I read eight books a week on average, and this is how it has helped my faith

Have you ever wished for a super power? The ability to fly would be helpful (no more traffic jams), to become invisible, perhaps, or to be able to eschew Google Translate altogether and understand every language spoken on earth. Now, not to brag, but I do possess a minor super power. I can read incredibly quickly while retaining all of the information and then recount it fairly accurately. “Big deal, Ruth,” you may be thinking, having hoped for something more thrilling. But stick with me.

I learned to read aged four and haven’t stopped since. 

I learned to read aged four and haven’t stopped since. By the age of six, I was reading at least a book a week and by the time I got to the end of my primary education, I routinely exhausted every book in the class library by the end of the first term and was forced to return to the well-stocked bookshelves at home, ploughing through “David Copperfield” at eight (I didn’t understand much of it) and paying regular visits to the local bookshop. At high school, given access to the library, jam packed with fabulous stuff, my reading count rose to around six books a week. I simply ate them up.

READ MORE: ‘Reading is a kind of magic’

Every year at church, the Sunday School children were presented with gifts, usually books. In this way, I got yet more literature to satisfy my addiction. The Tanglewood’s Secret by Patricia M St John was an early favourite and every year another suitable volume was added to my store. We heard a lot about Corrie ten Boom and I read The Hiding Place several times. The Anne of Green Gables series, written by the wife of a Canadian Presbyterian minister, also appealed to me. I loved Anne’s burgeoning faith and the portrayal of kind, compassionate ministers.

These days, as a full time author, speaker, Christian freelance writer and editor, that super power comes in really handy. I have reviewed and critiqued many Christian books and to be able to do the job thoroughly, but quickly, is a gift.

READ MORE: ‘Reading the Bible in my native language changed everything for me!’

May was a tough month for me, with a particularly difficult and thorny situation to navigate. It may never be fully resolved and it was easy to fall into hopelessness and anger. However, one morning, I found my treasured copy of Jennifer Rees Larcombe’s, Chronicles of a Kingdom at the back of the bookcase and read it all in under two hours. It’s a collection of sixteen stories about the mythical King Paxalom, his family and kingdom, and it has always spoken to me in a way that few other books do. Why am I telling you this? Because I was able to re-read it very quickly while retaining all the wise spirituality contained within it and then apply it to my situation. It comforted, reassured and encouraged me, at a time when I badly wanted all those things.

I believe God has given me the gift of quick, yet accurate reading.

I believe God has given me the gift of quick, yet accurate reading. I often use it for my own pleasure, but professionally and personally, it has proved to be invaluable. Reading all those books certainly helps me on my own faith journey.

READ MORE: Reading the Bible in a year

Whenever we used to go on holiday with the children, I would pack around twenty five to thirty books, then scour the library bookshelves for more books and do a last-minute panicky addition of about five more. On the journey from Suffolk to Portsmouth, I would usually read about two books. On the ferry, perhaps another two. On the drive from Bilbao or Santander down to eastern Andalucia (around a ten hour journey), perhaps four. And then I’d have two weeks of blissful, mostly uninterrupted reading on holiday, then repeat the whole thing on the journey home. I would generally get through about thirty five books.

My family think I’m weird. Watching me turn the pages at top speed, my husband observed, “You know this isn’t normal, don’t you?”

He’s right. It’s not. But when reading has always been my salvation and my safe place, being able to absorb so many books and return to their wisdom at leisure has supported and increased my faith as well as my happiness for an entire lifetime.