We had one of those conversations that I love last evening. One of the small groups at our church has just finished reading and discussing the book, “Speak with the Earth and it Will Teach You” by Daniel Cooperrider. The book is our congregation’s “All Church Read” for 2023. Each year the Faith Formation Board chooses a book that is recommended for reading by as many church members and friends as possible. Choosing the book is a formidable task. This year, eighteen different titles were nominated by church members. The books represented a wide variety of genres and authors. In the end, the Board chose to recommend the Cooperrider book with a book of poetry by Ada Limón and a children’s book added as “also recommended.”

The small group that met last night was even more prolific in their recommendations. Last week we compiled a list of possible books to read. I compiled the list and sent it out to the group by email. When the email was received, additional titles began to appear in my in box. I think that three titles were added during the day yesterday. At the meeting at least one more was suggested and I’ve been promised an additional title from another member of the group who was not able to attend last night’s meeting. It is a real joy to have more books than people. At least it is a joy to me.

The group was successful in lining out three books for the coming months’ discussion. On my “to do” list for today is getting out an email with the suggested schedule of discussions. I will also include the extended list of suggested books. I know that members of the group will continue to read beyond the titles that we are discussing.

The experience reminded me of many conversations about books that I have had over the years. My office in Rapid City had two walls of bookshelves that I filled with part of my personal collection. I would often have a visitor in my office who would look at the bookshelves and ask, “Have you read all of these books?” I would point out that some of the books were references. Books like dictionaries and concordances are not the kind of books that you start at the beginning and are finished when you have come to the last word. Rather they are used to find specific information. I often said, however, that I had read most of those books, which was true. What I didn’t say was that at home I had an even larger collection of books and I had definitely not read all of the titles in that collection.

Despite the fact that we downsized significantly, donation dozens of boxes of books before we moved, I still have a lot of books. In addition, I have taken to reading more books in electronic format. I have a tablet computer and I read books that are purchased and downloaded as well as volumes that are borrowed from the public library’s collection of electronic resources. I also continue to be an avid user of libraries. I have library cards to two different public libraries and know how to make online reservations for books in both libraries. It is common for me to have volumes checked out from both at the same time.

And, despite pledges to avoid purchasing new books, I continue to add to my collection. I don’t mean to collect more volumes, and I keep trying to find volumes that can be given away among the books on my shelves, but there are some books that I continue to collect. As I grow older, I am expanding my collection of poetry. I find that poetry collections are volumes to which I want to return over and over. I like to read them slowly and return to re-read poems. Thus there is an advantage to owning a volume so that I can keep it close at hand next to my favorite chair. In fact, at this moment, there are poetry books by Rena Priest, Billy Collins, Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe, and Ada Limón on my desk with markers in each showing where I am in my journeys through them. And I have a short shelf of poetry books right next to my favorite chair as well.

I remember a friend with whom I used to love to discuss books. He was an ophthalmologist and a recognized expert optical surgeon, but his recreational reading was wide-ranging. He loved biographies, but also read a significant amount of fiction. He had a marvelous study in his home with floor to ceiling bookshelves, there was a ladder on a rail that ran alongside the wall providing access to shelves that were too high to reach from the floor. Once, when I visited him in the hospital where he was a patient I noticed that he had a half dozen books on his bedside table. I commented on the books and he said that he had not begun to read at least half of them. “I always keep a supply of books that I have not read on hand,” he commented. “I have a fear of running out of things to read.”

I share his sentiment. I’m sure that when I come to the end of my life there will be a list of books that I am intending to read some day. I’ll never get to the end of my reading lists. And that is a comfort. There will always be something new to challenge my imagination. And It is a comfort to belong to a group at church that is eager to keep reading. I’m pleased with the list we generated. Knowing that we could add additional volumes to the list keeps the group interesting and engaging.

A somewhat new discovery for me in recent years, however, is the pleasure of re-reading a book that I’ve previously read. Some of the volumes on my shelves have become old friends. I enjoy revisiting them. There is always something new to learn. Like my friend, I am assured that I will never run out of things to read.