Reading that Keeps Me Up at Night...

Marie Prys is the administrative presence behind our three agents. Books are one of her favorite things. Look for a monthly post from this former editor on what she will happily give up sleep for. 

I cannot give up reading great books—even when the days are bursting with schoolwork, overflowing laundry, potty-training, an author database in need of updating, and the to-do list that never ends. I’ll let Montesquieu explain why:

“The love of reading enables a man to exchange the wearisome hours of life, which come to every one, for hours of delight.”

My sentiments exactly! So at the end of the day, I read. Commune. Indulge. It might be a romance, mystery, spiritual read, biography, or even a cookbook. Late into the night, great books keep me up, bringing hours of delight. This month my favorite was a spiritual read: One Thousand Gifts (Zondervan, 2010) by Ann Voskamp.  

I’m not opening the door for theological debate; let’s just talk about the writing.  Some would call her style "wordy." I call it art. Her voice is powerful, and dare I say wrenching. Her words reach out and demand her audience to stop, to LISTEN. To respond.

At one point Ann grips the pain and suffering of this life. She voices what we all have felt at one time or another, a plea that she would not write the story this way! And then she says:

"I regret the words as soon as they leave me.They seem so un-Christian, so unaccepting—so No, God! I wish I could take them back, comb out their tangled  madness, dress them in their calm Sunday best. But there they are, released, and naked, raw and real, stripped of any theological cliché, my exposed, serrated howl to the throne room" (p.20).

I love the imagery. She takes these jumbled emotions and crafts word pictures so stark you can’t help but pause and imagine them just as she said! Voskamp's writing slays me and pushes me to turn just one more page, and one more, and one more…until it’s way past bedtime and I’ve done it again and indulged, for hours of delight.

Look for a post once a month about what books are currently keeping me up at night. How about you? What are you reading that brings hours of delight?