{"id":19146,"date":"2018-10-10T20:33:02","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T03:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=19146"},"modified":"2018-10-10T20:45:20","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T03:45:20","slug":"one-of-the-best-books-i-ever-read-or-didnt-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/one-of-the-best-books-i-ever-read-or-didnt-read\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the Best Books I Ever Read…or Didn’t Read!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pierre Bayard (a French professor of Literature) shares an insightful perspective in his book, How to Talk About Books You Haven\u2019t Read.<\/em>\u00a0 Bayard\u2019s book is an interesting read ~ or non-read, depending on how you look at it.\u00a0 The author opened a door (along with Garfield as he spoke to us in China) about the ability to grasp and talk as informatively as possible about a book that we may or may not have read.\u00a0 So conniving ~ and yet so enticing!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never really been a book reader; well, I should say a \u2018whole book\u2019 reader.\u00a0 I have found intriguing parts within a book and then work to unpack these sections and explore them further to bring value into my research.\u00a0 Last year while in LSF group; not only did I purchase the 30 required books for the term, but I also purchased over 30 additional books focused on human trafficking for my dissertation project.\u00a0 I found that having the books available to me allowed me to skim them to seek sections that were valuable to me.\u00a0 I learned this process through a course I took in my undergrad studies that was basically focused on \u2018gleaning the best from books.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 It introduced one of the best books I ever read ~ or didn\u2019t read!<\/p>\n

I agree with Bayard\u2019s idea of the \u2018inner library,\u2019 which really means we are a walking, talking version of someone who is focused on ourselves in the end anyway.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Every perception of our lives is based on our own inner book, so we will find what it is that relates most closely to us in a book and\/or intrigues us in a special way.\u00a0 We are never far from our own internal perceptions in all areas of our life, including what we speak about and share with others.\u00a0 As Bayard talks about shame, it is again based on our own perspective of what shame is for us.<\/p>\n

Author Stephen Fry, who wrote Moab Is My Washpot<\/em>, explained shame in this way: \u201cIt\u2019s not all bad.\u00a0 Heightened self-consciousness, apartness and shame are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels.\u00a0 Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all of the mad intensities that made and unmade me.\u201d[2]<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

I was amused as Bayard describes his students talking to others about books they clearly never read.\u00a0 Bayard notes: \u201cAnd it is also unsurprising that their comments (however far removed from the initial text) bring to the encounter an originality that they would undoubtedly have lacked had they undertaken to read the book.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Yet, Bayard shares this insight with almost a touch of admiration for their imagination and ingenuity.\u00a0 Definitely my kind of prof!<\/p>\n

I have found that taking the best of many different perspectives, perceptions, influences and\/or beliefs provides a strong presence ~ whether with regards to book knowledge, life application or even the church environment.\u00a0 I serve at a non-denominational church.\u00a0 When people ask what non-denominational means, I tell them it is the best of all worlds combined!\u00a0 It is basically taking the most positive part of numerous different Christian faiths and bringing them all together to create a non-denominational presence.<\/p>\n

This scenario is also true with regards to talking about books we have \u2018gleaned\u2019 the best from.\u00a0 \u00a0It brings to us a broader perspective of various beliefs and practices to talk about and share ~ and provides us with a more open and diverse dialog as we converse with others.\u00a0 I think that when we can be open to learning from different points of view, we are growing internally as well as being more accepting of other options and beliefs.\u00a0 And this can never be a negative for us!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Pierre Bayard, How to Talk about Books You Haven\u2019t Read <\/em>(New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2010), Kindle.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Stephen Fry, Moab is my Washpot <\/em>(New York: Random House, Inc., 1997), Kindle.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Bayard, How To Talk About Books You Haven\u2019t Read, <\/em>Kindle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pierre Bayard (a French professor of Literature) shares an insightful perspective in his book, How to Talk About Books You Haven\u2019t Read.\u00a0 Bayard\u2019s book is an interesting read ~ or non-read, depending on how you look at it.\u00a0 The author opened a door (along with Garfield as he spoke to us in China) about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[477,1322],"class_list":["post-19146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bayard","tag-lgp9","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19146"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19150,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19146\/revisions\/19150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}