Category: Books Page 3 of 19

[For an explanation of this series, see the post The (Book) Lives of the (Not So) Rich and (Marginally) Famous. I will be asking the same questions of all I interview, with a few followup questions as needed.]

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It took a hurricane to bring my friend Jim Jones and I together. Katrina, specifically. Jim was at the time the East County editor of the Bradenton (Florida) Herald. He lived near the church I pastored, and he had come to visit to see what a local pastor might have to say in the wake of that overwhelmingly devastating storm. Being one deeply committed to the best journalistic ethics, he introduced himself before the service (and I laughed at his auspicious name). He heard me preach and then did a wonderful job of summarizing my point for his article on Monday morning. From there developed a fruitful (for me, at least) friendship.

That friendship led to the formation of a book discussion group formed, Jim, my Muslim neighbor, a retired professor from Cornell’s college of architecture, and me. It was short-lived (we only got through two books) because of time, not interest. But through this I learned that Jim was a reader.

Jim served in Vietnam for 33 months between 1968 and 1971, and is a retired Army lieutenant colonel. Upon leaving active duty, Jim earned a BA from the University of South Florida. His entire journalism career has been in small Florida newspapers. His 2013 ‘retirement’ only lasted six months after which he returned to the Herald’s newsroom. He continues as a working journalist at age 70. In the interest of probing the reading habits of a committed journalist, I submitted my questions to Jim.

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Randy: In the past year, approximately how many books did you read for ‘enjoyment’ (that is, books outside your direct professional interest)?

Jim: I am very much a sporadic, occasional reader because words are my business as a newspaper reporter/editor. My brain tells me reading is work. That said, there is usually a specific reason for me to pick up a book.

Recent examples include

Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer and Nothing Ever Dies

Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

Patricia Schultz, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die

What motivates you to read books outside your profession?

I have been working on a small manuscript for several years about my experiences in Vietnam and after the war. Several people have read it, invited to offer criticism, or rip it apart, to make it more interesting and readable. One of my readers asked, “Does the world  really need another book on Vietnam?” My response was that it depends on the story. The world is always ready for another Vietnam story as long as it’s an interesting read.

The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize in 2016. That tells me that the world does need another book on Vietnam. I read Nguyen’s book because I was interested in what is Pulitzer worthy these days, and also because I was intrigued by the story of a Viet Cong agent who masquerades as a refugee. It is a story told from a minority viewpoint that will sometimes baffle and infuriate. Viet Thanh Nguyen’s parents were Vietnam refugees who settled in California after the war. He is now a college professor on the west coast. All of that makes it  interesting to me because of my own Vietnam history, including having a Vietnam war bride and returning to Vietnam several times after the war.

Nothing Ever Dies landed on my reading list because I wanted to see what else Nguyen had written.

How do you choose what books you will read?

Biographies and history are some of my favorite reads. Alexander Hamilton and Richard Nixon are among the bios in my little library, along with books on The Beatles, Ronnie Spector, Chuck Berry, Grace Slick, and Keith Richards.

I have just finished the Springsteen bio (for which he received a $10 million advance) and highly recommend it to anyone interested in popular culture. Springsteen is the rare clear-headed entertainer who eschewed drugs, and goes into details about his struggle for success, and the creative process involved in some of his best songs, including “Born to Run.” Although he never served in Vietnam, he talks about the significant impact that war had on him (seeing a pattern here?).

Keith Richard’s bio is amazing as well, given his well documented destructive lifestyle which he survived and remained a creative force. But I would have preferred to read more about Richard’s music and less about his substance abuse.

With Springsteen, there are personal connections we can make (dysfunctional family, struggle with playing the guitar, struggle, struggle, struggle), and things that are more mysterious, such as how one leaves a field of competitors and contemporaries and becomes a megastar.

What book or books are you reading now?

In front of me now is 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. I am planning a trip to Europe in the late spring-early summer. Practical tips on maximizing my time and making travel as efficient as possible are valuable.

What three or four books do you find you most often recommend to others?

