Reading Goal

Tuesday  around evening time  Mystie

Well, I posted it online but I still pretty much put it out of my mind. [I would like to read the books we own](http://www.pelennorfields.com/mystie/2007/resolutions-of-a-kind/ “Resolutions”). Really, I think it’d be a good idea to have read all the books on your bookshelves (at least, the ones that are for reading; reading dictionaries is not on my to-do list). At this point, I have probably read less than 20% of the books we own. If all our books were unpacked, we would probably fill three normal-sized bookshelves. I don’t really know where they all came from, just here and there, and I obviously inherited my dad’s enjoyment of a full bookshelf and the idea that books are just terrific things to have around. Really, though, they are for reading and there’s a tinge of guilt when you purchase more and you seem to only add to the mound of unaccomplished tasks.

I went to the library’s [annual book sale](http://www.garypaulson.net/archives/868/ “Wish I’d snagged the *Orthodoxy*!”) last Friday and added 6 more adult and 3 more children’s books to our collection. Then Elly posted about her latest finish and I remembered my goal made not quite a month ago. I realized that it was the last week of the month and I had been reading a large library novel and hadn’t cracked the cover on any of our own collection. The past week and a half, therefore, I have finally read and finished a small little book — booklet, really, but I still say it counts — that has been in our collection for about 5 years.

This little tract came into our collection in the good old days of absolutely free books. At least while we were there, [Christ Church](http://www.christkirk.com/ “The infamous ;)”) provided free copies of the latest [Canon Press](http://www.canonpress.org/shop/ “good books”) offerings. This particular little number, actually written almost 200 years ago but newly reprinted, was actually particularly recommended from the pulpit before the call to worship. Matt read it a couple years ago and verified that it was excellent. Indeed, verified that it was convicting. So, perhaps part of the putting off of reading the 100 pages was fear of conviction.

But, the past couple months I’ve been more open and in the mood for conviction. I know I need it, and I think I might actually want it. At least a little. So, with the month’s deadline fast approaching, I pulled J.C. Ryle’s [*How Readest Thou?*](http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/listdetails.asp?ID=1525&RP=/puritans/theology.asp “An Urgent Appeal to Read the Scriptures”) from the shelf. It was a gem. At less than 100 pages it would be a good annual if not monthly review. Ryle somehow mastered the art of pulling no punches and not flinching from proclaiming the hard or the toe-crunching truth, yet in a gracious and loving manner that even in print two hundred years later says, “I say this because I genuinely care for your soul.” It’s quite refreshing. Not to mention his writing is so precisely and accurately organized that it’s a beautiful sight to behold.

Anyway, all that was really just a post about a post that I’ll post later, so that I can keep the full resolution.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Lady of the House. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.