Reading - or the lack thereof

I used to be a bookworm. I'd gobble up books the way hungry people gobble up an all-you-can-eat buffet, two or three dishes at a time. From fluffy beach novels to thoughtful theological tomes, I would read anything that looked interesting. It was not unusual for me to stay up until the wee hours with a page-turner to see how it ended.

These days, though, I feel illiterate. I'm lucky if I can peruse the pictures in a magazine during my two-minute potty breaks. A short article might take me two or three visits to read. Luckily, I'm getting to the place where the baby in my belly is starting to weigh enough to press on my bladder, giving me the need to use the bathroom much more frequently.

Still, a magazine article does not exactly qualify as a serious read (not my decorating/homemaking magazines, anyway). So I've purposed to be more serious about reading lately. I'm back to having several books going at a time, and I'll admit that a few of them are in the bathrooms, but at least I'm trying. The all-nighters are definitely out of the question.

But less television and more reading is my goal, which is good because we're considering getting rid of our TV service in an effort to save on some bills. I think our contract is up this month or next, so we'll have to talk about it to determine how serious we are. Patrick follows politics like some guys follow sports, so getting rid of TV this year would be akin to pulling the plug just before the Bears played in the Superbowl. With the writer's strike, there's not really anything I'm missing out on, but I'll really feel the pain, I think, when The Office comes back with new episodes.

So I'm looking for suggestions for some good reads. Have you read any good books lately that you can recommend? Armed with a library card and a Barnes and Noble membership, I'm open for anything, but I hate starting a book that I've picked at random only to find that I don't really like it! Leave a comment, please, and give me some ideas...