Devouring Books

I cannot help myself. Since life has slowed down a little bit, and I don't have to study for hours each night, I am devouring books. Like the Cookie Monster devours cookies, I devour books.

Since we are on the subject of reading, my recent read, The Ship of Theseus, was a book that induced multitasking and mystery, intrigue and suspense, adventure and story. I finished reading it and was left with many questions, which I expected, but that is also why I liked it. It answered a lot, but also left the story open to my own thoughts and imagination. You, as the reader, feel like you are part of the story, which is an added bonus in a world already very interesting.

It's easy to feel included, since part of the book is the handwritten notes by two readers who write notes to each other through the whole book. They are trying to solve the mystery of the author, V.M. Straka. The real author is Doug Dorst and partly J.J. Abrams (which is why I was initially drawn to this book, as I knew it would be full of the mysterious that isn't always fully revealed, like one of the best shows made, Lost). As Eric and Jen write to each other in the margins, they sometimes leave notes, postcards, letters, newspaper clippings within the pages, which are actually in the book, so you can pull them out and read them as well.

The story itself is an adventure on the Ship of Theseus, which retells the mysterious theory of rebuilding oneself piece by piece along a journey. Will you be the same person in the end? The ship itself is rebuilt several times, and piece by piece it is made new. Is it the same ship that it once was? This is what is asked of the main character, S, as he journeys to discover who he really is.

There is something about leaving part of the mystery a mystery that draws me in more. If you tell me all the answers outright, then there is no time to ponder and work it out. The magic of the imagination is gone. This book leaves much to the imagination, to my delight.

What the story points to, is how important story is. It is worth telling, writing, and preserving. Each of us is part of an important piece of the story, which is why S writes furiously while aboard the ship. He has much to tell, and he feels the urgency to write it down. It rings such truth of God's plan and story we are part of. 

All that ink, all that pigment, all that desperate action to preserve that which had been created - it is valuable because story is a fragile and ephemeral thing on its own, a thing that is easily effaced or disappeared or destroyed, and it is worth preserving. And if it can't be preserved, then it should be released and cycled. (pg. 450)

It is more than just fulfilling a task. It is writing a good story where good choices are made, where love is at the centre, and when people grow to learn this, it leaves you with the feeling of a new beginning.

...the ship is one of theirs, and as for the identities of the two people at the wheel, well, both Sola and he will let their imaginations fill in their features. (pg. 456)