So I don't like reading fiction. My wife gently mocks me for this.
On our honeymoon at a bed and breakfast on the coast of Florida, she's reading normal beach books (think more "Kite Runner" than "Trashy Romance Novels") and I'm reading a pastoral theology book (I think I was in my John Piper "Future Grace" phase at that point). I like to say that ideas interest and motivate me. Some might say that I'm just a nerd. Tomato, tomato.
But this past week I felt the need to really unplug, so I took a couple of fiction books with me. After trying one new book and not liking it all that much, I returned to an old friend: C.S. Lewis' "Till We Have Faces."
I first read "Till We Have Faces" about six years ago. I didn't really "get it" until the wow moment about 3/4 of the way through the book, and then I realized I had probably missed a whole lot along the way. Re-reading it this time around, I was mesmerized. It isn't often that I get caught up in a book the way I was for a couple days last week. It was glorious.
"Faces" was C.S. Lewis' own favorite out of all of his works--and if you know his stuff at all, you can see why. The story that he crafts brings together so many of his passions and gifts: holy imagination, theology, psychology; there's wit and doubt and struggle and pride and intriguing characters and all of it is wrapped up in a well-told story. If you've got any recreational reading time ahead, I'd highly recommend it. Then re-read it when you get done. It's worth it to really get it.
Of course, after I finished with "Faces" I regressed in my fiction-reading-therapy program and picked up a rather ambitious tome: "The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition." 452 pages. Some of the pages are half footnotes. I'm off to a good start. We'll see how far I get before the school year starts.
5 comments:
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. very cool book with a lot of great stuff about faith vs. doubt, both from standing back and looking at the big picture and getting down to the little plot details. i've read it twice now and it was even better the second time - it might be fiction you could get into :)
kelly just read that a couple weeks ago...she said it was pretty interesting, so that's 2 votes of confidence from folks that i respect. thanks for the book plug, slater!
Ironic...
I just in the past couple wks read the first fiction I've read in... a year? Two? I dunno. Not high-quality like Lewis, but, eh, fiction nonetheless.
While Kelly may gently scold, Kate's ways are harsher. She's been getting on me for my "prejudice" against fiction for a long time. She apparently thinks it's elitist to only read non-fiction when she, the ever-open-minded one reads BOTH fiction and non-fiction. Humph. Well, I read my two fiction books of the year, now, thank you.
My two were a bad Christian romance novel by an author I used to read in junior high-- it was like catching up with old friends. Old friends I wouldn't want to live with... but, still, they were fun to visit.
The other was a young adult novel based by an IV alum named Mitali Perkins. Born in India, Perkins became a Christian in college and now writes about South Asian American teenage girls that are either adopted or experience some other kind of cross-cultural funk. Again, not the highest literary form, but I'd been wanting to see her work for a while, ever since reading an article she'd written in an old Leadership Journal.
I guess that's when it's really bad. You read fiction not just for fun but in order to "study" the way various writers are writing to various audiences in a way that connects with the nonfiction issues you like to read about.
Jesus Legend is good. PLEASE read Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes and Jesus Made in America when you get a chance. Freakin' awesome stuff. (Not sure if I mentioned either already.)
Trust Ashleigh to have good nonfiction recommendations and Kate to pump fiction! I, however, have done little reading of either this summer other than textbooks. I'm taking Discipleship Handbook and Till We Have Faces on vacation with me, so there's a little of both. I've had both books for a while now, but haven't read them yet.
Oh, and another fiction recommendation to complement Slater's. This one is just purely fun and interesting. It's called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime." If it's not your cup of tea, Kelly might enjoy it. See you in a few weeks!
Props for seeing this on Student Soul! :) Cheers.
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