They are like orphaned children. I realize that it is a horrible analogy to make, imperfect in so many ways. I say it because, even though in a rush of excitement I brought these books into my home, they probably will be returned to whence they came without my reading them. You never know. Maybe they are more like shoes that will be returned right before the 30 day grace period has ended. Yes, that may be a better comparison, as well as getting me into less trouble than the other.
No More Mondays by Dan Miller has come home to visit its brother, 48 Days to the Work You Love. Both books have been borrowed, each from separate sources. I have read the table of contents for each. I have confirmed with an independent source that No More Mondays is more likely of the two to be the book for us, as neither my husband nor I intend to seek traditional means of employment. I almost wish we would, even knowing that the security there is to be had with an established business is no more than a false security, but we are better of now as we are. The waiting builds character. It is an entrance into the faith I talked about in Monday's post. No More Mondays supposedly focuses more on non-traditional modes of employment.
Validity in Interpretation by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., because it caught my eye in the church library once again. The second time I've brought it home; the second time I shall probably pass on reading it. The book draws my eye because of an essay on genre I once read in my Theory of the Novel anthology collected and edited by Michael McKeon. The essay was about genre determination, and the fact that we have to adjust our ideas about genre as we converse and as we read, because we may start out thinking we are having one sort of conversation, only to find out that we are having quite another. As I write this I am imagining this applies to a surrealist novel I read months ago. Surrealist? Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde? But it also applies to an imagined conversation with my husband in which he thinks we are speaking about feeding the dog, and he thinks we are speaking about feeding the family. I do not understand why Validity in Interpretation shows up in our church library, but I wish to read it anyway. It may provide a counter balance to the theories of Adler and Van Doren about reading which have consumed me recently.
Next to Validity in Interpretation on the library shelves appeared a book called How to Read the Bible as Literature...and Get More Out of It, by someone named Leland Ryken. Philip Yancey has talked about reading the Bible as though it were an adventure story, both in Disappointment With God and The Jesus I Never Knew. The insights he uncovers while reading it this way are insightful, accurate, and charming. I didn't understand a word of Job until Yancey had explained it somewhat to me. Since I am also reading through the books of the law these many mornings as well, and seeing them as I have never seen them before, I am curious to see what Ryken recommends. The other two books I have mentioned have at least been inspected by me. In this book I have only read the cover. Whether it will go beyond that before I take these books back remains to be seen. It isn't as though I had a shortage of things to read.
You can keep up with my reading through GoodReads, a website I have only recently begun to explore.
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