Bitesize Inspiration: On Reading with Carl Sagan

 

Image via The Graphics Fairy

Easter has come and gone for us this year. It is my favourite time of the year - yes, I even prefer it to Christmas! The weather where we live is perfectly autumnal and the beauty that surrounds the Easter tradition in our church is very special to me. I love to reflect, read and be transported during this time. Sagan's quote spoke to me this week, as I have read through the crucifixion of Christ and his resurrection. I don't talk often here about my religious beliefs, but even if you are not a follower of Christ, reading these accounts is very powerful and transporting. We are taken to another time and place. We suffer with Christ, and we rejoice with Mary Magdalen and the Apostles. 

I have always felt that books should do this for us, whether they are religious or not. I struggle to finish a book that fails to transport me, to enable me to voyage through time. It is especially poignant for those of us who read the classics, but even readers of fantasy, science fiction, historical romance, modern romance, or rollicking adventures should feel that they are on a journey, listening to a voice sometimes out of sync with our own. Reading books that were written in a different time to ours adds a special layer altogether. It is so important that we are able to read these books (whether they were written twenty years ago, one hundred years ago, or two thousand years ago) within the historical context in which they were written. 

If you celebrate it, I hope you had a wonderful Easter too and felt the wonder of a voyage through time. Have a lovely week.