Good-Good Books

“It has been said, quite correctly, that we write as well as we read. It can also be said, equally correctly, that we think as well as we read. Since our very thoughts are communicated to ourselves and to others by the use of words, it stands to reason that the better our vocabulary the better will be our ability to make sense of reality. This is why the Anglo-Saxons spoke of each person possessing their own individual word-horde. The larger the word-horde we possess, the richer we are.

Since reading well is so important, it is good to get into the habit of reading good books. The better the book, the better will be our ability to think well and write well. This being so, it is good to be able to judge what constitutes a good book from a bad book.

Generally speaking, there are two types of good book and two types of bad book. A book can be good in the sense that it is well-written and it can also be good in the sense of the morality that it communicates. Conversely a book can be bad in the sense that it is poorly-written and can also be bad in the sense of the morality, or lack thereof, that it conveys. Logically, therefore, we can say that there are four types of books. There are good-good books, bad-good books, good-bad books, and bad-bad books. There are books that are well-written and convey good morals; books that are poorly-written but convey good morals; books that are well-written that are immoral; and books that are poorly-written and immoral.

...If we can freely choose to read whatever we like, or whatever our conscience dictates, why would we want to read anything but good-good books? Life is too short for us to be able to read all the good-good books that have been written, so why waste our time on anything else?

Christian civilization has given birth to numerous Great Books as it has given birth to numerous great saints. The former should be canonized as are the latter. Great books, like great saints, enrich our faith as they enrich our culture. As such, reading good books (or specifically good-good books!) should be an integrated part of leading a good life.”

~Joseph Pearce