A minor vent here .... But my last Amazon shipment doesn't seem to be moving at record speed. Again, possibly due to the fact that I picked up three books from the scratch & dent section. And certainly not the end of the world. But as it stands, my "Book Fast" looks like a month-long ordeal now.

Now, I'm told that when you fast, whatever it is that you're fasting from should end up looking, tasting, smelling, whatever ... better. My only real fast is to take a 6-week sorta fast from soft drinks. Basically, I just limit myself to one gulp a day and usually a smaller size drink than normal, at that. Last time I did it, it was far easier than I had anticipated. Something to remember as I approach the time of year to do that again.

But this whole "Book Fast" does not strike me the same way. Probably because it wasn't by design. Amazon is showing my package waiting to be picked up in Fernley, Nevada ... for the past 4 days. Maybe it's in transit and I'll have it today for all I know. But since it's shipping at book rate, probably not. Best case scenario is that I've got some good reading to do over Thanksgiving. Likely scenario is that I end up with my next purchase in hand before I ever see the four books I'm presently waiting on.

With that in mind, I'm altering my plan a bit ... picking up the CD of Brennan Manning's "Ragamuffin Gospel" to peruse next month. I figure that way, I don't end up trying to cram 5 or 6 books into my holiday shopping schedule. Besides, I may splurge a bit at the end of the year to make up for the now-skipped Tony Dungy book from my library.

On a side note, I managed to listen to the podcast of Donald Miller speaking at Rob Bell's church in Michigan. I'm a fan of Miller's but I think I'm going to have to regretfully skip his next book. The message he's been giving to a few churches is based on this book and while it has some snippets that speak to me, I can't help but think I'd find his next book a bit outside of my terrain. Even worse, I skipped his last book for much the same reason.

Anyways, vent now over. I'm officially going to enter this second half of the month looking forward to listening to my Ragamuffin Gospel and reading new stuff ... eventually.