I’m Stephanie. I am married with three kids. My husband and I will celebrate 19 years this fall (2020). We have a multi-ethnic family, are passionate about adoption and firmly believe that God created our family. We have a community we love, family nearby, and what I can only describe as an ordinary-beautiful life, full of messy, failure-filled days, but full of grace and mercy and forgiveness.
I have lived my life with a tall stack of books by my bedside. And now my book stacks can be found all over my home. My kids have their own stacks and shelves and this makes me smile. My passion for literature and sharing story has led me here, to creating this site.
Here’s my heart:
I love books for their ability to shape a heart and soul. That being said, a heart can be shaped in a variety of ways and many books are not worth the time or brain space. I strive to recommend time and soul worthy books. I am passionate about finding books that infuse hope and encouragement. I also believe that a quality read should push us to not only evaluate our own life, but to see the world through another pair of eyes.
C.S. Lewis says: “In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself…I see with a myriad of eyes, but it is still I who see.” YES. This is what I love. Those books that stick, the characters and stories that become a beacon as I live life.
I also believe books can deepen relationships with the people around us — they can inspire community. We dialogue over a book and we not only end up discussing the story itself, but sharing how it relates personally, how it reached into our own experience. Sharing life with all its joy and struggles becomes less intimidating.
I love books for the fun they can bring to our family. We cook and bake and create art inspired from the pages of story. We take field trips and sometimes bigger travel, bringing what we read alive. (Don’t even ask my my husband how many “literature field trips” he’s been pulled into, you’ll get an earful). For us, this is part of the reading experience and you’ll find this inspiration on this site also.
Here’s what I see:
Books take time. I get it. They are put off as we hope to carve out large chunks of space in our schedule and mental energy capacity — space which often eludes us. When people ask how life is going, nearly always the first words out of my mouth are, “good, busy” or “okay, busy” or “rough, busy.” But I know that I make time for all sorts of things — those things I want to do and those I don’t. Time can be found.
I stand firm in my belief that integrating literature into life is not just valuable but crucial. Books require stillness. And in our culture we live more like we’re in a pinball machine — where the norm is skimming, surfing, and multitasking. We can use more stillness, a ceasing of movement and activity.
Here’s my hope:
My hope is that those who wander to this site will stay awhile, sift through posts and titles and find one read worth lingering over.
It’s not quantity, it’s quality. Reading one or two quality book a year with your kids or with your friends — worth every minute.
I hope people can savor a story with those they love. It’s so hard to slow down, but so important.
Thanks for reading,
Stephanie
If you have a favorite read or encouraging story, you can reach me at literature.threads@gmail.com or find me on Instagram @literaturethreads