In honor of the official start to summer and my plan to read many books by the pool, I picked up Alan Jacobs’ new The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction this past weekend. The book is full of reminders of the joys of reading in the midst of Twitter and texting temptations. Shut down the computer, put aside the cell phone, lock your gadgets in the car before going into a coffee shop, the Wheaton College English professor recommends. He warns, however, against turning reading into a chore.
So this is what I say to my petitioners: for heaven’s sake, don’t turn reading into the intellectual equivalent of eating organic greens, or (shifting the metaphor slightly) some fearfully disciplined appointment with an elliptical trainer of the mind in which you count words or pages the way some people fix their attention on the “calories burned” readout—some assiduous and taxing exercise that allows you to look back on your conquest of Middlemarch with grim satisfaction. How depressing. This kind of thing is not reading at all, but what C.S. Lewis once called “social and ethical hygiene.”
In Lewis’s view, which I largely share, the tendency to think of reading in these terms arises when critics, especially memberrs of what Lewis called “the Vigilant school,” convince others that they are the proper guardians of reading and the proper judges of what reading counts.
Read at whim, Jacobs says, with serendipity. He cautions against creating lists for fear of turning reading into broccoli. “This choosing reader is never merely passive, never simply a consumer, but constantly engages in critical judgment, sometimes withholding sympathy with a thoughtful wariness, and then, in the most blessed moments, when trust has been earned, giving that sympathy wholly and without stint,” he writes.
Without wanting to turn reading into a mere list, we still want to offer some ideas to spur your reading, so our gift to you this summer solstice includes which specific books we plan to read this summer. We have offered lists in years past, but as our group of contributors grows each year, we limited our writers this year to pick just one book they plan to read. You’ll also see an entry from Morgan Feddes, CT’s new editorial resident, who helped me compile the links for this post. Jump in and let us know what books you plan to read.
Katelyn BeatyA Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith (1943)Smith’s protagonist, Irish-Catholic girl Francie Nolan, is like an Anne of Green Gables after a street fight: bookish, perceptive, longing to understand her world (1920s Brooklyn) yet alienated by its harshness, and hopeful about life’s possibilities, despite the alcoholism and economic injustice that plague her family of four.
Amy Julia BeckerThe Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time, Judith Shulevitz (2010) Shulevitz, a sometimes-practicing Jewish woman and journalist, reflects on the history of the Sabbath and its role within our culture as a way to ask questions about the ethical dimensions of time.
Anna BroadwayBird by Bird, Anne Lamott (1995) This is a book on writing that I’ve heard about for a while but not had a chance to read until I recently snagged it from a friend’s book-giveaway pile. I’m only a few chapters in, and it’s already very funny, encouraging … wonderful.
Alicia CohnThe Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman (2010) Rachman’s novel is about a failing English-language newspaper in Rome that (I hope) promises a poignant reflection on disillusionment with life and work.
Gina DalfonzoMartin Chuzzlewit, Charles Dickens (1843-44)This is the only Dickens novel that I haven’t yet read, and I’ve decided that it’s time to remedy that.
Ellen Painter DollarThe Boy in the Moon, Ian Brown (2009) This is written by a father about his severely disabled son, focusing on questions around his son’s interior life (does he even have one?) and the value of his life, both for his son and for others. I started it this week and it is both beautiful and very hard to read, partly because of the subject and also because it forces me to think deeply about difficult questions.
Morgan FeddesLast Days of Summer, Steve Kluger (1999) This is a WWII-era story, told through letters, reports, articles, and various other forms of media about a young Jewish boy who idolizes an up-and-coming baseball star. Fantastically written (though be warned, there’s occasional crassness). I laughed and cried, and even though I just finished reading it, I’m planning to read it again.
Jennifer GrantSecret Daughter: A Novel, Shilpi Somaya Gowda (2010) I’m attracted to novels that take me on journeys deep into other cultures, and this book—whose opening pages describe monsoon season in India and the birth of a baby girl—promises to explore complex emotions as it tells a story centering on adoption, gendercide in India, and the nature of family.
Marlena GravesMoby Dick, Herman Melville (1851) The story is about the complexities surrounding Ishmael’s adventures aboard Captain Ahab’s whale ship. I started reading it for enjoyment earlier this year but was side-tracked by other reading assignments. I hope to make it through most of the American classics that we own. Instead of signing a book out of the library, I figure I should probably read all of the books we have. I am on my way!
Laura LeonardThose Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales (2011) The business of entertainment is endlessly fascinating to me, and Miller/Shales’ previous oral history, of SNL, was a great read. I am particularly interested to read about the experiences of women at what is essentially a corporatized “boy’s club.”
Michelle Van LoonFalling Upward: A Spirituality For The Two Halves of Life, Richard Rohr (2011) I’m pondering what “growing up” might look like at midlife, and Rohr’s reputation as a wise, provocative thinker will likely provide me some meaty food for thought and prayer.
Sharon Hodde MillerThe Help, Kathryn Stockett (2009) As a student, I don’t have as much time for fiction as I would like, but every summer I always make room for a few special treats! This book, which launched to the New York Times Bestseller list in 2009 was both popular and controversial. Exploring the complex relationships between white women and black women in the 1960’s, it promises to be an interesting read.(Earlier Her.meneutics review of The Help)
Karen Swallow PriorFreedom, Jonathan Franzen (2010) This hefty tome explores through the rise and fall of one “successful” family much of what has gone awry in late-modern America, where freedom is too often confused with radical individualism.
Sarah Pulliam BaileyThe Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee (2010)I admit, this book looks a little depressing, but if one in three women and one in two men develop cancer, it impacts just about everyone and should be better understood. I was inspired by my latest book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a beautiful story of the woman whose cells, taken without her consent during cancer treatment, have helped find cures for diseases like polio. The author skillfully raises questions about life ethics, race relations, and Henrietta Lacks’ story, so cancer is still on the mind.
Caryn RivadeneiraA Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)This winner of the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction is, according to Didion, an “attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness … about marriage and children and memory … about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.”
