In the literary world what inspires you, what lifts your spirits?

      

  

In the literary world what inspires you, what lifts your spirits? 

 This is a very personal question.

The answer will vary with our personalities and our personal experiences. If someone tells me they avoid books which deal with sadness and tragedy because they find it depressing, my thought reaction is, ‘okay, but do you avoid all books that contain these circumstances, or only ones that leave you in a dark mood? Because there is a big difference.

To read only books that always have bright rainbows and sunshine, handsome guy gets beautiful girl, gets predicable and boring. That’s me. In my fiction and factual accounts I look for reality, but reality that carries hope and victories mixed in with the disappointments, heart break, and challenges. That’s what encourages and inspires me.

Do you find it disturbing that so much of the current culture seems to thrive on the negative? A lot of people are fascinated, mesmerized even, by darkness that’s seldom penetrated by light. I can’t thrive on that. It disturbs me, takes up too much of my thoughts and haunts some of my dreams. Why do that? Is it healthy?

But to learn from other’s mistakes, to read about those who determined to rise above terrible circumstances, who found hope and God moving through hard times, that’s uplifting. In fiction, it’s Lord Peter Wimsey getting through the Post-traumatic stress syndrome of his experiences in World War I to use his wealth and his intelligence to solve crimes. It’s the wonderful sense of humor that is restored to Anthony Ray Hinton wrongly sitting on death row when he makes the decision not to let the injustice suffered destroy him.

You get the idea?

If you think about it, you can tell a great deal about a person by what they read and what they write. It exposes some of their soul.

The books you’ll find recommended and reviewed here will expose some of my own.