Time to Come Back!

I would like to return to the world of blogging.  It has been quite a few months since my last post, and I have missed it.  This past year has quite possibly been the most difficult one I have ever faced.  In March, I shared with you my grief over the loss of my father.  But the hits just kept coming, and I could never have imagined the curveballs I experienced even after that. I reached a place of discouragement, and I was hardly even reading anymore, let alone writing about it.  However, I have slowly risen from the ashes and moved forward.  I feel that I am in a better place now than I have been for a year, and I do not take that for granted.  And part of coming back to being myself is coming back to this blog.

Writing this blog has been an unexpected joy for me.  I started with very low expectations and wasn't feeling too strongly that I would have something to say.  But with time, I came to depend on this blog as my connection to stimulating thought and conversation in an otherwise monotonous routine.  I found that the blog kept me accountable to continue reading good literature and expressing my thoughts about it.  I discovered that it filled a big part of the void created after I left college and all those delightful literature classes.  Significantly, I started to write the blog solely for myself.

Don't misunderstand me; the responses from those of you who read this blog were a big part of the unexpected joy.  Many of you made book recommendations for me based on my entries, and I found some amazing pieces of literature through you.  You also pushed me to think about the books I had read in a new way, and you pushed me to keep reading and keep writing.

Likewise, I greatly enjoyed reading many of your blogs as well.  I was amazed to discover this huge blogosphere of book lovers.  I started to view some of you as my friends, even though we had never met.  I am eager to get back into the habit of checking out your thoughts and joining your blog hops.

When I read a good book now, I crave a way to express and share it.  Not all of my friends are interested in talking about books, and I often have to keep my mouth shut.  But I believe that books are meant to be shared, and you can learn much more in doing so.  I am so humbled to have an audience who is actually interested in what I have to say!

So I am going to try to come back, though I don't know how frequently I will be able to post.  But there are several books I'm itching to share, and I'm also ready to hear some new suggestions.  If anyone is reading this, thank you.  I know that I may have lost some readers in this time away, but I want to press forward again anyway because I know it is good for me, whether I have readers or not.