BitterSweetLife

It might be.

One of the unadvertised side effects of going to seminary was an unexpected decrease in my untempered enthusiasm for all things bookish. What caused the ennui? Hard to say for sure. Mountains of assigned reading, some of it lousy? No doubt that played a part. No doubt research papers, and the necessity of utilitarian reading for footnotes, also was a factor. Long story short:

I stopped diving into books like they were deep lakes on a hot day.

But a couple nights ago, Lindsay was working on a lengthy "ministry assessment" thing online (having to do with downtown Kansas City church planting) and I sat down next to her with The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Two hours and 400 questions later, Lindsay was done with her assessment and I was done with The Road. (Incredibly written, heart-wrenching, post-apocalyptic novel.)

Folks, my reading verve might just have returned! I'm seriously excited about this, because having loads of books on my shelves that I don't have the wherewithal to read makes me feel something similar to what a young Michael Jordan would have felt if his ankles had suddenly lost their rigidity.

So the book groove might be back. Supporting evidence: Three nights ago I sat down and read Mark Driscoll's On the Old Testament cover to cover (succinct, effective intro re: the place of the OT in our lives). Impressive, eh? Well, the caveat is that this book is intended to be read in about an hour--it's only about five inches square and a quarter inch thick--which is why this is exhibit B.

Still, as an indicator, it's a good one.

My hypothesis will be put to the test in the days ahead, as I continue to tackle my current reading list. Don't want to jump the gun, but the prospect of my former Powers of Book returning has me happy.