Reading & Writing Goals

For years I’ve used Goodreads as a way to track the books I read. One side benefit of not going and doing as much this year is that I have read or listened to more than 140 books (you can see them and get the reviews I write here.) I read because it’s like breathing to me. If I don’t have anything else to read, I will literally read the Wheaties box. The book I started listening to yesterday is The Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds by C.S. Lewis. In it he writes about how to know if you are a true reader. Here are a few of his thoughts.

1. A true reader loves to reread books. Ah, yes. There are so many books that I’ve read so often the words are practically embedded in my brain. Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. In His Image by Jen Wilkin. Randy Singer and Lisa Scottoline legal thrillers. Lisa Gardner pyschological thrillers. Books that have characters or writing that pulls me in. Books I need to tear apart, chapter-by-chapter to see how the pages hinge together.
2. Highly values reading as an activity (rather than a last resort). My husband laughs that I read as I blowdry my hair. My neighbors chuckle as I read while walking in our neighborhood. I literally read like breathing. Multiple books. At the same time. Paper. Ebook. Audio. I live for words.
3. Lists the reading of particular books as life-changing. Yes. Sometimes. In the last month I’ve listened to four books that will stick with me a long time. The first was the Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson, that profiled Winston Churchill through key days of WWII while he was prime minister. Richly written, it added to my understanding of that part of the war. Then I FINALLY listened to Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Oh my word. The beauty yet harshness of the story and the writing. Utterly gripping. That was followed by All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and then yesterday by The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. There is a reason these books are being raved about by literally everybody. The characters. The writing. The descriptions. The way the characters start as children and then we travel with them on their journeys…all hard, but all lace with a thin veil of hope.

This is one of the hardest…and best parts of writing. There are always people I aspire to write like…only with my ideas and voice. I cannot arrive. I will always ahve ways to push myself to write better characters, description, dialogue. Why?

Because there is immense power in well-crafted words. In a story that changes us as we experience it. That gives us a fresh way to look at the good…and the bad. That speaks life or shines light. That whispers there is hope even if you’re a blind girl left alone in a city that is being bombed by the Allies while a German takes residence in your home. That even when your family abandons you, you can rise above. That even when your people are torn from you, there is hope of being reconnected with the lost friends. That as we know our history we can change our future.

Which books have wrapped you in a story world that infused you with hope recently?

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Cara Putman

An award-winning author of more than 40 books, Cara is a Clinical Associate Professor in business law and ehtics to graduate and undergraduate students at Purdue University. She lives with her husband, four children, a perfect cat, and a sweet yet rambunctious shelter puppy in Indiana.

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