Reading is Redemption
And here's why ...
We live in a world in need of redeeming:
A world where we need someone to save us from the evil, brokenness, and destruction we see around us every day. In light of recent events that have transpired in these past days and weeks, I’ve been reflecting a lot on just how much we need to be saved: from darkness, from indifference, from violence, and even from the brokenness within ourselves. Ultimately, as Christians, we know that God is the only one who can truly redeem and make right all that is wrong in us and in the world, but we look to individuals we trust and admire to pave the way; we look for good, true, and beautiful voices to remind us what it means to be human: to listen, to learn, to believe, to stive for something more than ourselves and our own interests.
Books, for many, are a thing of the past. Quick, seven-second soundbites replace the otherworldly quality of a good story for many in my generation, as well as the up-and-coming ones. But books are an invitation to the imagination. To imagine something better than what we see today. To imagine ways through the seemingly tangled knots of society. Where scrolling through videos is largely about consumption, offering mindless laughs and quick endorphin bursts, written stories are invitations into self-discovery, into conversation with the characters and their world. Through stories, we can see the world through another’s ideas in a fictional way, but one that often mirrors many of the realities we face today.
However, oftentimes, even the stories that are being read today are ones with dark or compromising moralities, offering just another “escape” to readers into a world much like their own, or a world that perpetually supports the way they already see the world. We need to do better, as readers and as writers, to rediscover the redemption that can come from a truly meaningful story: redemption of our belief in goodness overcoming evil and a redemption of creativity, problem-solving, walking in another’s shoes, and most of all, stories that challenge us to be better and do better.
The Light Series
I have referenced this book series before, but I will again, because this has to be my all-time favorite book series! I discovered this series at the start of the pandemic in 2020, and I literally could not put the books down. This was my first exposure to Catholic fiction, let alone Christian fiction in general, and I was blown away not only by how compelling the plot was but also by the way the characters encountered and wrestled with so many deep, real-life challenges and heartaches.
Who do you become when the world falls away? is the tagline across the top of the first of the five books, and this is definitely the theme of the series. The main characters start off in a post-apocalyptic, if you will, world without electricity and an “every man for himself” mentality, as the government is largely disbanded/taken out of commission. Bria and Jonah are the main characters, college-aged and wrestling with questions of faith, identity, and purpose as they work not only to understand one another and their worlds, but to survive the many threats to their safety and livelihood.
The author was not afraid to write about life as it truly is, the ugly and the beautiful, and to present the reader with an opportunity to rediscover hope in hurt, healing in heartache, mercy in madness, and meaning in mayhem. This series helped to redeem my love for the gift of writing and the power of a captivating story. We are all living our own stories, whether we are living the beginning, the middle, or the end. And each chapter of our lives presents new opportunities to see a true redemption: a rising from the ashes, a rediscovery of purpose, and a rededication to truth, in all of its forms, regardless of what we have to suffer or lose in the process. If you haven’t heard of or read this series, I would highly recommend! :)
The Divided Kingdom Series
If you aren’t familiar with my books, I have a sci-fi/dystopian trilogy of my own for young adults that, honestly, was very much inspired by The Light series just mentioned above. In 2020, I had already written book one in my series, and I had fallen in love with my main characters, Adeline and Cayde, but the world I had written them in just didn’t feel right for them. That was until I discovered The Light series, and realized I needed to raise the stakes and place my characters in a world where they truly needed to fight for something in order to truly discover who they were, and who they could become. I switched my genre from contemporary to sci-fi/dystopian, and I haven’t looked back since.
I am truly grateful not only for the impact reading The Light series has had on my own life and understanding of the world, but also for the time I discovered it. 2020, as we all know, was a year of trials, and in that time of cooped-up isolation, I discovered a world of stories that were truly redemptive in the best of ways—they helped me rediscover my love for reading, which I had largely lost in the years prior when I was attending college and reading purely for academic sake. In reading The Light series in 2021, my belief in the power of a good story to change hearts and thus change the world was redeemed.
I was rejuvenated to refresh my own story, and thus The Divided Kingdom was born, a story, I pray, that helps readers encounter real and genuine characters who hope, dream, fail, and persevere within a world not unlike our own, with many futuristic advancements and technologies, to a world of new possibilities both internally and externally despite the oppressive pressures.
At the time of my writing this newsletter, the third and final book is currently in the works, but books one (The Divided Kingdom) and two (The Exile) are available for purchase. :) I hope to have book three available early next year.
The Rosary Invitations
Please share this newsletter with family and friends! :) Thank you for your support, and may you be nestled up with a good book before bed as often as you can. God bless you and your loved ones!