July 15 – “Read”

So what good books have you read lately?  Chris is my hero when it comes to consistently being a reader.  She always a book of some kind in her possession, even when we are watching TV.  In fact that’s how I know if she thinks a show is good or not – if she puts the book aside and actually watches it.  She is the kind of person who has favorites that she reads and re-reads over and over and over again.  I think she has read the Harry Potter series 20 or 30 times.  Not just one book.  The whole series.  Same goes with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  And don’t even ask about The Chronicles of Narnia.  I think she surpassed 30 times many years ago (Okay.  Okay.  I confess.  I have read those a few times myself.  In fact, I might just pull down that set for one more read-through.  Unless Chris gets to it before me).  We just watched the last movie in the Divergent series on DVD.  That was one we missed in theaters.  Of course we had to watch the first two before the new one, just to get our bearings.  And all the while Chris was making her inevitable comment: “It didn’t happen that way in the book.”  After one of her tirades I finally asked her what did happen in the book.  She grinned slyly at me and said, “Go read it yourself.”  I should have known that one was coming. 

So where am I going with my own reading?  Well, not counting the Bible and the obvious stuff I read as I prepare for teachings every week, I do have one book on my desk at the moment called Walking With The Angels by Calvin Miller.  It’s kind of like Screwtape Letters in reverse.  The characters are angels instead of demons.  I’m looking forward to that one.  Calvin Miller is one of my favorite authors.  I just finished the second book in the A.D. series by Ted Dekker.  The first was A.D. 30.  This one was A.D. 33.  They are all about some nomads who meet Jesus and become his followers.  Historical fiction by another of my favorite authors.  Good stuff.  I’ll have to confess to a few others we have read.  The Hunger Games series was a favorite.  I even enjoyed the movies on that one.  Didn’t particularly the subject matter, but then, I think that was the point.  And another one that I thoroughly enjoyed and just finished (again) a week or so ago is called The Looking Glass Wars.  Very well done story about what really happened in Wonderland.  It was not the silly fairy tale made up by an author who took more than creative license with stories told him by a young adopted girl who claimed to be from there.  Oh, no.  Wonderland was a violent place.  Not so much for children, this series.  Fascinating for adults who remember the fairy tale story, though.

Well, there is my 32 line book reviews post for today.  Go.  Read.  Something.

Romans 14:19 says, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

Father, thank you for books and tales and wonders and imaginations.  Amen.