Did you ever get asked your first day of a new class to go around the room say your name and your favorite novel? Did you ever feel like an idiot 'cause you couldn't even remember what the last book you read was? I can totally relate. Back in Jr. High I would ask Charlie to read the books out loud to me as we were going to bed, of course I'd proceed to fall asleep before she'd even finish the first page. The only book I actually got into would be Holes by Louis Sachar. I read it and reread it. That however, didn't even cover a book a semester. I was not a reader.
I'm not exactly sure what changed but, since November I've had reading fever. I wiz through books and thirst for new reads. I've read nonfiction, fiction,church history novels, fantasy, Argentina poetry, classics and continue to build my own personal library. I'm a book worm, and I NEVER saw it coming.
They say that reading engenders empathy. You're able to explore different cultures, new ways of thinking, and can help you refocus your own personal life. I feel like I have grown mentally, spiritually, and emotionally with the books. It gives me confidence when I conquer a hard read. It makes me feel cultured when I read a classic or a history novel. It makes me excited and creative when I read of adventure. Reading has changed my life.
This week I was able to finish the best book I've ever read. Now this is one I've read a couple times now, so technically I refinish this book. I cannot accurately express the power it contains. I read page after page feeling energized and like the words were mine to keep. It introduced me to my biggest heroes and worst enemies. It showed me how life ought to be lived, and what to avoid. I gained confidence in myself, a better sense of direction, and peace in the turmoil from simply skimming it's pages. This is the best book ever written.
The following is another review of this AMAZING read: "There is a book I've read many times, yet each time I read it, I find it engages my interest even more. It is a story of courage, faith, and fortitude, or perseverance, sacrifice, and superhuman accomplishments, of intrigue, of revenge, of disaster, of war, murder, and rapine, of idolatry, of cannibalism, of miracles, visions, and manifestations, of prophecies and their fulfillment.
I found in it life at its best, and at its worst, in ever-changing patterns.
It is a fast-moving story of total life, of opposing ideologies, of monarchies, and judgeship, and mobocracies. Class distinction is thee with its ugliness, race prejudice with its hatefulness and multiplicity of creeds with their bitter conflicts.
Archaeologists may be excited as they read of ruins of ancient cities, highways, and building; and there may yet be hidden buried gold and priceless records.
Engineers will learn from this great book that those centuries ago, men built buildings, temples, highways with cement, and paved roads that connected city to city and land to land.
The psychologists may find studies in human behavior, the workings of the human mind, and the rationalizing processes whereby men convince themselves that good is badm and that bad is good. Here they will watch history unfold for thousands of years government leaders, kinds, presidents and premiers o see the rise and fall of empires and the difference between statemanship and demogoguery.
It is the word of God. It is a powerful second witness of Christ, And, certainly, all true believers who love the Redeemer will welcome additional evidence of His divinity.
This inspiring book was never tampered with by unauthorized translators or biased theologians but comes to the world pure and direct from the historian abridgers. The book is not on trial-- its readers are.
Here is a scripture as old as creation and as new and vibrant as tomorrow, bridging time and eternity. It is a book of revelation and is a companion to the Bible.....and agrees in surprising harmony with the Bible in tradition, history, doctrine, and prophecy....
In the final chapter of the book is the never-failing promise that every person who will read the book with a sincere, prayerful desire to know of its divinity shall have the assurance of its truth.
The book of which I speak is the keystone of true religion, a ladder by which one may get near to God by abiding its precepts. IT has been named "the most correct of any book on earth."
My beloved friends, I give to you, the Book of Mormon. May you read it prayerfully, study it carefully, and receive for yourself the testimony of its divinity."
-Spencer W. Kimball
LONG LIVE LITERACY.
Books are the best! So many books have added to my life but none as much as the Book of Mormon. I really really love that you like reading now!
ReplyDelete