i bought a book today

nothing major about that, sayeth the woman with a stomach bug and insomnia.

i have to take it back. i think i am officially freaked out - it is m. scott peck's "glimpses of the devil." now i am wondering if i should have read the on-line reviews prior to purchase?

i found myself at border's today after working a couple of hours because (a) the kids are with my in-laws on *vacation* and (b) the kids are with my in-laws on *vacation*. no need to elaborate.

so i went and got my borders blend coffee, checked out another tallis c.d. (which i also purchased), settled at a table with my book and did my best to ignore the girl on the cellphone who felt everyone in her surrounding vicinity would be completely engrossed in her conversations about anything and everything. i wanted to take the cell phone from her ear and chuck it across to the literature section (bad penny would have done that but not me). i chose to ignore her instead.

i started reading this book and it was compelling. i started getting interrupted by my own cell phone (it was like there was an a.p.b. out for me since i didn't make the straight line run from work to home in 20 minutes as per the norm) and not wanting to miss how the first *exorcism* went, i decided to purchase and left the store, musing over how quickly $50 can be spent.

it's going back tomorrow. the last thing i need do is implant thoughts of the devil into this head of mine - do you see what time it is? yeah, my gastro health isn't all that peachy right now, but i know that i know i was having bad dreams and it was related to this book and it has to go back and is already in the bag with the receipt, thank you very much. i should probably put it on my porch to get it out of my house, but that would be too dramatic.

i am not that dramatic.

i don't think.

when i was younger, i devoured stephen king books like they were vitamins. i would stay awake until all hours of the night, flashlight under the covers, reading every twisted word that man wrote and freaking myself out all the while. that was so 25 years ago. now i am older and wiser and a scaredy cat. i don't even want books like that in my house, let alone let my mind wander all over the pages of them. it is my tendency to worry about everything else in life that is real and relevant, no need to give myself ammunition.

on the flip side, at the urging of my friend gayla, i just bought and finished in a day "stumbling toward faith" by renee altson. it knocked me over with a feather - what a sad, compelling story by a woman who rediscovered her faith. it had me at the first paragraph and i put it down less than 24 hours later (it's amazing i get anything done). a "must read" but a "must be prepared to read before you buy" kind-of-book.

question of the early morning: what book(s) have you read that either disturbed you and made you need to get rid of it right away, or sat through in one or two readings and finished in a day?