Ruth, this post is a trove. Thank you for the effort you put into writing these posts (as well as including many resources throughout). I think your point about the airline passengers having no other choice but to talk, play, or read, is a good one. I also do an afternoon quiet time with my 4, 5, and 7 year olds. Each is in his own space and there aren't electronics to use. My children often page through books at this time but only (I'm convinced) after they have gone through the tedium of boredom - exhausting splashy alternatives. So I can see the benefit of having no choice but to read. That sort of controlled environment is hard to replicate in the world outside our home, but hopefully my kids are experiencing the reward that deep attention brings and will develop muscles in that area. That way when they are bombarded with stimuli and device temptation, they'll at least have the habit of attention to return to. I also second how helpful Susan Wise Bauer's work is and how the curated lists online make it easier to just start reading. Thanks again for your work here!
"That sort of controlled environment is hard to replicate in the world outside our home" - yes that is the challenge. However, having older children now (one in first year university) I can confirm that the habit of attention, when established as a norm over years, is bred into their bones. And when they choose to be on screens too much, they notice the negative effects and know what to return to. Glad you enjoyed the resources - I have been gathering these over the years and finally I have found a place to share them :)
As busy and successful real estate agents at the time, we had no plan at all to homeschool our 2 daughters. Yet, grace of God, we did and it was His promptings that did it. I remember very well watching my wife and daughters curled up in the fat leather chair working thru the books in the Five in a Row plan, and then later into the Robinson cirriculum. That started a love affair that remains to this day with books in our home. It is worth any price, no excuses about being busy or growing a business, to gift this to our children. Your essays (and Peco's) are a welcome exhortation, and a spiritual gift of your own. Thanks!
We also loved Five in a Row, and sitting piled on the couch among my children's leg salad was my favourite time. We still kept all their childhood books and I actually pick up additional copies whenever I come across them at a used book store, so that they will have physical copies for their own families. I agree that growing a love of books it is a gift worth any price :)
I was recently given probably 150 books by a retiring professor of the New Testament from my alma mater. Many of these books were old to him, a professor of 40 years. Now I get to carry them for the next decades, and, Deo volente, provide a forest of books to explore for the next generation. Great post, thank you!
There is rarely something that I get more excited about than a treasure trove of old books (unless they are mouldy). Yes, let's grow forests of books for the next generation! When our local libraries started to get rid of books if they had not been checked out for two years, I was ready with open arms:) We also keep a little library (looks a bit like a giant bird house) on our front lawn where people can come and take /bring books; a simple way of sharing the forest and spreading the love of tangible books. Great post about quotations!
Thank you so much for this post! My wife and I are committed to home schooling our kids (we have a 3 year old and a 3 month old) and it’s so helpful to have all this information in one place. I’m inspired by the experiences you’ve shared about reading with your own children.
And since I’m commenting, I’ll take this time to share that I received Exogenesis in the mail a few days ago and have not been able to put it down!! It instantly pulled me in, and the world Peco constructed has been riding along in the back of my consciousness ever since. I’m recommending it to everyone.
Thank you Justin - I shared your comment about Exogenesis to Notes (I hope that was ok).
Wonderful that you have committed to homeschooling even while your children are so young. This is the perfect time to actually start reading about all the different methods, look over resources, etc because there is no hurry. I will likely write a post on homeschool resources this summer and make it separate section on this substack. If you are interested in the classical vein of homeschooling, Susan Wise Bauer's Well-Trained Mind is a good place to start.
Thanks for writing this. I feel it is the need of the hour to inculcate a habit of reading physical books. I am sharing this article to my book club group. We had discussed last month about a time when every passenger in a local train journey will have a book, magazine or at least a news paper. Magazines and newspapers will be exchanged among all and there was lot of personal interactions and even heat discussions among total strangers. These days when I enter a train all I see are lot of people intently looking on screens. When I pulls out a book these days, I get astonished stares, as if I am a time travellor from past. Cheers.
Thanks for sharing the post with your book club! It is indeed "the need of the hour" - I feel that sustained, deep reading will grow extinct if it is not cleaved to physical books. Take heart in being the odd one out with a book in hand; you may well inspire others with this quiet yet revolutionary act.
Having read night time stories to my daughter, then she has done the same with hers, both are solid book worms. I am not so much, but this was so inspiring to me, I must make time to read a book! Thank you!
