Sustained Silent Reading

I'm not sure if any of you came from elementary schools where silent reading was a built in part of your school day, but I did, and I loved it. Every day after lunch time we all came in and knew that it was time to get out our books and we had about 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to read to ourselves. And here's the best part...we could read whatever we wanted! So most of my title selections as a 6th grader were not all that sophisticated...in fact, I'll be honest, I probably was reading the latest Baby-Sitter's Club book or the newest Sweet Valley Twins book, but that was the best part--it got to be our choice as to what we sat down with as long as we were quiet and actually reading. Many of you who are no longer full time students are probably thinking "um Sarah, you're an adult, you can choose whatever you want to read, we do it every day," but that's just it....my reading time for the last several years has been fairly well dictated by whatever course syllabus I happen to be working my way through. Which in some ways is great--it's forcing me to pick up books I never would normally choose on my own, but in other ways has left me little time or energy for my favorite past time ever--reading stories. I've tried so hard to always have a fiction book going at all times while I've been in school--even if that means I only have the energy for a few pages a night at least I am involved in a story, but I've been frustrated because I love to dive in to books, to read them in just a few days, to fully immerse myself in the lives of the characters for those few days, and when you read only three pages a night, it's A) a little tough to immerse yourself in their world, and B) takes a REALLY long time to get through a book! (I'm reading the 5th Harry Potter book right now--I know, I'm WAY behind...but at this rate it is going to take me forever to finish...) Anyways, so all that to say, I've decided that this summer I am re-instating Sustained Silent Reading (we used to commonly refer to it as our SSR time) into my life. I'll be taking intensive Hebrew all summer (where they teach you two quarters of Hebrew in one ten-week period) but I've decided that for one hour each afternoon, either before or after class, I am going to read for fun--a fictional story that has absolutely nothing to do with theology, scripture, pastoral counseling, exegesis, homiletics or anything else I've studied this past year. Anyone else in the Fuller-world care to join me?! I feel like I have a long list of books I want to get through, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has a fiction book you have read in the past couple years while I've been buried behind theological treatises--I'd love to know about them! I was asking a pastor recently where they find their sermon illustrations, and he said "in fiction. If you are not reading fiction books, you are missing a treasure trove of stories about humanity, about the human condition, about life, love, redemption, scandal, forgiveness and grace." So, in efforts to take his advice, and to give my poor tired brain a break, I'm going on sabbatical from theology. Well at least for an hour each day.