Ode to the Well-Stocked Shelf

This is why you keep a well-stocked bookshelf:

• The kid, now 12, without encouragement and for no discernable reason, pulled The Big Book of Martyrs off my book shelf and began reading it. It’s a 200 page graphic novel about Christian martyrs. He finished it in 2 days.

• Me the first week of December, drained and adrift. Decided I wanted to indulge in something different. Remembered a book of literary criticism I’d purchased 13 years ago that might be perfect. God and the American Writer offered fascinating insights into the works of Hawthorne, Melville, Faulkner, Dickinson, Eliot and many other American authors, as well as how God has remained a constant character within our greatest fiction. Good stuff. Exactly what I needed.

Parents and singles who bring 500 channels and millions of web sites into their homes, but offer little tangible proof that reading matters only do themselves and their God a disservice. (Sorry folks, but we’re people of the Word. That’ll never change.)

I know physical books are expensive (e-books are solving some of that problem), but they remain amazing resources for anyone seeking solace, refreshment, and intellectual stimulation. When you don’t know what you’re going to read, you run your finger along the bookshelf until you (re)discover an unrealized treasure. Don’t fret if you still haven’t read that fascinating title or much-lauded classic on your shelf. If you listen, it’ll be calling your name soon enough.