First of all, I’ve faced my first challenge of being in a book club. It is not reading the book. It is not thinking of things to say about the book. No, the problem is keeping myself from skipping ahead. Jess knows that one of my habits when reading a book is to read the ending. Usually, I read into the book until I get really engrossed, and then I just have to know how it all turns out. This is especially bad with mysteries (such as this one). People think that reading ahead spoils the book. But I actually have a whole theory worked out about this. I see it as a metaphor for life. I like that I have an assurance of what will happen at the end of my life. I’ve been able to read that last page and so I feel that I can more enjoy the story along the way. And so it is that I like reading the ending of a book, because then I can more enjoy the story along the way – I know that everything works out (or doesn’t).
All that being said, as the real mystery in the story starts to develop, I’ve had the urge to skip ahead. How does it turn out? But I’ve held off. Being part of a book club, I feel that I have a commitment to you fine ladies, and so I will resist the urge.
Other thoughts on the book/reading: I have a tendency and I wonder if it’s a human trait. I look for things in a book that I can relate to or that might apply to me. Beth Moore talked about this sort of idea in her Daniel Bible study – we do Bible study expecting to find things that apply to our lives, which is good, but sometimes the study needs to be less about ourselves and more just learning about God. That’s a poor summary of her sentiment but you get the idea. Anyway, I catch myself while reading looking for things that I can apply to my life. For example, on pg. 15 it says, “His life was unrecorded; who is there to write down the lives of ordinary people?” That is one of the things I’m passionate about. I love the idea of telling the stories of ordinary people. “Ordinary” people live extraordinary lives, but our focus is always on famous people or on people who have drawn a lot of attention to themselves for one reason or another.
I have more thoughts on the book so far, but this is getting rather long. Maybe later. Thanks for reading.
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2 comments:
way to not read ahead :) I'm not sure if I ever told you, but i do like the idea of knowing the ending as you're reading. Sometimes it reveals things you might have missed. That's why I like watching movies twice instead of just once. But it will be a good challenge to not skip ahead and whenever you have the urge, just look in the mirror and shake your fist at yourself :)
yes exactly. It's one of the reasons why I read books I like multiple times - I catch new things. I actually had to stop myself last night and I contemplated shaking my fist at myself. :)
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