Of reading lists and librarians
Reading as a kid and the teacher and librarian who continue to nurture my love of books.
I read a lot when I was a kid.
By a lot, I mean I read in the car even when it was getting dark. I can't remember how many times Mom told me I'd ruin my eyes - never mind the fact that I already wore glasses and was begging her for contacts.
When we'd go shopping, she'd tell me that if I behaved while she shopped then I would be allowed to buy a book for a treat. I was a model of politeness and decorum most every time and left the store with a Little Golden Book when I was a toddler. By first grade, I had negotiated my way up to my first Nancy Drew book even though Mom was skeptical that I could handle chapters. She even quizzed me on it when I finished it.
I tried to get a library card on my own one day when I was only in about first or second grade. There was an event downtown and my Mom stopped to look at something outside the library. I told her I was going in. You could do that back then, you know. You could go off on your own without a second thought, especially to the magic realm of the public library. I marched to the front desk, stood on tiptoes and asked the librarian if I could please have a library card.
She told me to come back with my Mom.
My love for reading didn't change in middle school. I had the same reading teacher for grades 6-8 - Miss Grove. Miss Grove required book reports, and the books had to be selected from her painstakingly curated book list. It contained classics and award winners along side popular - but well written - novels for teens.
Miss Grove never would have considered adding Twilight to the list. Of this, I am certain.
Over the course of three years in her reading class, I had to write a total of 12 book reports, if memory serves. Part of me remembers that it was one per marking period, but I almost think it might have been two. If the latter is the case, then I wrote 24.
And I still didn't scratch the surface of the massive list.
For some reason, I decided at some point in my adulthood that it would be fun to go back and see how many of the books I could read. It definitely would provide a diversion to all the heavy reading I was doing at the time for my seminary classes.
Fast forward to 2013 (give or take), I had landed a job as a reporter at our local newspaper. One day, my middle and high school librarian (shout-out to Mrs. Cochran!) saw my writing and sent me an email. By then, I was in my forties and had fully come to appreciate the safe haven she offered to shy, nerdy kids like me who couldn’t handle the chaos and social strata of the cafeteria - and I told her as much. I also asked her if she had a copy of the old book list. She promised to dig around for it, and a few weeks later the receptionist brought me a large manila envelope that had come in the mail. It was the list - now weighing in at 17 pages, front and back.
Since then, I’ve started and stopped my project to read the list a few times over, but this is my reading project for 2023 (and likely beyond.)
I have no schedule. No time frame. I’m reading just like I did as a kid. As I read, I post. Most posts will be on Instagram using the hashtag #MissGrovesBookList, but I’ll throw a few on here as well
Feel free to join in with your thoughts, memories and comments on the books as I post short thoughts on each one.
A thing to read …
Well. Things to read, to be fully accurate. Here are some links and Substacks that caught my eye:
Stephanie Duncan Smith talks about the value of our writing work at her Substack, Slant Letter.
“If the whole world teaches us that we’re just a product to be harvested for marketing by big corporations, if social media tells us we have to be beautiful and clever to be liked, then how on earth could we imagine that God just takes pleasure in us as we are?” - read more from Strahan Coleman at a guest post on Ecstatic.
I’ve been meaning to share this one from Tsh Oxenreider for a few weeks now. It seems appropriate to share today since I’m talking about reading.
A thing to listen to …
If you’ve never encountered the whimsy and sheer wisdom that Malcom Guite embodies, now is the time. Shawn Smucker and Maile Silva recently interviewed the poet-priest at the Square Halo Conference - which was an amazing weekend of exploring art and faith.
A thing to remember …
"Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift."
– Kate DiCamillo