“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” (Ps 32:8)

As a child, I would read until I heard my mom’s raised voice, asking me to dry dishes for her. I knew I was in trouble at that point – it meant she’d called for me at least two or three times. I wasn’t ignoring her; I just didn’t hear her because I’d been transported to another world.

My mom’s voice brought me crashing back to the real world pretty quickly. I would hurry through the task so that I could get back to my book. I took books to family holiday gatherings, and I always had enough books to fill an entire suitcase when I went on vacation. (This was before the Kindle.) I even had to pay extra for my luggage one time because I bought so many books while on vacation.

In a previous blog post, I wrote about my love of reading and my goal of reading a spiritual growth book a month. (You can read that post here.) In addition to my goal for reading spiritual growth books, I set a goal to read a total of sixty books of any kind throughout the year.

Because of this, I read an eclectic assortment of books, from Edgar Award-winning Oklahoma authors such as Meg Gardiner and Lou Berney to Christian mystery/suspense authors such as Tara Lynn Thompson, Robin Patchen, Ted Dekker, and Terri Blackstock. As a reader, I enjoy the way these books transport me to another world – one fraught with danger and romance and humor. As a writer, I can learn how to improve my writing by parsing the plot techniques they use as well as their word choice and style of writing.

So far this year, one of my favorite Christian fiction books has been Black by Ted Dekker. While this isn’t a new book, it’s one that I had never read before. I enjoy the way Dekker uses the supernatural to look below the surface of things and bring the reader closer to God. His characters are likable and well-rounded, and the layering of the world we see with the world we can’t see provides a depth that many books lack. His books are always full of mystery and suspense, and Black is no exception. In addition, Black is part of a series. Since I waited so long to start reading it, the entire series is available for me to binge read.

Both fiction and nonfiction books improve our lives and help bring us closer to God. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.”

What are you reading?

Dear Jesus, thank you for the authors who help me understand you better through the fictional worlds they create. Help me to learn more about you and draw closer to you through their words. Amen.