Most recently I recommended the Springsteen book to a young reporter. She had been told by others that it wasn’t so good. I can only speak for myself and found that it was one of the best pop bios I have ever read. Springsteen is a surprisingly good writer.

Thanks, Jim. I hope your writing goes well, and that you land a Springsteen-like advance. I look forward to reading it.

[For an explanation of this series, see the post The (Book) Lives of the (Not So) Rich and (Marginally) Famous. I will be asking the same questions of all I interview, with a few followup questions as needed.]

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Wesley Hill is a man who clearly loves to read and loves to read all kinds of books. He is a graduate of Wheaton College and Bethlehem College and Seminary in the United States as well as Durham University in the United Kingdom. He is a theologian and a teacher, serving as an assistant professor of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

Wesley Hill

He not only reads books, but he writes them. He is the author of a number of books and countless articles spanning several interests. The honesty and sensitivity of his writing have helped many, particularly as he works through what it means to be a gay Christian in today’s complicated world. In addition he writes regularly for the magazines “Christianity Today” and “First Things” and he blogs at Spiritual Friendship.

Also, on Sunday, August 13, 2017, the church I pastor, Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oviedo, Florida, will be blessed to have Dr. Hill preach.

If you gain nothing else from this interview, hear here a voice of grace and passion. Perhaps you will be inclined to pick up one of the books he has written as well as those he recommends. I would encourage that.

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Randy: In the past year, approximately how many books did you read for ‘enjoyment’ (that is, books outside your direct professional interest)?

Wes: This is a hard question to answer because my personal and professional interests line up so closely. If I weren’t a seminary professor, I’d be reading all the theology books I read for “work” simply for fun. There’s not a clean or easy separation for me here. As I’ve described in a column for the First Things website, I am a big believer in the importance of “irrelevant reading” for “work”: Often novels and books of poetry end up being important for my “professional life,” and my “professional” reading often worms its way into my daydreams and prayers and personal musings. Here’s how I put it in my column:

“I sometimes tell my students the most important reading they’ll do for one of my classes at the seminary where I teach may well be the reading I never thought to assign. They’ll be working away on an essay for me on the theme of faith in the Gospel of Mark, and something in an Auden poem will be just the thing that connects the dots for them. Or they’ll be writing about the motif of light in the Fourth Gospel, and something about the way Wallace Stegner described the character Charity by the lake in Crossing to Safety opens a wider vista for their reflections. This is what broad, indiscriminate reading of interesting texts does—it furnishes the raw materials for unexpected correlations and associations to spark. It’s often the irrelevant reading that does this, the reading you’re not supposed to be doing, the reading that’s not related at all to that project you’re meant to be completing.”

I remember that article and was encouraged by that idea that everything relates. I tell those learning to be pastors that in a very real sense EVERYTHING is sermon preparation. So, what else motivates you to read books outside your profession?

Before I discovered what my profession would be, I was already a voracious reader. I grew up reading mostly pulpy detective novels and some pretty bad Christian fiction. But I also started reading people like C. S. Lewis and Henri Nouwen—neither “professional theologians,” as I am—in high school. Those habits have stayed with me. I once heard a theologian on a panel critiquing The Da Vinci Code boasting that it was the first novel he’d read in decades. And I thought, “How sad!” What an impoverished life it would be if I could only read “theology,” narrowly circumscribed.

How do you choose what books you will read?

Basically, I do what my friend Alan Jacobs has advised: I read at whim. I am a woefully undisciplined reader. At any given time, I have five or six books going, and I’m always picking up another based on changing moods or interests. In my professional life, I am a bit more systematic, but even there, I rely on personal impressions and the recommendations of friends just as much as I do on the advice of professional journals.

Several more considerations shape my approach to reading. One is from Alan Jacobs’ book The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. He recommends “reading upstream,” which is to say, once you find a book or an author you love, read what they read and loved.

