It appears to me that some people are afraid of books. A thick one must be as dry as dust and is to be avoided at all costs! To me, a book has always been a cause of excitement. What world lies waiting to be revealed in its pages? Where can it carry me and what instruction can I gain from it?
I cannot remember learning to read. Obviously I must have done so though I do not think it was an effort. As for when I read my first book, of that I have no recollection either. I do recall the comic papers I followed avidly, Dan Dare and Dennis the Menace come to mind. I guess at some point I graduated to the World War 2 books I read as a young boy and series like Hornblower by C.S. Forester where I was borne along to the time of the Napoleonic wars.
There must be a principle here, that we are able to develop an appetite for reading and that our tastes can also develop and our capacities can increase. First a little at a time, a page or two, or three or four and then a chapter a day and so on, and along with that we learn what type of book suits us as we embark on the exciting journey of reading. For some, it is good to find books in which the chapter length is quite short, it helps in giving us a sense of accomplishment as we move through the pages. Another chapter done, something begun and something ended.
What a gift literature is. Through it we can travel to another place, another time. We can study human behavior, any number of things can engage us in the reading of a book. Reading engages more of our faculties than the act of watching TV or a movie, or even watching a drama. It demands, not only the cognitive powers of our reasoning but necessitates the activity of our imagination. When we watch a movie all is done for us, sound and vision but in reading we must allow the words to quicken us in the chambers of our imagery, the pictures must come as we allow the author to conduct us through as he constructs his sentences, paragraphs and chapters. During the last four years, I have enjoyed reading at least ten books on the history of Canada. Some would say “history, it is so boring”! “Not so”, I reply. Instead, I was carried to the rivers and lakes and forests of Canada as they were being penetrated by the couriers de bois, the many fur trappers and their Indian helpers. There there were the French and the struggles with the English, not to mention the intrigue of the politicking which went on ceaselessly as the land began to open to the many settlers arriving on its shores. I could smell the odour of the prairies as they reeked with the multitudes of slain buffalo and so in these many ways there opened to me a world of vast interest.
Such worlds are accessible to us all. But we are Christians! Should we not read? What should we read? Is there not the world of missionary biography into which we can venture? What about church history? To look into the activity of God in the many moves of His Spirit which have taken place over the centuries, the testimony to His great faithfulness to His church and to the world through her. Why not, at least tentatively, look at simple books of doctrine and consider the subject of the Christian world-view?
Here are some ‘books briefs’, written to help those embarking on the adventure of Christian reading. They are not full blown ‘book revues’, not exhaustive, but give a little taste of a particular book that the questing heart might get an idea of what is inside the cover. Some of these book briefs concern books more suited to pastors and leaders, others for teenagers and others for beginners in reading. There is an intentional variety here. Perhaps they will help some to begin to avail of the treasures of Christian Literature and thereby broaden and deepen in the things of God. If this takes place then the labor of writing them will be amply rewarded. I hope to be able to add to this list of books covered month by month so let those interested take a look from time to time and so let us all go on in this adventure of learning of Him through His many vessels, authors both new and old.
