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Review: Reading Between the Lines

Reading Between the Lines book cover on blue background

Though this book was first published 34 years ago, the content remains relevant and timely to us as readers today. Reading Between the Lines by Gene Edward Veith Jr. is an engaging book about how Christians can "get more out of their reading."

Book Synopsis

A guidebook for those who want to cultivate literary taste―knowing how to recognize and benefit from books that are spiritually and aesthetically good.

Literary expert Gene Veith helps book lovers better understand what they read as he explains how each major literary genre communicates. Showing how comedy, tragedy, realism, and fantasy can portray the Christian worldview, Veith delves into related topics such as the value of fairy tales, the tragic and the comic sense of life, the contrast between the classical and the Hebraic traditions, and the role of postmodernity (a subject of vital importance to Christians). Introducing readers to writers past and present, Veith helps Christians to influence culture from an educated perspective and get more out of their reading.

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

This is a book I've been meaning to get to for some time, so I'm grateful I got to hear it on audiobook as it can read a little more densely like a textbook. That being said, it's a solid treatise regarding literary understanding and how the Christian faith can and should impact reading. I appreciated the logical breakdown of the book into the forms, modes, and traditions of literature, all meant to inform readers on the intended purposes of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, tragedy, comedy, realism, and fantasy. Personally, I found this analysis to be a useful lens in evaluating literature and thinking more critically about it.

All in all, this book is a celebration of literature and the power of the word. The sections on what literacy means to Christians were my favourite, especially as a pathway to better comprehending how faith can play a role in how literature is interpreted and what can be learnt from it. Of value is the final chapter with further information regarding readers, authors, and publishers and the relationships between them. Readers who enjoy reading about reading will find much to mine in this volume as they examine books from a Christian worldview and appreciate just what it means to be readers of words, and ultimately, doers of The Word.

Book Summary

  • Format of book: 🎧
  • Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Recommendation: 👍

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