I have a deep desire to read the classics. Some of my favorites, like Pride and Prejudice, I can not help but re-read. Yet, I love starting and finishing another classic. Last summer it was much of the Anne of Green Gables stories. This year, it was Julie (Catherine Marshall) that I just had to read again along with The Abolition of Man (C.S. Lewis) which I definitely should have read on paper rather than listen to on audio. *
However, If you looked at my reading log from the last two months, I think you’d question my commitments to the classics. The vast majority of titles are short, recently published, romance novels. These are the kind of novels that I read in a weekend, often staying up way later than I should because I am lost in the story of a girls being swept off their feet by billionaires, historic fiction with strong female characters, and one of my favorite genres, Christmas romances.
You know what? Zero guilt. The classics are classics for a reason. I honestly cannot believe I waited until I was in my 30s to read The Count of Monte Cristo** or was over 40 when my teaching of the Civil War led me to pick up Uncle Tom’s Cabin. These books moved and changed me in the way that literature does. But, the classics will still be there for me to work through year after year. Sometimes, that’s not what I need. Sometimes the perfect ante-dote for life is a book that lets you fade away into a story without any of the struggle that the language of older books often include. Who wants to sit with a dictionary while reading for relaxation? At times I literally feel stress drain out from my neck and shoulders as I read the sweet sappiness that comes with one of these modern gems. I need a book I can read in a a matter of hours. Life doesn’t stop because I’m overwhelm; it typically does the opposite. I need unadulterated happiness.
They offer salve for my tired soul. Regardless of audiobooks, kindle on my phone, or good old paper, they offer wholesome goodness. The world seems better. I can get up another day and face the struggles of my day. It’s not about the joy of timeless stories; it’s the joy of the new love. It’s getting wrapped up in stories.
Now, for the record, I am also a fan of chick flicks. Hallmark movies. Christmas movies any time of the year. These are perfect for Friday nights when even reading is too hard, sick days, and any time you want to enjoy a story communally. Only have 2 hours or can’t get sucked into a novel? Watch a chick flick.
We were designed for story by a Creator God, the great storyteller. Stories help us get in touch with our humanity. Stories teach, mold, and change us. So, after a hard day, a rough week, or a trying season, it is stories that heal, refresh, and grow us.
Here is to the authors who create the stories. Here’s to the stories that make us better, make us happier.
Top picks for authors:
Katherine Reay
Carrie Turansky
Emma St. Clair
Karen Witemeyr
Cathy Gohlke
Vickie McDonough
*As much as I adore audiobooks and completely count them as reading, some books are too weighty to absorb that way.
** Don’t you dare read the abridged version. Full text only.