I have this bad habit of purchasing and downloading several books at once onto my Kindle.  I get into this mood where I think I will just relax over the next few weeks and not get busy and have time to read for hours every single day.  This…never happens.  Ever.  If I’m lucky, I will be able to squeeze in an hour of reading a few nights a week from 9pm to 10pm.  But every now and then, I’ll start a new book at 9pm on a random night and it will be soooo good that I stay up reading until midnight, every night, until the book is done.  Some past examples are “Outlander: A Novel” by Diana Gabaldon, “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand, and “You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness” by Julie Klam.

Recently, I decided to finally start one of those aforementioned downloaded books that I’ve had on my Kindle for almost a full year now.  I loved it so, so much that I wish I had read it back when I purchased it so I could have read all of the author’s other books by now!  The book is called “The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel” by Sarah Addison Allen and it was absolutely delightful!  Her novels are considered to be whimsy and magical and I had no idea that I would like this type of genre so much.  Have you ever seen the movie “Big Fish” with Ewan McGregor?  Think magical like that, but way better!  I was happy during every moment that I read this novel, even through the mystical and magical parts.  It was such a lighthearted novel about a good ol’ southern town with extraordinary people that it made me wish I lived there and was part of the story.  If you’re in the mood for a little magic and an easy read, check out anything by Sarah Addison Allen.  I’ve heard that “Garden Spells”, her first novel, is the best one and I’m going to pick up a real copy {instead of digital} so that I can have it on my bookshelf.  Check out the short essay by Ms. Allen that I’ve posted below, it gives a really clear idea of how she writes and it’s also just a beautiful essay.

Just So You Know

By: Sarah Addison Allen

You fall in love with every book you touch. You never break the spine or tear the pages. That would be cruel. You have secret favorites but, when asked, you say that you could never choose. But did you know that books fall in love with you, too?

They watch you from the shelf while you sleep. Are you dreaming of them, they wonder, in that wistful mood books are prone to at night when they’re bored and there’s nothing else to do but tease the cat.

Remember that pale yellow book you read when you were sixteen? It changed your world, that book. It changed your dreams. You carried it around until it was old and thin and sparkles no longer rose from the pages and filled the air when you opened it, like it did when it was new. You should know that it still thinks of you. It would like to get together sometime, maybe over coffee next month, so you can see how much you’ve both changed.

And the book about the donkey your father read to you every night when you were three, it’s still around – older, a little worse for wear. But it still remembers the way your laughter made its pages tremble with joy.

Then there was that book, just last week, in the bookstore. It caught your eye. You looked away quickly, but it was too late. You felt the rush. You picked it up and stroked your hand over its glassy cover. It knew you were The One. But, for whatever reason, you put it back and walked away. Maybe you were trying to be practical. Maybe you thought there wasn’t room enough, time enough, energy enough.

But you’re thinking about it now, aren’t you?
You fall in love so easily.
But just so you know, they do, too.

This essay first appeared as a Valentine’s Day 2010 “More in Store” feature for Barnes & Noble’s Nook.