Appreciating Reading Thoughts from Great Writers

I am back at writing in Living More Than OK after a lengthy hiatus. From the stress of working on the dissertation, (which still isn’t done- but closer), to other problems I decided I should still take time to do some work on my blog. With my starting to write again in my blog I thought it best to share some thoughts on one of my favorite activities reading.

Reading has been a lifelong passion. I recently finished a book On Stories, by C. S. Lewis. It is a collection of Lewis’ essays on writing. C.S. Lewis has always been one of my favorite authors with his fiction of Chronicles of Narnia and his non-fiction on spiritual issues such as his Mere Christianity. In this compilation of essays he shares about the works of some of the favorites authors he enjoyed reading such as Charles Williams, E. R. Eddison, Tolkien and Dorothy Sayers. He discusses some of their great works and why he enjoyed their writings. His discussion got me interested in looking into some of the writings of Williams and Eddison as I have read Tolkien and Sayers.

In his essay “On Stories” he emphasizes the importance of story. He looked at various aspects such as excitement. With excitement each reader has their own feelings of what excitement means. He also brings out how stories many times bring out the supernatural or what is marvelous about life. Along with what is marvelous about stories that are good often bring a sense of awe to the story line with the characters.
With his thoughts on awe he moves also to free will. Lewis writes, “We have just had set before our imaginations something that has always baffled the intellect: we have seen how destiny and free will can be combined even how free will is the modus operandi of destiny.” (page 21). This balance is seen in stories and can help the reader in understanding real life that we face in our daily journey. Our lives as we reflect often show a balance of Destiny and free will at work. This thoughts relates also to how story to Lewis is important to pleasure and the pleasure in story can aid in our enjoying pleasure in life. As he puts it, “And in the same way the whole story, paradoxically enough strengthens our relish for real life. This excursion into the preposterous sends us back with renewed pleasure to the actual.”(page 20). From this though we can learn to appreciate how the pleasure of reading can bring new levels of pleasure as we live out the story of our lives.

I also enjoyed in the book how Lewis shared how his fictional works began with pictures in his mind. “One thing I am sure of. All seven of my Narnia books, began with seeing pictures in my head.” (page 79). This shows the importance of visualizing in our lives. He used pictures in his mind to help create the stories. By thinking of pictures in our minds we can improve our level of creativity.
Excitement, awe and pleasure are important take-aways from our fiction reading. As I look back on the fiction works I have read over the years I see those terms and others that come to play. Reading often opened up feelings of curiosity to learn more about things I read about in books. Also I can think of times I read when I was young and it gave me an appreciation for the amazing world around me to seek to travel and see other cultures.

Reflection: How do you relate excitement, awe and pleasure to the books you read. What favorite authors do you have and what do you learn from their writings?