Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis

Lovers of great literature will revel in Surprised by Joy, the biography of a man who was led to salvation by his reading diet. The progression of “great books” in Lewis’ life worked on him like drops of water on a stone. Eventually their Christian themes made a groove in his heart that he could no longer ignore.

The “joy” he writes of is not happiness as the world defines it, but the pang of inconsolable longing (p. 62) This longing for joy led Lewis to finally embrace theism and, soon afterwards, Christianity. Interestingly, once he became a Christian, he no long sought after those stabs of joy as before. He still had moments of intense feelings (“tastes of heaven”), but he no longer idolized those experiences. He took them as moments of grace pointing to an eternal reality yet to be experienced.

The book recounts his miserable days as a school boy, his difficult relationship with his father, his first friendships, and the heart change brought about by books.

In his penultimate chapter called “Checkmate”, he writes: All the books were beginning to turn against me. Indeed, I must have been as blind as a bat not to have seen, long before, the ludicrous contradiction between my theory of life and my actual experiences as a reader. George MacDonald had done more to me than any other writer; of course, it was a pity he had that bee in his bonnet about Christianity. He was good in spite of it. Chesterton had more sense than all the other moderns put together; bating, of course, his Christianity. Johnson was one of the few authors whom I felt I could trust utterly; curiously enough, he had the same kink. Spenser and Milton by a strange coincidence, had it too. Even among ancient authors the same paradox was to be found. The most religious (Plato, Aeschylus, Virgil) were clearly those on whom I could really feed. On the other hand, those writers who did not suffer from religion and with whom in theory my sympathy ought to have been complete – Shaw and Wells and Mill and Gibbon and Voltaire – all seemed a little thin… It wasn’t that I didn’t like them. They were all entertaining; but hardly more. There seemed to be no depth in them. They were too simple. The roughness and density of life did not appear in their books.

One of my favorite books of 2023.

Blessings,

How to Read A Devotional Classic According to John Wesley

(Photo by Aaron Owens at Unsplash)

It is well known that John Wesley, the 18th century revivalist, was an avid reader. Although a self-proclaimed man of "one book," he read hundreds of others and often edited and condensed Christian classics for the common man. 

In his introduction to Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ, he gives "a few plain directions on how to read this (or any other religious book) with an eye to growing spiritually."

First, assign yourself a specific time each day.... We give ourselves plenty of opportunity for eating, why not adequate time for spiritual reading to improve our soul?

Second, prepare yourself for reading by purity of intention, aiming to improve yourself. Ask God to enlighten your understanding and open your heart for receiving what you read, so you can know what God requires of you and then do what He says to do.

Third, do not read out of mere curiosity or too quickly; rather, read unhurriedly, seriously, and with careful attention. Stop now and then to process fresh insights.... Read some passages over and again, especially those that deeply concern you yourself; then ponder how to put them into practice.

Fourth, work at putting yourself in a frame of mind that corresponds with what you read. Otherwise, it will prove empty and unprofitable, while it only enlightens your understanding, but fails to influence your will or emotions. Therefore, lift up petitions now and again for God's grace. Write down quotable sayings; treasure them in your memory bank so that when temptations come, you have a quiver full of arrows against sins you may be addicted to. 

Fifth, conclude your reading time with a short prayer to God, asking Him to preserve and prosper the good seed sown in your heart, so it will yield fruit in its season.

Blessings,

Quote on Bookselling as a Life's Calling

          A bookseller, said Grandfather, is the link between mind and mind, the feeder of the hungry, very often the binder up of wounds. There he sits, your bookseller, surrounded by a thousand minds all done up neatly in cardboard cases; beautiful minds, courageous minds, strong minds, wise minds, all sorts and conditions. And there come into him other minds, hungry for beauty, for knowledge, for truth, for love, and to the best of his ability he satisfies them all.... Yes.... It's a great vocation.

(from A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge, p. 92)

My Stats at Goodreads.com

I didn’t think I needed an account at Goodreads because my TBR list is huge and I never wonder what to read next. Still, I’m glad a friend invited me to join because I love the stats. It appeals to the OCD in me to know how many books I’ve read (955 since 1986), in which genres, and by whom they were written.

It took me several months to enter my reading log, but now it’s finally done. I had no idea that I had read so much non-fiction (largely due to my early parenting days when I read voraciously on raising kids and on homeschooling.) In the last decade I’ve switched to literary classics and in the last five years I’ve added WWII memoirs.

I was surprised to see that my most read author was George MacDonald (20). I binged on his books in the ‘80s. Other authors, like C.S. Lewis (13 titles) and G.K. Chesterton (11) have been read sporadically about every other year or so during the last 3 decades. Elizabeth Goudge came in at 11 novels. Jan Karon at 10. Rumer Godden and Charles Dickens at 7.

By the end of this year I’ll have read 1,000 books! Anyone else enjoying Goodreads?

Quote of the Week by Ben Franklin

Reading makes a full man,

meditation a profound man,

discourse a clear man.   

