Good Fiction

 As a reader and a sailor, I love this quote I once heard attributed to C.S. Lewis:

"Good fiction is a ship carrying a cargo of truth."

During these 7 years of disabling chronic illness, Elsa and I have probably read more books and audiobooks than in the combined decades preceding. But while we used to read a higher percentage of heavier books both for school and for leisure, these years have leaned toward more fiction - especially children's fiction. 

If you have dealt with chronic illness, you will understand the ways it can weaken the brain and nerves - to the point where we still can't handle many good books and movies we used to enjoy. There are even whole sections of the Bible that I cannot listen to in a dramatised version, and historial non-fiction and biography often needs some fast-forwarding nowdays.

In a way it is a gift to be extra sensitive to any hint of evil, sin, and violence, but it also makes it harder to live as an adult in this world where every day's news can be gut-wrenching nightmare-material to our adrenally-exhausted bodies.

To find enough books to keep enjoying and learning from in a low-key way, we often turn to LibriVox.org. As mentioned in the past, it has also been a joy for me to occasionally record books or chapters for free audiobooks that others can then enjoy. This is the fulfillment of a long-ago dream which I had given up for years. How amazing that this dream was given back to me when life as I knew it had crumbled.

For the last many of Grandpa's 103 years of life, he was nearly blind. This was hard for a serious reader, so audiobooks from the library became a part of his daily life. But the options for good audiobooks were much more limited back then. How I wished I could record favorite books for him, but copyright issues prevented that idea. It wasn't until I ended up couch-bound and dependent on audiobooks myself that I learned of LibriVox. By then it was too late for me to record for Grandpa. But what a joy it is to now see others being blessed by the work, even while I am still learning to improve these skills.

It has also been neat to gain new friends around the world through this work, some of whom have led me to even more new [old] books. 

In hopes that this combined experience can help others, I have begun sharing family-friendly book and audiobook ideas, samples, and reviews under the name "Storytime with HannahMary." (HannahMary is my reader name on LV.)

Keep checking back for more book and audiobook ideas on
Instagram: @storytime.with.hannahmary

YouTube: Storytime with Hannah Mary