Best Invention Ever - Books! by Allison Symes
Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
With this title, I know I’m preaching to the converted here, literally! But books are amazing in every format.
Most readers come from a background of having always loved reading. That’s fabulous. What is tricky is persuading those who don’t read for pleasure, or see the point of it, to discover the wonderful world of books for themselves, especially as adults.
How do we persuade people there are books for everyone? How do we persuade people Christian fiction and non-fiction can add to their faith by sharing insights in different ways? I have known people who would only read the Bible, for instance. I always thought (and still think) they miss out on special writing by not reading, say, C.S. Lewis or John Bunyan.
What I have learned about what they do has given me a deeper appreciation of being able to read the Bible in my own language, to have a wide range of Christian and other literature readily available. Oh if that were true for every language!
A book I read many years ago which started to wake me up to this was Mary Jones and Her Bible, the story of a girl’s quest to have a Bible in the Welsh language. She walked 26 miles barefoot to buy her copy, having saved up for years first. Her story led to the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society (now The Bible Society).
Do we appreciate what we have, I wonder? Taking time out to be grateful for books and the ones that have meant so much to us is never a waste of time.
The Bible is the book of books. I adore the Psalms. Every emotion you can think of is portrayed in there. But just sometimes you come across something which links you to those writers from long ago.
One of them is Psalm 45 with its line “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer”. I love that. There are other Psalms too which have a refrain repeated in them and when I read these, I think back to those writers wanting to use repetition for effect. I love that kind of connection.
Someone deliberately sat down and thought about how they were going to write their piece. For someone who does outline even her flash fiction (okay it may be a line or two compared with longer outlines for longer works but it is still an outline!), this resonates with me.
Very lovely post Allison. Thanks so much for mentioning that your late mother brought you into the world of books. It has triggered my memories. I too owe my love for reading books and writing stories to my late Dad, Chief Augustus Adebayo[ 1925 - 2004]! He would take us to bookshops, buy book gifts on our birthdays and festive days. He always told us stories and made us tell stories. He even encouraged his grandchildren to tell stories and write them! He was also a writer! He had a huge library and created a library for our books in our bedrooms. So my question for you is who is your mother and how did she encourage your love for reading books? How can that skill be transferred to children now so that when they become adults, the love for reading is already imbibed and the reading culture does not die? Blessings.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Sophia. My late mother just read to my sister and I every night consistently. We also saw her reading for pleasure. Both of those things are so important. Encourage reading. Show that it is fun. Children need to see adults doing this and then be shown the huge range of books for them. Allison Symes
ReplyDeleteThanks, Allison; I also grew up in a book-loving household which set me up for reading through the years. I have a real passion to get children reading, hence my collections of humorous children's stories designed to give bite-sized, fun, escapist tales that engage (I hope) and (I also hope) will feed a thirst for more of the same so that imaginations can flourish and flow.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenny. Allison Symes
DeleteBooks beat films and television any day. You have to work at a book to visualise it. On the other hand the reader is in control when he/she reads, taking story at own pace, picking it up and putting it down.
ReplyDeleteI used to only read the Bible, but over the years I have found that books are also so important and now I have a great collection of Christian books, and have also written one. Thank you Allison.
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