Does world news depress you these days? If so, turn off the television. You need a good book to take your mind off the world’s troubles. Go straight to the shelves where you keep your favorite books. It might have been years since you read that classic or a biography you once enjoyed. Or if you’d rather, just head for your public library and look over what’s new. And even what isn’t. There’s a huge selection there.

If you read every day as I do, and you’re tiring of the same genre, switch to something else. I often find myself hung up on mysteries or a certain author’s work. Suddenly I push all that aside and turn to non-fiction for a while. Or I even wander over to the reference shelves at times.

My husband has a wonderful collection of books by an author who wrote fiction about sailors and sea adventures. I thought they weren’t my cup of tea; yet he talked so much about them I decided to just try one. After the first one, I couldn’t wait to jump into the next and then the next. I wound up reading the entire series, one after the other. After that, I turned to mysteries.

Through the years like many other people, we bought volumes of Readers Digest Condensed Books. They take up an entire shelf in my husband’s office bookshelves. Sometimes when I’m on the prowl for something different, I reacquaint myself with those. I never pushed one of them aside long when it arrived in the mail. As soon as I finished whatever I was reading then, I selected the title that interested me most and read it. I followed up with the others before I put it aside. I’ve read every one of them.

Both our children are avid readers. Our son, like his dad, loves collecting books, especially from junky, dusty old bookstores. When he lived in New Orleans some years back, he spent his leisure searching favorite used book stores there. He constantly suggests books he thinks we might enjoy. While his daddy has always leaned toward finding books for our reading pleasure, our son also enjoys nosing out an occasional first edition.

Our daughter passes along romance and mystery novels to me. Like her daddy, she does well judging what appeals to me.

During dreary winter weather, I often get wanderlust. It’s then that I turn to travel books that transport me right in my tattered old recliner to scenic spots around the world. I can also satisfy a bit of my longing to get on the road again by burying my nose in monthly RV magazines.

History that I didn’t like in school only came alive to me after travels with my military husband. Today, I especially enjoy fiction that incorporates historical events.

I read the Bible and works by Christian authors for inspiration in these troubled times.

Find a good book. Don’t let the headlines depress you.