A Late Night with a Good Book

When I was a teenager my two older sisters married, and for the first time I had a room of my own. I no longer had to consider anyone else in what time I turned off my light and went to sleep at night. This is a dangerous thing for a bookaholic! Many a night my light burned long past midnight because I just couldn't stop reading. Of course, this made getting up and getting to school the next day a little difficult. School ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in those days, which helped.

As an adult I could not indulge my late-night reading as often. My husband was a very tolerant man, but it was not fair to disrupt his sleep so I could read. There was also the little matter of my need to stay awake the next day, both in the years at home with young children and the years of going out to my job.

Now I am retired, widowed, and my time is my own. I try to keep reasonable sleep hours, but once in a while a book captures me so deeply I just can't stop reading. Yesterday I started reading the latest C.J. Box book in his Joe Pickett series. It was an engrossing, high tension, adventurous ride, and I couldn't put it down. I finished it around 2 a.m. I'm still thinking about it this morning.

If you are not familiar with C.J. Box and his books, I would certainly recommend them. C.J. Box is a Wyoming writer and his Pickett novels are set in Wyoming. They are filled with well-developed characters, some of whom you will like and really care about and others whom you definitely won't. Since the lives and characters progress and develop across the novels, I would recommend reading them in order. They are not just a temporary entertainment to fill a few hours. The adventures, plots, problems deal with many of today's controversial topics relevant not only to Wyoming but to our nation.

(In order not to fall into the habit of reading too late for too many nights, my usual bedtime reading lately has been The Ancient Greeks for Dummies.  That usually has me ready to sleep in about three pages!)