-     Ben Franklin

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Inkheart starts out like a book lover´s dream. Each chapter begins with a delectable quote from a famous classic. The hero of the story, Mortimer Folchart (known as “Mo”), is a “book doctor” who binds up broken books. Three of the main characters are book addicts. Mo is such a gifted reader that he has the ability to read books and make the contents come true. (Years ago he read the book Inkheart out loud and it changed his life forever.) The bad guys in the book can´t read. Obviously, there is a lot here for bibliophiles to savor. So why didn´t I love this book?

For one thing, it was about a hundred pages too long. By page 450, I stopped caring very much about the outcome. (Sadly, I had seen the movie and knew how it would all turn out.)

Secondly, even with the magic qualities of literature woven into the story, Mo never comes across as an appealing protagonist. Meggie, his daughter, and Elinor, an aunt, add interest to the story, but fail to carry it.

Third, the villains are too stereotypical : Rotten to the core with no subtleties of character.

In spite of all this, there were some marvelous quotes:

If you take a book with you on a journey, an odd thing happens; the book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it.. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it . . . yes, books are like flypapers. Memories cling to the printed page better than anything else. (p. 21)

There was another reason why Meggie took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange - familiar voices, friends that never quarrelled with her, clever, powerful friends, daring and knowledgeable, tried and tested adventures who had travelled far and wide. (p. 21)

Books have to be heavy because the world´s inside them. (p. 25)

So, even though the story never really grabbed me, I enjoyed the great quotes and the good writing. Funke´s book was translated from German into English by Anthea Bell who hails from the U.K., which gave the book a nice British feel.

Has anyone else read it? What did you think?

Are You Bi-Literate?

Tim Challies linked to an interesting article on how the internet has made most of us "skimmers" vs. readers. (The follow-up article was on how most people just skimmed the first article.) The passages in italics are from the original post.

Claire Handscombe relates that since she quickly reads through e-mails and blog posts, she now has difficulty reading normal books. I have noticed this tendency in myself. My new attention span for a book is about an hour. After that I really have to push myself.

To cognitive neuroscientists, Handscombe's experience is the subject of great fascination and growing alarm. Humans, they warn, seem to be developing digital brains with new circuits for skimming through torrents of information online. This alternative way of reading is competing with traditional deep reading circuitry developed over several millennia...

Maryanne Wolf, one of the world's foremost experts on the study of reading was startled last year to discover her brain was apparently adapting, too. After a day of scrolling through the Web, she sat down to read Herman Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game." "I'm not kidding: I couldn't do it," she said. "It was torture getting through the first page..."

Wolf's next book will look at what the digital world is doing to the brain, including looking at brain-scan data as people read both online and in print. She is particularly interested in comprehension results in screen vs. print reading...

Researchers say that the differences between text and screen reading should be studied more thoroughly and that the differences should be dealt with in education, particularly with school-aged children. There are advantages to both ways of reading. There is potential for a bi-literate brain. "We can't turn back," Wolf said. "We should be simultaneously reading to children from books, giving them print, helping them learn this slower mode, and at the same time steadily increasing their immersion into the technological, digital age. It's both." 

I'd like to make just a couple of comments: First, I think skimming is absolutely essential in this age of information overload. I learned this skill way back in the 1980's so that I wouldn't waste time on non-essential information while doing research papers. Skimming is not a bad thing. What worries me is that our brains are becoming re-wired to want/tolerate only small bites of information.

Second, the idea that we have to steadily increase our children's immersion into the technological, digital age is ridiculous. It's already a stampeding horse, that's dragging our kids away from healthy times of imaginitive play and quiet reflection. If anything, we have to look for ways to decrease their immersion.

It looks like it's going to take a lot of determination to be bi-literate, but I'm up for the challenge. What about you? Do you struggle with this too?






 

Bookish Quotes

Quotes collected by my bibliophile brother:

"My books have been part of my life forever. They have been good soldiers, boon companions. Every book has survived numerous purges over the years; each book has repeatedly been called onto the carpet and asked to explain itself. I own no book that has not fought the good fight, taken on all comers, and earned the right to remain. If a book is there, it is there for a reason. . . ." - Joe Queenan

"To a bibliophile, there is but one thing better than a box of new books, and that is a box of old ones." - Will Thomas

"Few pleasures, for the true reader, rival the pleasure of browsing unhurriedly among books: old books, new books, library books, other people's books, one's own books - it does not matter whose or where. Simply to be among books, glancing at one here, reading a page from one over there, enjoying them all as objects to be touched, looked at, even smelt, is a deep satisfaction. And often, very often, while browsing haphazardly, looking for nothing in particular, you pick up a volume that suddenly excites you, and you know that this one of all the others you must read. Those are great moments - and the books we come across like that are often the most memorable." - Aiden Chambers

"That I can read and be happy while I am reading, is a great blessing." - Anthony Trollope

"You are never the same person when you finish a book. . . ." - Philip Yancey

Ten Reasons People Prefer Physical Books to Digital

Tim Challies had a link to this infographic on ten reasons people prefer physical books to digital ones. I use my Kindle often, yet I have to agree with most of the reasons listed. One thing that bugs me about digital books is the anonymity. Lots of people on the subway use e-readers, but without the visible book cover I can never see what they are reading (and hence can't strike up a conversation about it.)

