My Reading Life by Bob Jones

 

I read all my books on Kindle.

I gave up the pleasure of reading printed copies when my role as a pastor with a large office came to an end. Ceiling to floor bookcases occupied two of the three available office walls and were lined with thousands of books collected over 40 years of pastoring. In moving out, I donated hundreds to my colleagues, and friends and a Bible College library. The remaining books were boxed up and carted home. Those boxes sit unopened six years later in our basement. Our home features one small bookcase that was already overflowing.

Thus, all my subsequent purchases became limited to digital. It’s a space efficient way to store a portable library online.

The most recently downloaded books are an unbalanced mix of work-related and for pleasure. 80/20 work-related.

Kindle

Open my Kindle and you’ll find books that follow a read to lead theme: books about church health, pastoral health, church systems, leadership, change, vision formation, succession planning, culture creation, and network leadership.

You’ll also see my latest read, Nancy French’s, Ghosted. I’ve tracked with David and Nancy French for a couple of years. David writes for the New York Times. Nancy is a ghostwriter who was employed primarily by Republican officials as a speech writer and biographer. They are some of my favourite writers. Ghosted is filled with behind the scenes insight to many things political, Nancy’s hillbilly anecdotes, and her sense of humour.

“My dad described his twenty-five cousins as ‘rednecks, rough and ready,’ and they drank, fought, and stole their way honestly onto those wanted posters. I loved my family and never feared them, though my uncle Jasper pulled me aside and threatened to kill anyone who harmed me. I thought this was normal.”

Scroll through a few more and you’ll see another favourite, Kristin du Mez’s, Jesus and John Wayne.

Every so often I re-read books from the American Civil War era: Killer Angels, The Battle of Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee, and The Last Full Measure.

I don’t follow a reading program although I was a founding member of a book club in 1996. The group still meets. Wednesdays at 8:00am. My participation ended five years ago when my new work schedule regularly filled that time slot.

Reading and Writing Life

My reading life influences my writing life in a simple way. I appreciate the pace and look of a well-written paragraph.

Ronald Tobias, author of The Elements of Fiction Writing: Theme & Strategy believes,

“The rhythm of action and character is controlled by the rhythm of your sentences. You can alter mood, increase or decrease tension, and pace the action by the number of words you put in a sentence.” Mike Skotnicki, Briefly Writing, March 27, 2012

However, Joyce Carol Oates, aged 86 and author of 58 novels, says it best about paragraphs,

“…how to structure it, what sort of sentences (direct, elliptical, simple or compound, syntactically elaborate), what tone (in art, “tone” is everything), pacing. Paragraphing is a way of dramatization, as the look of a poem on a page is dramatic; where to break lines, where to end sentences.” Alexander Sammon, Mother Jones, September 10, 2016

Looking forward to observing the reading lives of our InScribe writers.

Thank you for reading. Find more of Bob’s content at REVwords.com