Sometimes in reading a book you’re looking for lessons. Sometimes you’re looking for escape.
But according to Karen Swallow Prior, “Great books offer perspective.” The best literature, she says, “replicates the world of the concrete, where the experiential learning necessary for virtue occurs.” In her new book, On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (Brazos), Prior asks us to read books that make demands of us. And she shows us in 12 chapters how books such as The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Pilgrim’s Progress move us toward temperance, courage, and diligence.
Prior is professor of English at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and she’ll be speaking on this subject of “reading well” for a workshop at The Gospel Coalition’s 2019 National Conference, April 1 to 3 in Indianapolis. She joined me on The Gospel Coalition Podcast to discuss mortality and morality, on reading well and reading poorly.
Related:
- Jane Eyre and Our Age of Authenticity (Karen Swallow Prior)
- How Great Books Teach Us to Love (Collin Hansen and Gary Saul Morson)
- Summer Reading: A Grade-by-Grade Recommended Reading List for Kids
Free Book by TGC: ‘Before You Lose Your Faith’
Many young people are walking away from Christianity—for reasons ranging from the church’s stance on sexual morality, to its approach to science and the Bible, to its perceived silence on racial justice.
TGC’s book Before You Lose Your Faith: Deconstructing Doubt in the Church is an infusion of hope, clarity, and wisdom in an age of mounting cynicism toward Christianity.
For anyone entering college or the workplace and looking for a timely reminder of why Christianity is good news in a skeptical age, make sure to get your FREE ebook Before You Lose Your Faith today!
