On Reading
An Encouragement
One everlasting whisper, day and night, repeated -
so: Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges -
Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you.
Go!
This quote is taken from one of my favorite books, The Gentle Art of Tramping by Stephen Graham. I am not an avid hiker or any sort of physical fitness enthusiast, but after reading an article about it in Slightly Foxed, I read it and fell in love with it. The way Graham talks about tramping crosses over into so many other aspects of life. This quote in particular connected immediately in my mind to the life of a reader.
I have been called a brave or fearless reader, but really it all boils down to the fact that I have a deep desire to know, and that desire drowns out the fear and the doubt. So when someone further down the literary path tells me that there’s something worthwhile about a certain book, even if objectively speaking I am not quite smart enough to read it, I am not about to let that stop me. In fact I don’t think that anybody should. If you read a great book and you only get a fraction of it, you’ve still been enriched by it, and what could be better than that?
The following is something I wrote several years ago. My literary life didn’t start in earnest until I was in my mid 30’s. I see so many people who are worried that it’s too late to jump into this world of books, that they are too old or too uneducated. It’s not too late, and you’re not too uneducated.
Cindy Rollins in her book, Beyond Mere Motherhood: Moms Are People Too says,
Education is free. It is simply a matter of opening your eyes and acknowledging the “I don’t know.”
Embrace the I don’t know, read all the books you can, and enjoy the looking and the finding!
What qualifies one as a “real reader”?
Recently I was visiting with a good friend of mine and as it always does the conversation turned to books. The usual, “What are you reading these days?” And, “Oh how are you liking that?” But then she surprised me with the words, “Well, I’m not a real reader, not like you.” Naturally it is very flattering to have someone label you as a real reader, but I was shocked by this statement. My friend is a bit older than me, she has graduated 3 children from homeschooling with a 4th still in progress, and she has been reading good books since before I even knew what a good book was! Yet she gave me the title of a “real reader”, while denying it to herself.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. I have said it myself in fact; imposter syndrome is alive and well in the reading community. So why do we say this? Why do we feel this way? What qualifies one as, in fact, a real reader?
I’m no expert, I have no degree, and no unique qualifications. I read books, I buy books, I love books, and I want to encourage my fellow bibliophiles to re-think how they view themselves and this worthy hobby.
About 4 years ago my reading journey began in earnest. I was not a big reader as a child, I flirted with good books in my teens, and spent the majority of my 20’s and into my 30’s reading mostly mediocre books. Everything changed once I was introduced to Angelina and her method of reading and understanding stories. I was overcome with a desire to take in as many books as I possibly could. I believe my intentions were pure, but I will confess that I did get a little “too big for my britches” as we say down South, and although it was early days in my education, I very nearly lost my way.
As I look back I can only liken it to picking flowers in a meadow. Eventually I realized that I didn’t want to pick the flowers, to possess them. I decided instead to lie down amongst them, to enjoy them as they are, to breathe them in. I don’t possess them- they possess me. I read books because I must. They know things that I do not, but they will tell me, and they will change me.
In my mind, this is what makes a “real reader”. Love, affection, and respect for the books. Angelina Stanford says, “Stories will save the world.” I believe one of the ways they do this by changing hearts and minds, one reader at a time. Being a real reader isn’t measured by how many books you read every year, how large your library is, or how hard the books are. Are you an enthusiastic reader? Are you a humble reader as C.S. Lewis urges us to be? This is a journey, not a race. Enjoy the adventure. Your are a real reader.