Chatting about books

Two things happened recently that has me thinking a lot about books, specifically...what kinds of books I like to read.

I brought home a delightful little book from the library called Book by Book; Notes on Reading and Life by Michael Dirda. I have long enjoyed reading "books about books", that is where I have found new authors and titles to enjoy. While I know his worldview is not the same as mine (for one thing, he appears to be saying there are no absolutes in life), his prose is fun to read and interesting. His recommendations are not only given by title but include comments that help me decide if this is a book I want to add to my "to read" list. I have a feeling already that this will be a book I want to add to my home library.

The other happening that left me thinking about the books I read is a discussion with another homeschool mom about the books we encourage our children to read. She also has an older child who has graduated (who has been homeschooled through high school) as well as many younger children. I came away from talking to her with sadness. Her comments were without a doubt...fearful. Oh, I have books I stay away from, too. No, this fear was one I didn't understand.

She talked about books she didn't want her preschooler to read because they were too silly. (I personally think this is the age to read some silly books.) I'm not talking about "twaddle" books for older children; the books she was talking against were just cute preschool books.

She didn't think we should be reading Russian literature because it was too "dark". Then when I described to her how I had been enjoying the book, Crunchy Cons, she said she didn't read books about current events or politics. I finally stopped talking books altogether and changed the conversation to recipes.

The book I am reading and the recent conversation took me back to one of the most interesting books I've ever read. I actually read it because of a challenge in the late 1990s. A group of us had been discussing favorite books when one of the men said I HAD to read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. (He had to read one of the books by Francis Schaeffer for our exchange.) Ayn Rand, isn't she a communist or something? No, I believe she hated communism as much as she did capitalism. She was definitely anti-God/anti-Christian. So why am I so glad I took up the challenge and read this book?

I was surprised when I read it to find myself agreeing with so many things in the book, especially how big industry and materialism have affected our culture. Our different worldviews conflicted in how to solve these challenges but the book really did get me thinking. That's what good literature is suppose to do. Not tear down what we believe but instead, give us ideas and help us to see life in different ways.

I have found I need to differ between fear of other ideas and the proper fear of being defiled. If my faith is real and my worldview sound, I can read books that have different ideas and be fine. I do not, however, read defiling books...those that set out to cast doubt on the Christian faith, homeschooling, homemaking, etc. Their only thesis is to tear down. I leave them to individuals of faith that have been given gifts to challenge these individuals and groups.