Another thing I often do: When I find an author I love, I read all their books. (Right now I’m doing this with E. L. Mascall, one of the great Anglican writers of the twentieth century, and Robert Farrar Capon, the late grace-addicted Episcopal priest-cook.) I’ve also been influenced by the theologian Fred Sanders’ advice: If you’re a theologian, as I am, he says you ought to (1) pick a doctrine and read everything you can on it and (2) pick a theologian to ‘make your own’ as a touchstone for all your work. In my case, (1) is the doctrine of the Trinity and (2)… well, I haven’t done it consistently, but the closest person to that for me is probably Karl Barth.

What book or books are you reading now?

I’m just finishing Luther’s 1535 Lectures on Galatians—wonderful! And I’m in the middle of the Elena Ferrante Neapolitan novels, which aren’t quite what they’re billed as being (a story of friendship) but they’re immensely insightful and rather harrowing actually.

I’m also reading a collection of essays by younger people of color, edited by Jesmyn Ward, talking about race, called The Fire This Time. The essay on “Walking while Black” by Garnett Cadogan is worth the price of the book.

What three or four books do you find you most often recommend to others?

I often find myself telling students and friends to read the novels of Chaim Potok. Better than virtually anyone else I’ve read, he understands the growing pains of a childhood religious faith as it moves into adulthood.

In my discipline of New Testament studies, I regularly point people to God Crucified by Richard Bauckham and The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard Hays. On a personal, spiritual, emotional level, probably no book has actually helped me more than Gay and Catholic by Eve Tushnet.

I love Potok. Glad we share that. Thanks for taking part and expanding my vision of what is worth reading. My ‘wish list’ of books to read is now expanded, probably beyond reason.

[For an explanation of this series, see the post The (Book) Lives of the (Not So) Rich and (Marginally) Famous. I will be asking the same questions of all I interview, with a few followup questions as needed.]

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I have asked several pastor friends of mine about their reading habits, and their answers have varied widely. When asked about books he had read for fun in the past year, one pastor responded, “Only two I can think of.” Some of us do better than that.

The answers to my survey questions below come from a good friend of mine, the Reverend Mike Osborne, associate pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Orlando. Mike is a (rather proud) graduate of Clemson University and of Covenant Theological Seminary. He has been a pastor since the mid-80s and he himself has written a wonderful book on persevering in ministry, Surviving Ministry, which I reviewed here. Mike is a perceptive and wise pastor and friend who blogs occasionally at SurvingMinistry.com.

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Randy: In the past year, approximately how many books did you read for ‘enjoyment’?

Mike: 10 plus parts of 4 or 5.

That’s tough for me. I’m obsessive enough that once I start a book, I feel morally obligated to finish it. Why do you stop?

Sometimes the book doesn’t hold my interest. Some books say everything they need to say in the first few chapters and the rest is either obvious or redundant. And, of course, sometimes the problem is not the book but my lack of discipline. Unlike you, I do not feel morally obligated to finish a book.

In that, you are a better man than I!

Another thing… If I see a book in a bookstore I might be captured by its cover or subject, but then after I’ve bought the book and started into it, I find I’m actually not all that interested in the content. It was flirtation rather than true commitment. Like when I was last in Chicago, having just seen the Cubs play, I was browsing in a used bookstore and found a book on baseball history. I thought how great the book would be. When I got home and the baseball thrill was gone, I had more objectivity and found the book to be not well written. So I stopped.

Even pastors flirt and can’t commit, I see. I just gave up on a book, but it took me 400 pages to do so. What motivates you to read books merely for pleasure?

The need to relax, to think about things other than ministry, to learn about history and popular culture, to grow more well-rounded.

How do you choose what books you will read?

I get interested in one thing or another at random times. I may watch a TV show that sparks my interest, let’s say, one set in WWII. I may get on a kick to read biographies from a certain time period or about a certain songwriter. As soon as a new book by Erik Larson comes out, I’ll get it and read it no matter what it’s about.

On Larson, we are agreed! What book or books are you reading now?

Jonathan Gould, Can’t Buy Me Love (Beatles bio)

Amity Shlaes, Coolidge

Don Carson, Praying with Paul

R. C. Sproul and Stephen J. Nichols, The Legacy of Luther

What three or four books do you find you most often recommend to others?

