“It’s a kind of alchemy, really, the way dark lines on which paper – or before paper, engraved in stone, and after paper, crystallized on a screen – cause images and ideas to appear like magic in our minds.” – p. 65
The second Book of Christmas is Booked by Karen Swallow Prior, a professor at Liberty University. Since reading Fierce Convictions, I have been following Prior on social media and consume just about every article she publishes. She is a writer whose worldview challenges her readers and I appreciate the work that she does.
In Booked, Prior has written a deeply personal account of how literature has shaped her view of the world. She addresses specific novels and the impact they have had on her. She writes that her “relationship with books was much more than professional; it was – is – personal. Deeply personal. Books have formed the soul of me” (p. 10).
Early on, she talked about the books of her childhood and the importance of exposing children to a variety of literature:
“It seems to me to be an entirely negative, not to mention, ineffective, strategy to shield children from reality rather than actively expose them to the sort of truth that emerges organically from the give-and-take of weighing and reckoning competing ideas against one another. Discovering truth is a process that takes place over time, more fully with each idea or book that gets added to the equation. Sure, many of the books I read in my youth filled my head with silly notions and downright lies that I mistook for truth, but only until I read something else that exposed the lie for what it was.” – p. 14
While she discussed many novels throughout this book, she chose one book as the the focus of each chapter. Admittedly, I skipped over chapters six and nine because they addressed Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Madame Bovary, books that I have not read yet (but will read soon).
My favorite chapters were the ones where she analyzed Great Expectations and Jane Eyre. “Jane Eyre is a revolutionary character because she chooses the integrity of her nature and self over social convention, material comfort, and even passionate love. She found true freedom” (p. 93).
Everyone has their own library. Everyone reads important books at different times in their life. No one can read this piece and expect Prior’s particular experience with these particular books to reflect their own experience with them. But a dedicated reader will recognize her deeply personal relationship with books.
Middlemarch is one of those books that made a significant impact on my life. I find myself thinking of the characters and Elliot’s prose almost daily. It would be naïve to assume, however, that everyone who has read Middlemarch was impacted the same way.
I would love to sit down and talk about literature with Karen Swallow Prior. I graduated from the Helms School of Government at Liberty University. One of my biggest regrets about college is that I never took one of Dr. Prior’s English classes.
If you are an avid reader, this book is for you. Reading this book is like having a cup of tea with a trusted friend.
Live, Love, Learn,
Candice & The Write Teacher(s)