Karen Swallow Prior is back at her habit of telling you why it’s important to be well read, something she does, perhaps, better than anyone else on the planet. It is a natural avocation for the nationally-recognized Liberty University English professor, who is a regular at conferences and in publications where real Christian values are discussed, including reading broadly and with an open mind.
Prior’s On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books, has been roundly adored by reviewers and a wave of readers who love books–as she does. Prior’s even-tempered, thoughtful and kind analysis of any situation makes her an intellectual favorite of people on my side of the political fence–one whose philosophy she generally does not share.
Within these 250 or so pages, Prior talks about how great literature helps shape those who read it, “exploring twelve virtues that philosophers and theologians throughout history have identified as most essential for good character and the good life.” The central focus here is obviously of great importance to Prior, who earlier wrote the wonderful Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me, a memoir in books, which she calls “a love story.”
On Reading Well is a book about reading books and if that doesn’t grab you by the ears, then simply open the it to any page and start reading. It’s hard to put down this little jewel, which gives you all the excuses you’ll need for being diverted by whatever book is in your hands at the moment.
Prior, who was hit by a bus in Nashville last year shortly after On Reading Well came out, is one of our teachers this year at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference. The title of her class: “I Thought I Understood Virtue Because I Wrote a Book About It; Then I Got Hit by a Bus.” Prior is rarely removed from her sense of humor. Register and get info here.
About the Writer:
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).
