Reading is an old habit that has fallen out of fashion. I passionately adore the habit and probably have nothing new to say that you haven’t heard me say before on the subject. I am often amused that we revere old things and also despise anything old. Consider our fascination with ancient architecture and archaeology. We are awed by its existence and endurance, but not impressed enough to want to return to living in those old castles or with those ancient tools. Sometimes we ponder old words and think how much more fitting they are, but we don’t usually use them. In general, we have no use for anything old—technology or ideas or people. We want the latest and newest.
I’m the same. I do not like being tethered to the wall to talk on the phone, or wait seven to ten days to get a response from a mailed request any more than anyone else does. As I prepared to present a workshop for the last in-person conference, I had to dig out notes from a talk I wrote eight years ago. I wanted to toss it in the trash. How could I have ever had the nerve to say all those things? Of course, a closer look helped me unearth some of the valuable bits, polish them up, and add some new thoughts. The basic structure was okay because it was the outline of Ourselves by Charlotte Mason, an old book by today’s standards, with a lot of old references and outdated language, but still perfectly relevant for any person today.
This of course is what I love about old books. They are new to me if I’m reading them for the first time, and even if I have read them countless times before, I still find something new in them to nourish me. You all know I have valiantly attempted to keep treasured old books and, to prove it, have a whole level of my house designated for their preservation. I have doggedly battled to inspire the reading of these old books despite the discouraging reality that fewer and fewer people read anything with pages. I’ve spoken out about the reshaping of brains by technology and the detrimental effects of electronics on a child’s reading abilities, tastes, and habits. I’ve read books and books by others who agree. Though there’s some comfort in the fact that that old word twaddle is more widely used, I do grieve how cavalierly and regularly its use is nevertheless allowed. In a time when lead paint and child predators are feared, we still permit the indiscriminate poisoning of our children’s minds with inferior “reading.” I will continue to defend my position that the public library is not our friend.
I’m actually not going any farther down that trail, believe it or not. What prompted these thoughts was a new book I just read, published in 2024 by one of my favorite contemporary authors. My heart actually leaped for joy when I heard Leif Enger had a new novel out. I could barely get through my busy week, so great was my desire to dive into it. It took me one day to read it and I got a lot of cooking and housecleaning done as a result. The title is going to be my new way of saying “no” to people: I Cheerfully Refuse.
This new novel is his usual mix of fascinating eccentric characters living in the region of the country I know best, sad events, fearful tensions, and pure beauty. I started texting a friend with juicy phrases from its author’s mind and had to quit. There were so many of them. One of the multiple themes of the book comforted me. The characters, obviously disclosing the author’s own fears, share my concern about the lack of reading and the present day indifference to and ignoring of old books.
I promise I won’t spoil anything else his new book contains. As school winds down for the majority of us and we head into freedom from conducting lessons, and especially for the majority who share my desire to see a generation fall in love with reading good books, here are my few tips for developing a new habit or re-establishing one that has been allowed to slide. One of the old ideas in that old workshop presentation I mentioned earlier was discussing the lack of time for reading. One of the new points I made was the well documented statistic that the average adult is on their phone two-and-a-half hours per day, touching their phone at least 1,200 times. I won’t reiterate how valuable taking time to read is. I know it’s slower. Most good things are. That’s the valuable part of the old habit of holding a book and reading, not scanning its words on a screen. The ideas in books are lasting. That’s argument enough for the habit of reading. Here are my tips:
1. Ten minutes a day. You have time to read that much. Find the ten minutes for your children to sit with good books and do the same. Audiobooks are a blessing, but holding a book is a bigger one. Remember Charlotte Mason’s short lessons. They cover much ground. In ten minutes a day, you will cover a 300 page book in a month.
2. Read a variety of books, either one after the other, or have a few different kinds going at once. Just take turns and don’t stay in a rut. If you are a novels-only person, read some history or nature or biography in between them. Wide and varied lessons, Mason said, increase attention and, hence, learning. If you have a “just the facts” kid, use biography to move them to reading historical fiction, then to move next to fiction. Furthermore, some kids need to learn that there are more ways to escape reality and cope with the world than only fantasy reading, too.
3. Dabble. You do not need to finish a book. Life is too short and there are just too many good books waiting to be read to insist on the necessity of completion. Have shelves full of diverse genres from which to choose. It’s fine to read this and that.
4. Have a family read-aloud time at least three times a week. If your kids are fantasy only readers, read them an old classic. Let kids do quiet activities while you read. Always read books they would not choose to read themselves, or cannot read for themselves.
4. When you find an author you like, read other titles by that author. Read books that the author refers to. Keep a list for the day when you have time to think of what to read next.
5. Don’t judge a book by its cover. “The best treasures the world possesses are found in books,” says Mason, and many a drab cover contains the most exciting adventures, intriguing characters, or enthralling stories. Explain this mystery to your children, who have been formed by a culture that believes good things come with eye-catching promise. Have a contest between them for who can read the best book within a blah cover. Kids love treasure hunting.
6. Collect recommendations from people who have actually read the book they recommend. Before purchasing it, find out why they liked it. That may help you decide not to take them up on their suggestion. A friend told me this week that the last three books she had read were more than disappointing, though recommended to her. This just affirms that everything new and popular is not always worth reading.
7. If you don’t like a book after reading three or four pages, just find another one.
8. If you don’t like a book after reading three or four pages, but it is a classic that millions of people have read and recommended for many decades or centuries, keep reading. You will probably get to the end and agree with those millions. Treasure doesn’t always appear after the first shovelful of digging.
9. Read from a real book, not a Kindle or other electronic device. The physical connection with the book, the turning of its pages, the simple stimulation of real ink on real pages, is unsurpassed for health to body and mind. Even if you primarily listen to audiobooks because of your on-the-go lifestyle, pick up and read a physical book at some point every day.
10. Bring up books in conversations. Ask friends what they’re reading, and if they’re embarrassed to say they do not, ask them what book they remember ever reading that they liked. It’s amazing how much you learn about others when discussing books together, and you’ll get some great ideas for your own reading.
11. Don’t make the mistake that you will get around to this soon, when life improves, etc. As C. S. Lewis said, “People who love knowledge seek it even when conditions are not good. Good conditions never come.” That’s for sure. Many books are significant to me because they accompanied me in some of life’s rockiest times.
12. Look for lists of top 20, or top 100 books of all time. Those titles appear on those lists for a reason. Remember C. S. Lewis’s other wise advice that for every modern book, read an old one. This prevents “chronological snobbery.”
I’m all for that. I also am all for simply maintaining the habit of reading at all.
In the next few months, I will be sharing some good old and new titles. As your school year winds down, make plans for your summer reading. Summer is a great time to read. Summer is a good time to make new habits and to strengthen old ones.