I love books. And I love to share my favorite books with others. It's been a huge delight to offer up beloved books to my children and have them fall in love. Like Little Women... A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. These were my favorites and now my daughter loves them and recommends them to her friends.
But there have been duds. Which have broken my heart. Sad but true. None of my kids could stomach Little House on the Prairie. I know, what's with that? I was not fortunate enough to have my own copies as a child, but I borrowed them all from the library and I loved, loved, loved them. Now I can understand Josh being bored with Farmer Boy. "All they do is eat. Who cares about oatmeal?" But how could my girls not like Laura, and Mary, and Ma & Pa? They even had their own copies, to read and love forever. But neither one of them wanted to read through the entire series. Crushing.
I've also shared my special books with a few select friends. My favorite Christian author is Francine Rivers and I love her novel, Redeeming Love. Shared with a good friend and avid reader, who did not like it. She actually criticized it. It felt like a criticism of me. After all, this is one of my favorites. I relunctantly shared another book, not a beloved one, just one I liked, and she criticized that too. Another arrow in my heart. So, I've not shared another book with her.
Which brings me to The Shack. I've seen all the blog buttons. I've heard the gushing and the life changing stories. So I picked it up. Actually bought it. Expected to be up all night reading it. Because that's what I do. I become so immersed that I completely neglect everything else, stay up way too late, and then suffer the next day. But it did not happen. I picked it up, read a bit, and put it down. Repeated the process the next day. Just waiting to become engrossed. Didn't happen. In fact, I still haven't finished it, but I'm sure I will. I just don't know why it leaves me cold. I almost feel unspiritual, like what is wrong with me, that this powerful, absorbing masterpiece doesn't captivate me? I'm just glad this wasn't handed to me by a good friend. I'm afraid I would be piercing her heart with my lack of enthusiasm.
2 comments:
Oh, I can so relate to the book sharing. The funny thing is now my oldest son tries to get me to read books I am not interested in....! Have not yet picked up "The Shack"...my friend Sarah (5 Frozen Charmarros) occasionally does a book review. She and I seem to have similar tastes. I know she's reading "Shack" but she has not published her thoughts as of yet.
I had the same reaction to 'The Shack'. I got about a 1/3 of the way through it and couldn't get any further. I gave it to my FIL who is a pastor to read. He said he is making some notes in it for me to read.
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