Solomon knew it. Do you?
Early in Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead, narrator John Ames reveals this truth about his life spent reading.
The secret of reading is that many books aren’t useful. Ames says you have to read a bunch of books to believe this is true.
As a minister, Ames knows the passage from Ecclesiastes where Solomon warns his son about reading and writing books.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
Ecclesiastes 12:12
As a lifelong reader, it’s hard to remember this truth, but when I do remember it, I realize my default should always be to greater action: more love for God and neighbor, less reading about loving God and neighbor. The ratio will never be 100/0, but I pray for an equality between the truth I read and the truth I live.