Writers are first of all readers.
I ran across a blog post on Jolly Blogger – not sure how I got there … maybe from an e-mail or following links from another site. The post contains the text of C. S. Lewis’s introduction to Athanasius on the Incarnation, which makes an excellent case for reading older books. Too often we read what someone says about what someone else said … Why not go the source and read what the original writer really said?
And the great classics are readily available on the Internet – generally for free. I have a page of links to free ebooks on my Web site. If you’d like to take C. S. Lewis’ advice – go to the source and read some of the great classics!