Outside the Comfort Zone

Last fall, Joel and I committed to joining a new book club, comprised mainly of families from our church. And with this commitment came the understanding that we would most likely be reading book genres not of our particular interest. The book club is not a democracy...the person that volunteers to lead each month announces his/her selection, and we acquiesce. The positives of this situation are that we get go know the interests of others in the group, and we are expanding our understanding of a variety of topics. So far, we have read Leisure: The Basis of Culture (philosophy), Pilgrim's Progress (Christian allegory), and In the Beginning (a science textbook on evidence for creation and the Flood)...none of which I would have read of my own volition, but they did prompt very interesting discussion. When I told Ashlea that we're now reading Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves by Edmund Spenser, she responded with, "Mom, you're not going to like it." She knows how I feel about allegories. And this book is not just another allegory; it was written in sixteenth century England, and has the vocabulary to prove it! As I began reading the epic poem this morning, I came across these statements in the introduction by Roy Maynard: "The difficulty for us lies mostly in the verbose, archaic language and the now-obscure allusions...And I've seen government documents that are less wordy." (p.10) Well, now I'm encouraged. *sigh* Regardless, I am making the attempt to read and comprehend (thank goodness for annotations). I have to wonder why I dislike allegories so much. Is that literary form truly just not my "cup of tea," or am I a lazy reader? And I'm already thinking...if I should ever volunteer to lead the study, what would I choose? A biography? Historical fiction? Theology? One thing is sure...it won't be an allegory!