Within my ministry interest –

Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life

John bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Outside of ministry –

Anything by Erik Larson

C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Ron Chernow, Hamilton

Do you ever recommend fiction to people? If so, what?

I’ve read so little fiction that my answer would probably be no. I recommended Kite Runner some time ago. And Stephen King’s 11/22/63.

Two interviews, two recommendations of 11/22/63. I sense a pattern. Finally, you are a great fan of Erik Larson. Which of his is your favorite?

Devil in the White City

Mine, too. Thanks!

[For an explanation of this series, see the post The (Book) Lives of the (Not So) Rich and (Marginally) Famous. I will be asking the same questions of all I interview, with a few followup questions as needed.]

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Roy Starling recently retired as a teacher of English at Oviedo High School in Oviedo, Florida. Prior to that he was a professor of literature at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. He has a PhD in literature from Florida State University. Though I never sat in his classroom, he has several attributes that  tell me he was a wonderful teacher: a love of his subject, a passion for his students, and a good sense of humor. I’ve observed all this in him over the years I’ve known him. Roy is a wonderful writer who blogs at StarkNotes.

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Randy: In the past year, approximately how many books did you read for ‘enjoyment’?

Roy: 20+

What motivates you to read such books?

Pleasure, but not what is mistakenly referred to as guilty pleasure.

What is the difference between ‘pleasure’ and ‘guilty’ pleasure?

It might’ve been Stephen King who said it’s time for us to retire the ‘guilty’ in front of pleasure. If you’re reading and it’s pleasurable, why would you feel guilty? Infinite Jest gave me pleasure. Duma Key is giving me pleasure, but not the same kind. But it sure isn’t guilty. I haven’t done anything wrong. Also books not considered a part of the literary canon by academics would supposedly evoke guilt from a lit professor.

Language used well gives pleasure, end of story, turn out the lights, don’t let the screen door, etc.

How do you choose what books you will read?

Hearsay, plus knowledge of an author, plus a decent possibility that the book will be complex, True, aesthetically appealing, and thought provoking.

Exception: Stephen King for the pure pleasure of reading as a worthwhile pastime, and hence not guilty.

What book or books are you reading now?

Donald Barthelme’s short stories

Stephen King, Cell

Joyce Carol Oates, Little Bird of Heaven

What three or four books do you find you most often recommend to others?

To readers:

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Kate Atkinson, Life After Life or A God in Ruins

Don DeLillo,  White Noise

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

David Guterson, Our Lady of the Forest

For non-readers (who are probably only going to read my recs):

Stephen King, 11/22/63 or Misery

I’m preparing this post on a Thursday night. Tomorrow morning I will meet my friend, Dr. Rook, at our local Starbucks. He will be sitting at the same table he always sits at. He, like me, is a man of routine. He will be drinking his morning coffee and he will have a stack of books in front of him. One of them will be a novel by Philip Dick and another will be something on Zen Buddhism, unless he has left that for the time being to return to exploring the biblical book of Job. I know this because we talk about these things. When we meet, I will ask him about his books, and he will ask me about how I’m doing with the Joyce Carol Oates book I’ve been laboring through. I will tell him that contrary to my tendency to dutifully plow to the end of any book I start, I’m abandoning her after giving her 400 pages of my time. We’ll talk about other things, of course, but since books are a part of our lives, we’ll talk books.

And that is as it should be. Reading, though a solitary endeavor, is still a communal affair. Books are meant to be talked about, and some of that conversation has been going on here in the comments to the recent posts. I have decided to extend that conversation.

Over the next few weeks, perhaps longer, I am going to share with the readers of this blog interviews that I’ve conducted with a number of people known to me and known to be readers. Some of these will be people others know well, and some not. But as I’ve conducted these interview and gotten a variety of replies, I believe all will find these of interest.

I’ll begin shortly by sharing the responses of my friend Dr. Rook. Though he has taught literature at both the high school and college level, his reading habits and recommendations don’t read like a syllabus at all. As well, I look forward to introducing you to the reading recommendations of a fellow pastor and those of a home school mom / part-time engineer, both of whom read surprisingly and widely.

