• Home
  • My Story
  • Book Reviews
  • Christian Teaching
  • Thoughts
  • Food For Thought
  • Kim Chronicles
Lilies from Heaven

Traveling through Worlds

10/18/2018

0 Comments

 
I have been blessed by being able to travel all over Asia. But my favorite mode of travel is still into the world of books. Books have been my favorite mode of travel since I could tie my own shoes. They’ve carried me from Oz to Narnia, through caves and bogs and seas and forests, and even through wrinkles in time. 

 “There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away,” writes Emily Dickinson in her poem “The Book.” And even before I knew those words of hers, I believed them. 

Here are my top 5 that allowed me to travel to another land and understand something on a deeper level.
Picture
I remember watching the movie and reading the book based on my mother's recommendation. I followed this coming of age story of Scout and Gem, and was inspired to do the right thing, like Atticus Finch. He stared racism and prejudice in the face and I became a more thoughtful person because of the book. I learned about the South in terms of it’s weaknesses. And I had new understanding of a minor character, Boo Radley, by the end of the book.
Picture
If you have never heard of this book, I recommend it highly. It was one of the inspirations for my own Advent book (not published yet) on the named trees in the Bible. Three trees dream of what they want to do when they grow up. Things do not work out as imagined, but God had an even better plan in mind!
Picture
The magical world of Narnia! The characters of Edmund, Lucy, Susan, and Peter still live in my mind as they deal with the witch and learn to love Aslan. A beloved classic for many, including me!
Picture
This was my first introduction to literature in English about another culture! I remembe this beautifully written travel memoir won an award in Canada when it was published. The writer really did have a transformative Thai experience, and I still follow her writing...
Picture
Anne Shirley let me visit the other side of Canada at a time when many people just stayed in their own province or the one right beside them. Anne, Marilla, Matthew and Gilbert are well loved characters that continue to live in my mind. It's a bonus that it's also a story of family love and forgiveness.  (I still smile when I think of the slate Anne broke over Gilbert's head!)
Picture
Of all the books I’ve known and loved since childhood, one has carried me farther than all the others combined: the Holy Bible. Its stories and characters are the ones most deeply ingrained in memory: Jonah swallowed up by the great fish. Noah building an ark and floating above the mountain peaks in it. Baby Moses, found in the river by an Egyptian princess, and shepherd boy David, whose slingshot and fearlessness slew giants. 

Then there are the Gospel stories—the most magical ones of all—where Jesus walked and talked, and water became wine, and fish and loaves multiplied in one great picnic with leftovers galore. Where blind men got their sight back and where the wildest waves imaginable were tamed by a word from the one who made them. 

My other books did indeed take me worlds away, but only the Bible had the power to bring its Protagonist into my world and change it—and me—by his presence. Other books were for a time, and that time has come and gone. But I can’t imagine a day when I won’t ask this book to tell me its old, old story all over again. 

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. JOHN 1: 14, MSG

I would love to hear back from you. What books have allowed you to travel? What books have changed you in some way?
0 Comments

    Author

    I am an avid reader and I believe some books can change your life.  I want to review some of the books that have changed my thinking or reinforced great biblical truths.

    Archives

    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    September 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Advent Art
    Advent Poetry
    Adventure
    Africa
    Aging
    American South
    Asia
    Beauty
    Being Different
    Birds
    Birth Of Christ
    Blessings
    Bread
    Brokenness And Blessing
    Childhood
    Christian Beauty
    Christianity
    Christmas
    Christmas Narrative
    Christmas Poetry
    Community
    Deliciousness
    Easter
    E.B. White
    Empathy
    Fellowship
    Firenship
    Food
    Gratitude
    Great Storytelling
    Growing Older
    Happiness
    Homecoming
    Hope
    Korean
    Lent
    Linda Sue Park
    Lost Boys Of Sudan
    Love
    Mathematics
    Mermaid Child
    Multiculturalism
    Mystery
    One Thousand Gifts
    Perseverance
    Quest
    Reading
    Refugee Issues
    Simple Living
    Spirit
    Stories
    Sudan
    Trees
    Waiting
    Water
    Wine
    Woldweller
    Women
    Wood
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly