Ready and Willing

I'm the kind of person who, if a friend mentions a book that he or she is reading, I'll read it, too, so we can talk about it together. That's always my hope, anyway.

Once I slogged through an 1,100-page biography of American actress Lilian Hellman because a friend said she was reading a biography of Hellman. It didn't quite work out as I thought, though. The book I got from the library was a biography of Hellman, but, unfortunately, it wasn't the same biography as my friend was reading. Imagine being famous enough to have two fat biographies written about you! Anyway, we never did discuss it.

Then there's my Spanish-speaking friend. "I'm reading Robinson Crusoe," she announced one day. "I've already read it in Spanish, but now I'm going to read it in English."

Wanting to encourage her, I said, "That's great! It's been a while since I've read it. I'll read along too and then we can discuss it!"

As this was a relatively non-busy time for me, I whipped through the library copy fairly quickly--a week or less. I was ready to discuss!

"How are you coming along with Crusoe?" I asked one day shortly after that. Well, now that school was back in, it was a relatively very busy time for her as she was taking six courses, and Robinson Crusoe was left on his island by himself. Another book I never discussed!

Now it's summer again, a time for relaxing and, yes, reading the afternoons away. Having abandoned Crusoe, my Spanish-speaking friend is braving Wuthering Heights. This time, I didn't have to run to the public library to get a copy. Right during our Skype conversation, I pulled my own copy off my bookshelf, noting that I had read it during a fourth-year Women and Literature course in the Spring 1996 semester. Fourteen years ago! No wonder the details were foggy!

I promoted it to my bedside table and am making my way across the heath and cliffs. Last MSN conversation I had with my friend, I casually asked, "How are you making out with Wuthering Heights? I'm on page 48."

"Ahhhhhh!" she shrieked. "I haven't even got my copy yet."

Is this another not-to-be-discussed book? I hope not because my copy is a veritable rainbow of highlighting--blue for the supernatural (devil, angels, hell, heaven), yellow for banishment or exile, orange - Nelly, pink - forgiveness, and green for references to the landscape. Such a shame to let all that work go to waste! I'm not sure if the discussions will ever take place, but I'll keep on reading, just in case.

Tonight, I was talking with a friend whom I haven't seen for more than 30 years, but who recently reconnected with me. You guessed it. She mentioned a book she's reading: Why I'm Not a Calvinist. "Ah-ha!" I pounced. "I have the companion volume, Why I'm Not an Arminian. You read yours, and I'll read mine, and then we can talk about them."


Even as I said these words, I was reminded of some verses in James:

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"--yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:13-15).

As a strong believer in the sovereignty of God, I rephrase: "You read yours, and I'll read mine, and then we can talk about them . . . if the Lord wills."