Recovering Charles

Something amazing has happened in my life: I'm reading. Its making me think - about important things. And I love it.

That may not seem like a big deal, but for me it's monumental. And it began with just one book.

I don't remember the last time I read a book successively and in its entirety. (Besides the Book of Mormon of course) It's been 7 or 8 years at least since I read a full book, even longer for a fictional one. But in September I received a book written by a friend of mine, so I decided it was about time to break that trend. It's called Recovering Charles; a story of a man seeking his estranged father in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And it only took me three weeks to read!

That may not sound like a great feat, but my schedule at the time was pretty chaotic. I was always crazy busy with work, play, or travel. I also discovered recently that I kind of struggle with reading. Its not that I dislike it, and I’m perfectly capable but it just takes too much effort. I mean, I can process the words and everything, but I have the hardest time focusing my attention on the story. I tend to get distracted, and one sentence can set me off on a thought pattern that takes me to a completely different place. Before I know it, I’m thinking about a million different things and it takes me 20 minutes to read one page. And then I have no clue what I’ve just read! I can handle excerpts, talks, and magazine articles but books just don’t hold my focus.
However, this book was excellent and it helped me conquer my ADD brain. The chapters jumped around from the past to present and to different perspectives, which kept me on my toes. Before I got a chance to be distracted, he was already on to a different part of the story. It worked perfectly for my attention span, plus it forced my brain to work and stay involved in the book to keep all the details straight. Before long, I could hardly put it down! I thought about the story all the time. Learning about the characters was like putting together a human puzzle. I actually cried as I read the final chapters. That has NEVER happened to me before.
Even if you did not live through Katrina, Recovering Charles is a story for everyone. It is just one man’s story of waking up and making a new beginning in his life, which represents that change every man must make at some point. Sometimes we choose to change, sometimes we are compelled, but each of us has the opportunity every day to renew hope and open up to the possibilities of a “second verse;” maybe even a third or fourth! I think I’m in the process of writing mine...
I highly recommend this book. No wonder Jason Wright is a “New York Times Best Selling Author!” He's genius. And he got me back on the book wagon. Woohoo!

http://www.recoveringcharles.com/