Wow, perhaps there is a collective consciousness after all. Thanks for pointing my attention to that piece.

I, too, question the actual transformative power of reading. When I read a good “spiritual” book, for the moment my perspective is realigned and cleared of mental debris. But am I only engaging in what Shane Claiborne refers to as “spiritual bulimia,” where I gorge on Christian/spiritual books only to vomit the information back up without actually digesting it and putting thought into practice? I fear there is all too much truth in this.

I’m trying to find the gumption to cross the threshold between theory and practice, reading and living. It’s far too easy to hold the act of bearing better fruit at arms length in favor of dissecting and reading analyses of that fruit. Easy…and deadly.

I’ve been on a non-fiction book kick as well the last several years — specifically spirituality/theology/”Christian Living” books. Overstreet provides a nice respite when installments in his delightful Auralia fantasy series appear, but in general I don’t have the same passion for fiction reading I did as a child (when I clamored for every book ever written by Orson Scott Card or Chaim Potok).

You discuss motives for reading — I think I fall more in the escapist camp. Nonetheless, it’s hard not to come away with some sense of greater perspective after having read a book. The real question is: does that added dimension to my perceptual prism have any real transformative effect on how I live?

It is powerful. And you’re probably wise to balance your fiction and non reading. I know I would enjoy reading more fiction, but it’s difficult to pry myself away from the other stuff.

There were a couple of years after I took Great Books that I actually didn’t read anything. All that required reading made the thought of reading magazines, newspapers, books, or anything seem like a chore. But thankfully I’m past that now.

Right now I try to keep one non-fiction and one fiction book on my nightstand at all times. Too much of either one isn’t good for you, I’ve decided.