A Reading Life

A Reading Life

Have you ever thought about your reading life?

I don’t mean do you like fiction or non-fiction – mystery or romance? I’m talking about your relationship to reading, both the content and the act.

A reading life asks questions like, when do you read and where? Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you remember the first book you ever read, understood, liked? Do you like paperbacks, hardcover, or, gasp… e-reader? (I know. I’m a dinosaur)

A few months ago I saw this post from The Modern Mrs. Darcy. I never considered the concept of a reading life before, but the more I thought about it the more fascinated I was with the idea. I was filled with nostalgia and energized to read more.

In the post, the author talks about how she met with a group of fourth-graders who were working on a project called, “100 things about me as a reader.” She writes,

In class, these students have been learning about the importance of knowing themselves as readers, and have been working on developing their own reading identities. 

Modern Mrs. Darcy “100 Things About Me as a Reader”

Write about your reading life. Sounds fun right?

To me yes, to my kids… well… Not so much. 

Covid had us stuck at home during Fall Break and we needed something to fill our time other than video games.

There were a few moans and groans, but eventually, I got them to sit down with me at the dinner table

My son, Owen is a bit of a perfectionist so he spent the first few minutes trying to “get it right” which was code for he wasn’t writing anything at all. I told him the only goal was to keep his pen moving.

He wrote:

1. I like adventure stories.
2. I read at night.
3. I don’t read for fun.
4. I don’t like reading out loud.
5. I like unlucky main characters.
6. I don’t read fart books. – I’m pretty sure this one was just filler.

My daughter, Peyton was easier to coax along. I would ask, “Do you like scary stories?” or “Where do you like to read?” and she would frantically add two or three things to her list.

1. I like adventure stories.
2. I like to read in my bed.
3. I don’t like “witchy” stories.
4. I like hardcover books.
5. Sometimes I drift off but I still stare at the book
6. It would be cool if I got trapped in the Last Fire Hawk book.

For three days, 20 minutes at a time, we talked and wrote about our reading lives. None of us made it to 100, but we all learned a little bit about ourselves as readers. 

This stands out as one of my favorite moments of lockdown probably because it wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t stuck at home.

Here are a few things about my reading life.

I grew up in a family full of readers but was late to reading myself. Now, as an adult, I am never without a book and often more than one. Thinking about my reading life made me feel like I could write forever.

• I like stories about families.
• I like sagas that span over long periods of time and space.
• My favorite place to read is the corner of my couch.
• It took me a long time to learn to read and I had to hide it from my teachers.
• The first book I remember reading and understanding was The Cay, by Theodore Taylor. I was in 4th grade.
• Books help me get through hard times. I finished City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert while my 17-month-old son Aiden was in the pediatric intensive care unit recovering from brain surgery. I read the line, “Minutes passed, they always do.” and felt my shoulders drop for the first time, in a long time.
• I like memoir.
• I like trilogies.
• When I was still drinking I read self-help books thinking they would teach me to drink like a normal person. Then I got sober and read addiction memoirs and understood I could never be a normal drinker.
• I don’t care that parts of A Million Little Pieces were fabricated. That book saved my life.
• I like characters with small parts but make a big impact.
• I like travel stories.
• I like stories that weave in real-life events.
• I like stories that teach me some obscure fact, about elephants or hypnotists, or 1980’s video games.
• I like stories about underdogs, outcasts, and people on the fringe of society.
• I like food magazines.
• I used to collect Martha Stewart magazines. Putting them into the recycle bin was one of the more liberating moments of my life.
• I read cookbooks.

• I have my mother’s Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It has a burn in the coil shape of our electric stove. I wasn’t there the day it happened, but I really wish I was. Imagining her jump and yell and run around opening windows trying to get the smell out makes me smile. I’m so glad she kept it. Now that she is gone, I’m glad I have it.
• In my 20’s I would buy Us Weekly and read it at the beach while eating skittles and a 24 oz fountain soda for lunch. I was super healthy.
• I love the rhythm and rhyme of children’s books.
• When Owen and Peyton were little book time was 25 minutes a night.
• Owen’s favorite book was Hippos go Berzerk.
• Peyton’s favorite was Goodnight Gorilla. Sometimes I struggled to come up with what to say.
• I tried to skip pages when I was tired, but it never worked.
• Aiden was just getting into books when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. His favorites were How Does a Dinosaur Count to Ten and Five Green and Speckled Frogs. He missed so much, I’m glad he found the joy of reading before he died.
• I struggle to abandon a book I’m not enjoying.
• I like stories that jump from past to present and back again.
• I like books that have more than one character narrating.
• When I get to the end of a book I slow down to make it last longer.

I loved this project and I will probably pick it up from time to time whenever I want to feel wistful.

Have you ever thought about your reading life? Send me a list. I’d love to hear about it.

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