A New Book

When I saw it on the bookshelf at the store, I picked it up and did a quick thumb through and put it back.  But, I knew I was going to come back another day and let go of some cash so I could take it home for a slow read.  I had read excerpts from the book, but never the whole book and at my age there is no reason to wait until tomorrow.  As a friend of mine from another time used to say, "I don't buy any long playing records anymore."  It was an edition that was celebrating the fiftieth year of its printing so I figured it was about time for me to read it in its entirety, "The Seven Storey Mountain" by Thomas Merton.      

In recent years I have noticed I am reading more stuff written by Roman Catholic writers.  While I am not ready to give up my Wesleyan ways, I am finding these writers have stuff to say which resonates in this old heart of mine.  As I made the purchase decision I affirmed again to myself that something still in print after fifty years must have something to say that I need to read.  Too many times we let our reading taste dictate to us what we read which often separates us from authors who just might stretch our mind and soul just a bit.  Surely something read by so many for so many years has something to say to the likes of me.   

And, so I am moving along though the pages of a book that I had not planned to read this time last week.  This will not be the first such read.  I have many other books on my shelves which are there because it seems that they simply should be read.  I have always figured a good book is not one that sells enough today to be on someone's best seller list, but one that has stood the test of time as a book still regarded as worthy to be read.  My laying it aside as something not worth the time needed to read its 400 pages would say more about the reader than the book.