Steve Brown

Eventually we will hear from those who write books as well as read them. Steve Brown, former pastor, current author, and founder and director of the radio and on-line ministry of Key Life will reveal what’s on his night stand.

Wesley Hill

We will get a chance to look over the shoulder of Biblical studies professor and acclaimed author Wesley Hill. There will be others to surprise us along the way.

I hope there will be encouragement here, as well as fun. We never read alone.

My wife and I were having lunch with a young woman a few months ago when she reported having purchased some books from the local “friends of the library” sale. Among the titles she listed for us, one caused her to stumble because it seemed so odd to her, almost embarrassing. She is fascinated with Rome and so seeing a book titled Rome, 1960, she grabbed it, having no idea what was in it.

I knew what was in it. Cassius Clay (aka Muhammed Ali) was in it. Wilma Rudoph was in it. A barefoot Ethiopian shocking the world was in it, as well as Americans tempting Russians to defect. Racism, sacrifice, triumph, and disappointment were in it. Two years before I had asked a friend who teaches sports writing at Rollins College in Orlando for an example of really good sports writing. This book by David Maraniss was his answer, a fascinating story of the 1960 summer Olympics, “The Olympics,” the subtitle tells us, “That Changed the World.” She had snagged a gem.

Choosing a book can have that kind of serendipitous air about it just like taking unplanned walks in the woods will sometimes bring us to places more surprising than we would find on a systematic tour. And yet sometimes without a plan, we just never get to see that Grand Canyon we’ve heard so much about.

My reading is a combination of the planned and the serendipitous. I outlined my plan with a friend over lunch once. It looks like this:

Translation available upon request. Please allow six weeks for delivery.

I’m clearly in need of therapy.

It struck me long ago that without a plan in my movie watching, then what I watch is dictated by Hollywood marketing or Netflix algorithms and I miss the gems which might otherwise enrich me. The same logic applies to reading.Enjoy the bestsellers and and blockbusters. But set aside some time to find out what all the fuss is surrounding books (and movies) that you have heard about and never tasted.

Plan to read Anna Karenina even though it’s been a long time since it’s been a best seller. Or maybe it’s time to read To Kill a Mockingbird to see what all the fuss was/is about. And Crime and Punishment really isn’t that long. Give it a shot. Don’t shy away from having a plan, even if that plan is simply to read one classic each year.

Part of my plan is to read ONE Patrick O’brian Aubrey/Maturin novel each year. The logic in this, besides their being so good and a wonderful treat, is that there are over twenty and so I’ll have to live to be at least 80 to finish. Friends are telling me to step up the pace and read one after the other. I think they want me to die young.

But don’t be ruled by your plan. Occasionally, just take a walk in the woods and see what you can find.

And walk with friends. Reading is never a solitary endeavor. Some of the best books I’ve read (like Rome, 1960) have come from the recommendations of others.

Ultimately, reading is one area of our lives where we are permitted to follow our hearts. And that’s not a bad thing.

You are finally out of school

[Before Christmas we began a conversation about reading for pleasure. The previous two posts can be accessed here and here.]

The journey from the parking lot at the local mall to the Apple Computer store inside runs through the Barnes and Noble bookstore, a not unpleasant feature for sure. After walking through it the other day, I stood at the far end and looked back across that space and thought, very profoundly, “That’s a lot of books.”

I think even Solomon, who was more aware than most (“Of making many books there is no end….” / Ecclesiastes 12:12), would at the sight have run to a safe corner and melted into an overstimulated lump.

I can’t pick a Christmas tree from the mere forty or so on the lot. How daunting picking one book to read can be. The “Books in Print” people catalogue over 20 million books worldwide and the International Publishers Association tell us that over 300,000 annually are added domestically to that list. You might need to hurry to catch up. Or join Solomon in the corner over there.

And yet, if want you to pick one, how can you?

You could ask me, but I’m reticent to do so. I can tell you what I like, but that might not correspond to your passions and may do little to rekindle your wonder. More importantly, I think many of us have lost the ability to feel curiosity and have forgotten how to feed it. I want us to again experience the magic of our desires fixing upon a book that shows itself worthy of our attention.

