I remember when the ten-year-old me was at school, sitting, dreaming in a Religious Education Class. As the reverend-headmaster droned on and on about ‘Shadrack, Meschach and Abendego’ and the ‘fiery furnace’, my imagination carried me into the heart of the action of the latest Enid Blyton Famous Five Story.
There I was on a picnic with the ‘five’. We were sitting on a barren moor near some spooky haunted castle - the abode of the ‘baddies’. Just as I was about to share a great wedge of cake, a boiled egg and a large glass of ginger pop with the eponymous ‘five’ the headmaster stopped droning.
Suddenly he was there right behind me. He was clutching a large leather-bound bible. As he roared, ‘if you will not hear the word of God you can feel it!’, he hit me hard over the head with the ‘good book’. There endeth the happy daydream … and that imaginary picnic.
Why, you might ask, am I telling you this? The reason is that during the month of March ‘World Book Day’ is marked. Back in 1970 I experienced books in two different ways. The bible on the back of the head, and the wonderful world of imagination that a good novel encourages.
As a child, and now as an adult, I am an enthusiastic reader. I graduated from Enid Blyton to Agatha Christie, and the process has continued ever since. My reading is best described as ‘eclectic’. I will read books on almost any subject.
I know that here in this academic community many are avid and perhaps even passionate readers. Books are a window onto the world. As we travel through the Christian Season of Lent I have three book-related suggestions for you.
First, read a book penned by an author you have not yet encountered.
Second, intentionally read a section of a holy scripture that you are not familiar with - for example the works of a minor prophet. (But not the tale of ‘Shadrack, Meschach and Abendego’ … I find this gives me a headache).
Third, and this is in the spirit of the ten-year-old me, buy and donate a new children’s book to be given away at the Bath ‘Foodbank - Bookbank’. This is a wonderful new initiative by the Bath Foodbank so that children get the pleasure of owning their own books.
So, enjoy your Lenten read and I look forward to interesting book-related discussions in the days ahead.
Revd. David Pattie
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