Also, implicit in number two is the difficulty of paging back and forth in an e-reader. It's so frustrating to try and find the passage you vaguely remember. (The Kindle search engine sometimes helps with this.)

Number ten made me laugh: "How can anyone see how clever you are if you are holding a grey rectangle?"

Reminiscing about Books

I was adding a few titles to my reading journal and decided to take a peak at what I was reading ten years ago. It turned out to be a Jane Austen knockoff called The Third Sister by Julia Barrett.  (I have since given up all books that try to sound like Austen, but which invariably fail.)

Peeking back a little further, I saw that twenty years ago this month I was reading poetry and books about homeschooling.  And 25 years ago I was devouring all of Michael Phillips re-workings of George MacDonald's romances. I was also reading my first Elizabeth Goudge book, The Scent of Water.

It's fun to think that I've read hundreds of books since then and have discovered many wonderful new authors.

Anybody else keep a reading log? What were you reading a decade ago?

Quote on How Books Shape Us

"You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read."

(Charles Jones, quoted in Mark McNees' Immersion: Live the Life God Envisioned for You)

I like this quote because I agree that good books shape us.  Life experiences do to.  Ultimately, God uses books, people and experiences to do the shaping - if we let Him.

Penny Plain by O. Douglas

This unassuming book with its unassuming title has been on my Kindle for two years.  The other day I opened it out of curiosity and was immediately pulled into the story.  

Parentless, twenty-three year old Jean Jardine lives in a little town in Scotland and is raising her three younger brothers.  They can barely make ends meet, but their home is filled with love and books.  Miss Pamela Reston is a rich, bored heiress who comes to Priorsford to escape the whirl of social activities that no longer hold any interest for her.  

Douglas quotes her as saying, “I am not going to face old age bolstered by bridge and cosmetics.  There must be other props, and I mean to find them.  I mean to possess my soul.  I’m not all froth, but, if I am, Priorsford will reveal it.” (p. 15)

This is a “happily ever after story” like most light fiction of the early 20th Century, but it's above average for several reasons. The writing is good. And the characters are extremely literate (even the children!) They are always quoting Shakespeare, the Bible or some other famous tome. Everybody worth liking has a library positively bursting with books.  

Wikipedia describes Douglas’ novels as “gentle domestic dramas,” yet this story is grounded in history too.  Written in 1920, it addresses some of the suffering caused by World War One.  

I have to agree with the reviewer over at Leaves and Pages who wrote that while the book is not earth shattering, "it is attractive in its simplicity." In the last chapter Jean tells her husband that the four nicest things in the world are “tea, a fire, a book, and a friend.”  If you agree with her, you’ll enjoy this little book.

(O. Douglas was the pen-name for Scottish author Anna Buchan, sister to novelist John Buchan.  Three of her novels are available for free on Kindle: The Setons, Penny Plain, and Olivia in India.)  

Self-Portrait in Books

I took this random picture because I wanted a new screen saver.  Later, I realized it reveals a lot about who I am.

The Chinese teapot represents my childhood in Asia.  The book by Virgil reveals my desire to read the ancient classics someday.  (Someday never comes.) We Band of Angels shows my interest in WWII.  Song of Ascents is one of the many devotional books that clutter my shelves, reminding me that Truth must be the foundation of all I’m trying to learn through books.

The Intelligent Traveler’s Guide to Historic Britain proves I’m a hopeless anglophile.  George Eliot’s titles show my definite preference in reading: 19^th Century British novels. And The Saint in Miami shows my odd partiality for movies from the 1940’s featuring wise-cracking detectives. 

There you have it.  Now it’s your turn.  What books on your shelf might “describe” you?

Books as Art

I spent last week in the home of my brother and his wife. They are both artists and book lovers so it was fun to see how they combine those two interests.

Is Reading Uncool?

The last place I expected to find great writing was on an airline flight magazine. But I recently spent a couple of pleasant hours browsing through the June issue of United’s “Hemisphere”. Adam Sachs wrote an article called “The Page Turner” in which he tries to explain the benefits of owning a Kindle to a fellow passenger.

“It’s for reading,” I say… It’s got books on it,” I add brightly, now tapping the tablet stupidly. Thousands of books inside.” Then I sort of wave the device in the air, as if to prove how light and portable it is and say hey, look at me, I’m reading.

“Oh…books,” she says, straightening her back. She’s got an iPhone in her hand, and I imagine she’s ready to Google map her way to a better conversation…. Because here’s the thing: Reading is not sexy… The electronic reader might be the first truly ingenious, paradigm-shifting piece of technology that actually makes you feel less cool than you were without it.

The Kindle is sort of homely and straitlaced, and that’s what I like about it. It’s uncool in a cool way. Just like reading.
- written by travel and food writer, Adam Sachs, used with permission - adamsachs.org

(Of course, when I wrote this back in 2009 Kindle's were sort of simple with their black cases and gray screens and ability to archive hundreds of books. Now, as I add this footnote in 2014, the Kindle Fire is anything but homely and straitlaced.)