A recently minted college graduate asked me recently what to read. As we discussed it, I suggested he answer that question by asking himself some questions first. Perhaps thinking about these will help others navigate the myriad choices before us.

1. What questions do you want to have answered?
2. What concerns would you like to think more deeply about?
3. What things interest you that you’d like to explore?
4. What books/authors have you always wanted to read (or types of books) but have never had time to do so?
5. What genre of books would you like to explore that perhaps you’ve not explored before?
6. What people would you like to be better able to communicate with or understand?

Perhaps you’ve heard a lot about this Tolkien fellow (question 4) and have always wanted to check him out. Or maybe mushrooms fascinate you (question 3). Out of 20 million books in print, surely there is a good one on mushrooms. Or maybe you have a Muslim neighbor and want to enter into his experience (question 6). Surely there is good book that will help you do so. (NOT a “How to Share Jesus” book, but one that helps you understand his or her life.)

Of course, I’d be happy to offer a suggestion or two. But my goal is not to get you to like the things I like. My goal is to rekindle the curiosity that possibly our education has dimmed.

Some common concerns surfaced in reaction to my post Tuesday regarding reading for the mere pleasure of it. Most of us despair of finding adequate time to read, and many of us struggle with the cost of buying books. I’d like to touch upon the issue of cost before we set the whole aside and return to it in January.

Books are, as they should be, expensive. Many worthy and creative people are involved in creating a book and we support their labor (and guarantee more books) when we pay for them. And yet, since the cost can be prohibitive, many need to consider alternative ways of supporting the habit.

As several mentioned, there is the library. Libraries are local and free with wonderful selections staffed by people who love books. And yet I don’t use the library. I read slowly and rarely can finish a book in the library’s allotted time. As well, I like to make books my own (as Mortimer Adler encourages us to do) by marking them with a pencil. The good ones I like to keep on my shelf to share with others. Nevertheless, though libraries don’t work for me, they do for many, many others.

A second option obvious to us all is to find a trustworthy used book store in your community. The best ones will buy your old books turning your ‘old’ ones into ‘new’ (albeit used) ones through an amazing economic alchemy. Locally Brightlight Books gives me store credit for my old books which I then use when they have a book I want. I’m spoiled. If this model does not exist elsewhere, it should!

As a further option, I’m surprised that more people are not aware of Abebooks, an online bookstore ‘aggregator.’ From a single portal users have access to the stock of thousands of book stores all over the world. I will often find a used, hardcover, first edition for far less money than I can get the same title in paperback and new elsewhere. Some sellers are book mills, slapping stickers all over the books and shipping them out like a factory, and should be avoided (I have a list). But most are small booksellers who love books delivering them lovingly wrapped in brown paper like a present.

Surprisingly, buying sight unseen can be a joy. I once ordered a hardcover of Michael Chabon’s wonderful Summerland (my review here) for $5. What arrived was a pristine first edition copy, autographed by the author.

So, yeah, I’m a big fan.

Here is what we all need to do. With that Amazon gift card you get for Christmas buy a new book. But if the new book is too expensive, use the gift card to buy wiper blades for your car. (Amazon sells them and, admit it, you should have replaced those old ones months ago.) Then spend the excess from your car maintenance budget at your local bookstore or at Abebooks. You get books, your budget is happy, and you can see out your car window again. It’s all good.

Have a merry Christmas everyone!

Before reading this post, I’d like you to answer three questions, in the comments section if you would, but at least in your head.

1. Is there a book that you have been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to reading?
2. What book is it?
3. What has kept you from reading it?

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Some of us read so that we not feel alone. Some read for other reasons. But how many of us simply read because of the pleasure it affords?

According to a recently released study from the Pew Research Center, 26% of Americans did not read one single book in the 12 months preceding the study.

My mistrust of polls and statistics is well documented and this recent election cycle has not remedied that.

