Reading Beyond Our "Comfort Zone" - Kara Isaac

As a contemporary romance writer, I read (and buy!) a lot of inspirational contemporary romance. Firstly, because I love it and want to support other authors in my genre and secondly because it's important for me to be knowledgable about my fellow authors' latest releases.

Unfortunately, between chasing a young family, working on my own projects and keeping up-to-date with the stories being released in contemporary romance, there isn't really any time left to explore unfamiliar genres.

However this summer, with the arrival of a new addition, I took a break from my own projects and decided it was the perfect opportunity to try out the grass on the other side of a couple of fences! So I picked up Intermission by Serena Chase, a young adult story that I'd seen a few blogger friends raving about and Unblemished by Sara Ella, a young adult dystopian that I'd heard good things of.

I was so glad I did!

To be honest, I tend to avoid YA because I often find the main characters too self absorbed and self indulgent for my liking. However, I adored Intermission. So much so that I ran a giveaway for a copy to my newsletter subscribers. It was funny, poignant, charming and so well written. It was the first book I've read by Serena Chase but it definitely won't be my last.

While I haven't finished Unblemished yet (the "alternate worlds" aspect combined with a large cast of characters mean I need to be very awake to keep track of what's going on which doesn't happen too often with a new baby!) I am also really enjoying it.

When was the last time you ventured beyond your reading "comfort zone"? What books have you discovered on the other side of the fence that you loved?

Kara Isaac is the romantic comedy author of Close To You and Can't Help Falling and lives in Wellington, New Zealand. When she's not chasing around two little people or trying to convince the third to nap (documentary evidence to the left to prove she was successful once!), she spends her time writing horribly bad first drafts and wishing you could get Double Stuf Oreos in New Zealand. She loves to connnect on her website, on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Author and Twitter @KaraIsaac

Good brain gymnastics

I was reading an article about Kurt Vonnegut, who talked in a very gruff and straightforward way about the importance of reading. I had to grin at his blunt approach. I can't remember his exact words, but here is a pretty accurate paraphrase. 'You'd be crazy not to read. Do you know all that it does for you? You get to ponder the words and ideas of people who are (or were) smarter than you. If you can benefit from other people's brains and experience or stay limited in your own head, I don't know why you'd choose the latter.'

Try telling that to the people who say, 'I don't read.' (No, maybe you shouldn't.) After a good laugh, I started thinking about possible ripple effects. I've had many 'Wow, yeah' moments after reading words which may well be the result of a particular writer adopting something another person had written in their own way. And in turn, just maybe, somebody will read something I write which gels with them. And on it will go.

What if Kurt Vonnegut was right, and self-proclaimed dummies can take on board something written by a smarty which might not have occurred to us otherwise? As we meditate on it, it may eventually come to shape our attitude, as if we'd thought of it ourselves. If you add enough 'a-ha' or 'I like that!' or 'What an epiphany!' moments from our reading lists to our empty brains, those brains have got to expand to hold them all. We become smarter, sharper people than we would have been had we never picked up books.

That's what scholarly learning is all about, anyway. Our celebrated smart people study lots of text books, think further ideas based on what they've read, then gradually become even smarter. I'm glad to think the same thing can also happen when we kick back with a good novel to relax. I like to think I'm always getting little brain-changes for the better through reading fiction. Maybe it's not always our intellect which is being stimulated, but our empathy and the broadness of our outlook. It's a wonderful thing that even the homespun wisdom in novels can do this for us.

  I also found this ancient quote by Confucius, who said, "No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance." That was written centuries before Vonnegut gave his opinion, but the were both onto the same good thing.

If we get the chance to add our own take on other people's wisdom, in our own stories and reflections, it's even more of an honour.

Paula Vince is a South Australian author of contemporary, inspirational fiction. She lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, with its four distinct seasons, and loves to use her environment as settings for her stories. Her novel, 'Picking up the Pieces' won the religious fiction section of the International Book Awards in 2011, and 'Best Forgotten' was winner of the CALEB prize the same year. She is also one of the four authors of 'The Greenfield Legacy', Australia's first and only collaborated Christian novel. Her most recent novel, 'Imogen's Chance' was published April 2014. For more of Paula's reflections, you may like to visit her book review blog, The Vince Review.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay. 

The Telling of Stories

By Andrea Grigg

When I think about it, it’s not surprising I ended up becoming a writer. Story-telling has always been a big part of my life, and I’m not talking about creative excuses, in case you were wondering!

From the time I was little, I was entertained by stories. Mum and Dad read to me every day – I cut my reading teeth on The Famous Five – but Dad was also a fabulous storyteller. He used to make up adventures on the spot about anything. My favourites were the on-going bedtime ones about Wendy and Gary, a brother and sister who led very exciting lives!

Dad was, and still is at 88, a voracious reader, something he passed on to me. When I was a child I read anywhere. In the back seat of the car, in the bath, (and yes, on the toilet) but I was never allowed to read at the dining table, although I tried. More than once.

We used to go to the library every Friday night. I would come home with around ten books and they’d be well and truly finished by the following Friday. I was thrilled when the librarians allowed me to select books from the Young Adult section way before I was officially old enough.

I know what influenced me as a reader, but what about my dad? I thought it would be interesting to find out. He was born waaaay back in 1927, and I was curious to know the differences between the reading world then and the reading world now.

So, Dad, a.k.a. Ross Davison – what gave you the reading bug?

I suppose it was because my mum always encouraged me to read, and because I was provided with books. I was given Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows when I was quite young. I used to read them over and over. I learned to read very quickly from those.

