A Mailman for A Moment
Despatches from "The Screwtape Letters" by C. S. Lewis
Rheeda is my course mate in school. We were in a conversation in school, when she lamented about not reading books as she does in the past. In her words: 'I no longer read books because school has taken away my time. I don't have time to read books aside school texts anymore. The whole thing has killed my interest, even'.
This piece is a response to Rheeda. If you have similar experience or know someone in such situation, enjoy reading and share.
I had responded to Rheeda on that day but I decided I will respond with data, in extension. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis was my pick for this research.
The Screwtape Letters is one of C. S. Lewis' classical pieces published in 1942. The book is a collection of letters, thirty-one in total (each one makes a chapter), from a senior experienced devil, Screwtape, to a junior devil, Wormwood on how to tempt their subject who is Christian and ultimately keep him away from God forever. Hence God is considered "The Enemy" in these correspondences. It is a fictional piece, though.
For the sake of this report, I could not despatch the thirty-one letters but just fifteen of them, which amounts to nearly fifty percent of the entire book. In the table below is a detailed report of my despatches over a period of time.
A closer look at the table. Observe that there is no regularity, aside the chronological order in the column for date. The initial plan was to despatch each letter, which is a chapter, per day. This goes to explain that I only despatch whenever I am free to do so in a day, hence the breaks in between time. (Note the gap between date for no. 6 and no. 7). Computing for average of the number of pages in every chapter and the time to despatch each, we arrive at 4.7 and 10.8 respectively.
So if Rheeda were to read this book which is composed of 31 chapters at 5 pages per 11 minutes everyday, it will take her a total of 341 minutes (5.7 hours) to finish the book in 31 days.
Breaking reading into actionable and realistic chunks as illustrated can help make reading less daunting and overwhelming, not even considering it a distraction. 11 minutes is about 18.3% of 24 hours. 18% of everyday spent with a good piece of literature is not bad investment.
This is the third time I am reading The Screwtape Letters. I just realised that Chapter 14 is a must-read, especially for a believer, if you are not chanced to read the entire book. However, the intensity of the content rises from the first letter through the climax to the last.
Here's a snippet from the Preface by Lewis:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. . . . Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar. Not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle.
On fostering reading habit, read this series starting from this one: TIPS FOR READING 2
✍️This piece was written with many thanks to Mr Lengdung Tungchamma for helping me understand the significance of data; to Rheeda(s) for being honest with the feeling; and to Habibullah, Barkatullah & Joshua for making Chapter XIV more intriguing by allowing me read-out-loud to and with them at Jarding Reading Garden.
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Thank You sir
To think that I have began this book and never completed it...🤭🤔
I shall revisit it!