But even though that figure seems like it is probably right, how high would the percentage go if we excluded those who only read a book because it was assigned or otherwise required of them? That is, how many of us read a book simply for the pleasure of doing so?

When I was a kid, I’d plunder the local library. How many of us still do such a thing? If, as I expect, the answer is few, I want to know why.

Is it possible that we have educated the love of reading from among us? The stats say that the more education, the more likely it is that one has read a book. But it is possible that the books the educated continue to read are those assigned or demanded of their profession, not those chosen? My experience with students AND academics is that many have given up reading for fun. Years of forced reading has squashed the love of reading. It has all become so serious.

We who were once kids carting books home from the library to feed our imagination have been reduced to grownups who lug books around to fulfill our obligations. That part of our heart that resonated with wonder and adventure, if not as well human empathy, dies in that transformation.

Believing that embers of that wonder yet remain, I am issuing a challenge to all who will join me in a small act of rebellion against the stats. Read one book that you want to read in 2017. There is a caveat here: to qualify, the book must be one that you want to read for the mere pleasure of reading. Books that will help you professionally, self-help books, books directly related to your career, and books assigned for a class do not count. Be a kid again and find a book that you just want to read. Just because.

I know there are more substantive causes you could join, more significant acts of rebellion in which you might engage. But there might be more value in this one than you can imagine. So, do it. Do it if you even need to stop reading your favorite blog (this one, of course) to do so.

Do it. Do it to wreck the stats, sure.

But most importantly, do it for fun and the rekindling of wonder.

My name is Randy Greenwald and I believe this: we read to know we’re not alone.

This being the internet, with a little bit of luck that quote will emerge somewhere attributed to me and I’ll be thought profoundly wise. But it would be a ruse.

I ran across this idea, that we read to know we’re not alone, while at the same time reading Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir and I linked her with the quote. But it is not hers.

Online, it is linked everywhere to C. S. Lewis. That kind of sounds right, but, no. It is only ‘his’ because Anthony Hopkins speaks that line while playing Lewis in the movie version of the stage play Shadowlands.  So in reality the credit belongs to the playwright/screenwriter/novelist William Nicholson, the author of the play.

Whether the quote was original with him, I’ll not bother to research further. The idea itself is and has always been true. Those times when I have been most engaged in a story, particularly a memoir, are those times when I realize that the experience of the one about whom I reading resonates with my own. At that point I bond with the author and I realize that I am not alone.

This is the world’s greatest birthday cake.

Lauren Winner in Still speaks of her obsessive anxiety and how that plays out in her life. I see myself in that. I am not alone. Thomas Oden details a significant change in his theological thinking in his memoir A Change of Heart. The details differ in important ways, but the wonder of renewed discovery of old truths crossed my own and encouraged me to know that this is a shared experience. I am not alone.

And I believe that Mary Karr did say somewhere that in her own life as a lonely, friendless, young girl that when she immersed herself in her books, she felt less lonely. The characters in her books became, at least for a time, her friends, her companions along the road, those who would hang out with her and share their hearts with her when no one else would.

So, yes. We read to know we are not alone.

Parallel to this it might be said that we write that we, or others, might not be forgotten. There is a wonderful insult placed into the mouth of Paul Bettany’s Geoffrey Chaucer in the movie A Knight’s Tale. Chaucer’s only way to get revenge on those who have taken everything he owns is to write about them.

I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity.

His motive was negative, but the idea in actuality is positive. What is written, we hope, will not be forgotten. All Over but the Shoutin’   is the wonderfully engaging memoir of Rick Bragg, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist who, along the way, somehow managed to forget to go to college. In the prologue he shares a story about his interview with a mother in the projects whose young son had been killed by a stray bullet on his way to kindergarten. As he leaves after hearing her story she thanks him.He asks her why she would thank him.

“She answered by pulling out a scrapbook of her baby’s death, cut from the local newspaper. ‘People remembers it,’ she said. ‘People forgets if it ain’t wrote down.’”

There is hope, longing, and wisdom in that.

And maybe, if it is ‘wrote down,’ another who has suffered such anguish will read it and not feel so all alone.