Reading Is Alive and Well

This past weekend my daughters, our youth minister's wife, and I attended the Women of Faith conference at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.  Over 9000 women gathered together Friday evening and all day Saturday to listen to speakers, sing with worship songs, and to become "Survivors from Revival."  This was the second time my youngest daughter and I attended the event,  and while our friend had attended several in the past, it was her first with us.  My oldest daughter was a rookie at Women of Faith, but she is ready to attend the event in Chicago next year.

But I digress....

The title of the blog post is "Reading Is Alive and Well" and indeed, it is!  Many of the speakers had also written books, just as the musicians who performed had recorded CDs.  At the breaks between the sessions, women could be found in the concourse, perusing the book tables and purchasing volumes to take home with them and read through at their leisure.

In fact my daughters purchased the 'special' which included a tote bag and five items.  The choices were many of the books, CDs, bracelets, necklaces, mugs, and other sundry items.  My daughters selected three books, a CD, and a DVD of one of the speakers they particularly enjoyed.

Now, you have to understand this.  One of my daughters is a librarian and definitely inherited her mother's love of reading.  The other daughter enjoys only those books by Nicholas Sparks and those that she reads to her four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter.  For her to want to read these books was amazing to me.  They split the cost of the 'special' and were making plans about who would read which book first.

It was encouraging to me as a Book Lover to see so many women picking up books, scanning the backs, flipping through the contents, then passing them to the ladies behind the tables and exchanging cash or credit cards for the bags containing the purchased books. 

Our friend verified with me that I had a copy of  The Best Yes, written by one of our speakers, Lysa TerKeurst.  I did, but it is on my Nook.  Not too easy to lend that copy to anyone!  So she purchased her own copy.

Step into a Barnes and Noble or a Book World or a Books A Million and you will see many browsing the shelves.  Check out a library and see people, young and old, with stacks of books at the check out counter.  Gaze upon the ladies attending Women of Faith any weekend across the country and see the books that are tucked into suitcases to take home and read following the event.

Yes....reading is alive and well.