Haha, Dad. They would’ve been practically brand new back then! What else did you like to read growing up?

We had a brilliant collection of children’s encyclopaedias. Big, fat volumes, with information as well as children’s stories. I reckon I learned half my general knowledge from those. I also loved the Just William books, by Richmal Crompton, Dr Doolittle books, and boys magazines which had adventures about footballers, boxers, cricketers and aviators. I read Lord Of The Rings about 50 years ago before it became popular. I’ve read it many times since, along with The Hobbit.

Which genres are your favourites?

Mystery, adventure, comedy, historical, and non-fiction concerning aircraft, golf and cars.

Any favourite authors?

Not especially, except for Clive Cussler. I quite like choosing authors I don’t recognise. I discovered the Cadfael Chronicles, by Ellis Peters, an historical murder mystery series set in the 1100s, and I really enjoyed them.

Have you noticed any changes in the reading world over the years?

There are more scenes containing explicit violence and sex these days.

Books have become longer ie. 600-700 pages is common. They used to average around 300-400.

Covers were more subdued back then, nothing like as bright.

Books were hardbound rather than paperbacks.

Today, the print is easier to read, better laid out. The quality of paper is better too.

Comics back then weren’t like the ones you see now. They used funny animals and caricatures more than human beings. I had a first editon of Phantom. Wish I had it now!

Children’s books tended to have more story than pictures, unlike now.

To sum it up, the quality of the story is still what matters. That hasn’t changed.

Totally agree, Dad. Thanks for your insights – it was a fun interview!

About Andrea Grigg:

      I am an author of two Christian contemporary romances: A Simple Mistake and Too Pretty, and I'm working on my third. My website is under reconstruction at the moment but you can contact me on Facebook orTwitter. I would love to hear from you!

Our Love for Reading... and our Changing Reading Habits

How did you start reading? Were you still in primary school, or did your love for reading come about much later? Have your reading preferences changed much over the years? When did you first discover Christian fiction?

For me, I’ve always loved books. I have a school report from when I was very young (about 7) that says if the teacher ever lost sight of me, the first place she would check for me would be the class library, and that’s always where I was. However, reading chapter books came about much later than my peers. I had difficulty with comprehension, and when I started to fully understand the words I was reading and imagine the story playing out in my mind, and not simply rely on the pictures, that was when my reading took off.

However, it was many years before I discovered the existence of Christian fiction. With being homeschooled for part of my teen years, I knew about the existence of children’s Christian fiction, as it was part of our curriculum, such as titles by Patricia St John (“Treasures of the Snow”, “Twice Freed”) and the Sugar Creek Gang series. But I didn't know about adult Christian fiction. At about the same time, I was introduced to Janette Oke’s “Love Comes Softly” series, and Frank E. Peretti’s “This Present Darkness” and “Piercing the Darkness”. Both polar opposite in genre, but wow, once I knew these books existed, I had a feeling there would be many more. And I was so right. Before long, I was reading Bodie & Brock Thoene’s Zion books, and many of Gilbert Morris’s titles. And of course, collecting every Janette Oke title I could find J

Fast forward a few years, and while I devoured as much Christian fiction as I could find from my local public library and church library, I also searched out Christian novels in the local second hand bookstore. I had a method of going along every shelf and book bin glancing at the publisher icons on the spine – the quickest way to find books published by Christian publishers. This was the only way I could afford to grow my personal library at the time. Over the years, my library has grown with both new and second hand purchased novels until it’s now an untameable beast.

Step forward a few years more, and the existence of eBooks on Kindle, read both via the Kindle app on my phone and my actual Kindle, has changed the way I procure books and read them. It’s also made my “library” more mobile, as wherever I go, if I have my phone with me and enough battery power, I can continue with my latest read if I’m waiting somewhere.

Yet, I still prefer an actual physical copy of a book. There’s just something about it that cannot be replaced by convenience. It’s also a wonderful thing to read a good book and be able to share that book with someone else – something that I haven’t been able to do with my Kindle library as the ones who borrow my books don’t have a Kindle for me to share my Kindle reads with them. I’m finding that there is a place for both physical books and digital editions in my ever-growing library. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and I wouldn’t be without either of them.

How about you? 

When did you discover Christian fiction? 

Did you easily find more of it once you realised it existed? 

Do you read both physical books and digital editions? 

Do you have a preference for either?

Narelle Atkins also touched on the topic of book buying habits in June last year. For those of you who responded in the comments on that post, have your book buying and reading habits changed in the past year? 

The attached images are ones of my personal library in it's current chaotic state. The huge gaps on some shelves are where books normally reside, but are currently out on loan. As you can see, the majority of shelves are two rows deep...

ELLIE WHYTE is a long-time supporter of Christian fiction and is the founder and owner/operator of Soul Inspirationz // The Christian Fiction Site which relaunched after a 5-year hiatus in January 2013. Ellie also has aspirations for her own writing career, and has begun working on a project set in New Zealand in the 1850s. 

http://soulinspirationz.com

Website: http://www.christianfictionsite.com
Blog: http://soulinspirationz.com 
Facebook: Soul Inspirationz http://www.facebook.com/soulinspirationz
Twitter: @SoulInspiredNZ http://twitter.com/SoulInspiredNZ

Pinterest: SoulInspiredNZ http://www.pinterest.com/soulinspirednz/

Google+: Soul Inspirationz http://plus.google.com/+Christianfictionsite-SoulInspirationz