitated to even donate to the library book sale because they were either extremely outdated or had content that I didn’t want the unexamined mind to read. (Not quite as bad as “The Total Woman” but… you get my drift!)

SOooo… with that in mind, let’s talk about the books in your life!

1. STUDYING: What is your favorite book or series for sermon prep or study? Or have you moved from books to on-line tools for your personal study?  I use my Women’s Bible Commentary along with my ISBE and some individual books on the Psalms. I also frequent the on-line lexicons. I need to find a lexicon that works on my Mac. I confess that I love databases which make looking things up easier. The Blue Letter Bible is OK, even though it is based on King Jimmy. I have a couple of commentaries in my wishlist at the moment. 🙂

2. IN THE QUEUE: Do you have a queue of books you are longing to read or do you read in bits and pieces over several books at a time? What’s in the queue? What ISN’T in my queue at the moment? I have two fiction books on my stack, recommended by the voracious reader, Reedy Girl: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. In my “other stack” the list is just way WAY too long. (And I am afraid after reading my fellow RevGal posts, I will want to add to my queue!)

3. FAVORITE OF ALL TIME: What’s one book that you have to have in your study? Is it professional, personal, fun or artistic? I have a copy of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It just helps sometimes. I also like to re-read some Evelyn Underhill, Anne Lamott, Brennan Manning and Henri Nouwen from time to time.

4. KINDLE OR PRINT? or both? Is there a trend in your recent purchases? I’m about even in this category, though a lot of my “fun” reading is on my Kindle. I do love being able to “sync” my reading whether on my Kindle, iPad or iPhone. And I LOOOooooove being able to pack a gazillion books for travel! 🙂

5. DISCARDS: I regularly cruise the “FREE BOOKS” rack at our local library. (I know, I know. It’s a bad habit!) When’s the last time you went through your books and gave some away (or threw some away?) Do you remember what made the discard pile? I actually sold a huge pile of books via Half.Com about a year ago. I priced them to move, and they did. I made minimal money, but I knew that the folks buying them (mostly seminarians) would appreciate that. I posted more about my discards in this recent post.

BONUS: Post a picture of the present state of your study! It’s not especially picked up at the moment and it’s missing at least one cat, but here’s mine! 🙂