Traveling through Worlds

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.

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.

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!

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!

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...

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!)

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?