What Niche Books Do YOU Read?


I have always been a prolific reader -- in the past more so than now -- it was easier when my mother was doing the cleaning and cooking -- I had LOTS of time then. However, now my reading goes in spurts but I still manage to get some in every day. When I say "reading" I mean anything -- magazines, books, how - to books.

I guess the largest group of "niche" books I read would have to be needlework books -- either cross stitch or quilting. That comes in all forms, magazine, online magazines, books -- I have a good sized collection of quilt books as well as a number of cross stitch pattern books and more magazines than I can find a place to store. One of my favorite magazines is "Piecework" because of their articles on needlework history. In this group I would have to include blogs. I read a number of needlework blogs -- two daily -- http://mymarkdesigns.wordpress.com and http://marykathryn.wordpress.com. These are two very talented ladies in the field of needlework. Their blogs are never disappointing.

The second largest group of "niche" books would have to be cookbooks. I have no clue why because I don't really like cooking but I like cookbooks. Maybe somewhere deep down I WANT to like cooking. Nah.

Following the cookbooks closely would be self-help books revolving mostly around diet. Note to all -- the diet books don't work. Just quit eating. Really. If you must follow a book I would have to say Bettheny Frankels book "Naturally Thin" would be a winner. In a nutshell it tells you -- just quit eating. Some of the self help books I read involve "going green" -- many in magazine form. I believe in going green. It is better, cleaner for everybody, cheaper in the long run and maybe the ol' planet will keep turning for a while longer if we all did our part. Jumping off my soapbox now.

The last but definitely not least "niche" books I read are religious books. I read a lot of "Christian" fiction but I read a lot of non-fiction religiously based things as well. Right now I am reading a Bible that I found that is broken up, like a diary, into passages for each day of the year. It isn't in chronological form but rather each day has a passage from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. The goal is obviously to read the entire Bible in a year. Now, granted, reading it chronologically would make more sense but this way a person at least can read the entire thing and then go back later and re-read. It is written in modern language which I don't think is so great but, again, it makes it more readable and there are lots of footnotes and notations showing where the "translations" were coming from. I am also reading a book on the rosary -- the history, the meaning, the process. It is very interesting and for us non-Catholics it clears up a lot of the misinformation that we were given in our non-Catholic churches regarding the Marian devotion.

I love getting lost in a novel, being able to be someplace else, somebody else, living life vicariously through a book but it seems, as I am getting older, that I am reading more for knowledge -- how to do something, how to make things better, how to be a better person -- things like that.