I stopped doing my “fast reading” very quickly when reading this beautiful article, and as I read I wondered how many people REALLY read it and followed up with even the links (I did and they were wonderful). 1965 GenX here so I have really enjoyed slowing down (well not at first) with a good book. Like many, I fell into the “if I’m not always busy I’m not productive” and yet after early retirement I found out that much of the time I was a human doing rather than a human being. Books keep me in the “being” section. Beautiful article, thank u.
Thanks for your kind comment Jim. I place pictures in the middle of my articles to help slow the eyes down, and hope that readers at least focus on the relevant parts:) It is hard to read slowly online...Yes, book definitely help us stay in the human being section!
Thank you for all these great book lists! I was a middle school English teacher for a few years, so I was deeply immersed in middle grade fiction. Now I’m looking to broaden my horizons a bit.
The two more “modern classics” I loved teaching were:
1. The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993). It was great for 7th grade because it touches on serious issues and moral dilemmas, in an age appropriate way, while also being an overall hopeful book on the value of life and its many dimensions.
2. The Wednesday Wars - Gary Schmidt (2007) -- this is the perfect book for a whole classroom setting, because it’s rich in historical layers, AND it’s also got a bit of everything (Shakespearean insults, swashbuckling, romance, friend and family dynamics, religion). It’s about a boy in the 1967-8 school year, who reads a Shakespeare play each month, that dovetails with his life (naturally). It also has plot arcs around the Vietnam war, JFK, the Civil Rights movement, and more. A real rich (and fun!) look at that era for kids who many not be as familiar with it!
I know those two might not “seem” classic, as they are pretty recently published, but I think they totally could be, if they don’t get swallowed by the zeitgeist. The most “traditionally” classic book I taught was The Miracle Worker by William Gibson. Kids loved reading it aloud as a play, and I also supplemented by teaching some basic sign language, which was fun and novel for them. We also read several classic short stories: Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl), Sound of Fury (Bradbury), The Greatest Gift (O Henry), and the one by Van Doren Stern that inspired Its a Wonderful Life (the name escapes me now). The kids overall enjoyed these, especially with the help of it being read aloud, to understand the intonation/humor of some of the language.
Anyway, now I am staying at home with my first child, and after making it through the brain-melting sleep-lacking newborn phase, I’m happily reading SO much more for pleasure than I was even as an English teacher. It’s been an enjoyable surprise of this phase of life. I’ve been flipping through more light hearted novels, but also found myself drawn to more challenging classics when I can. Next up on the docket (after my current fizzy summer read 😊) is Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis, and then I’m going to reread Everyman, the mortality play. After that- I might dip my toe back into the Aeneid/Iliad/Odyssey. Perhaps Dante’s Inferno. I still have my beloved Norton brick of Classic Lit.
Mary, thanks so much for your thoughtful comment and detailed suggestions ! My daughter very much enjoyed The Giver and I'll check out the Wednesday Wars for my younger son. O' Henry is one of my favourite short story writers (and often makes me tear up...). I read the most when I had my first baby, spending many hours reading while the baby was napping on me. A great time to take advantage of for quiet reading time. All the best with your reading endeavours!
I love the idea of becoming acquainted with classical words Ruth and that table from Clay Thompson is very helpful. I know it is the case with me that attention deficit has been linked with a diminishing of my vocabulary range - quick, simple and easy words become the "go to" vocabulary and I struggle at times to recall more complex classical words. I wonder if others have experienced the same?
I am in the habit of circling words in physical books that I do not know and then looking up their meaning. I am now going to start the habit of underlining words that I wish to add to my repertoire everything I come across them - thus through repetition imprinting them into my memory.
And I agree with your emphasis on physical books. I notice how much faster my mind feels when reading online and how the light from the screen plays a big part in this. One thing I love about older book is the beige tone of the paper - it is more conducive to slower reading I find.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the classic vocabulary - I love words that are richly descriptive and thus Dickens is my favourite author :) I cannot bear to read online, and often will print out even substack articles. Circling words works; when I was learning English I kept a notebook and would write each word five times which made it stick.
If you are up for an informative diversion, you can test your English vocabulary here https://preply.com/en/learn/english/test-your-vocab. It takes just a few minutes to complete and provides an estimate of your acquired vocabulary (for English speaking adults between 20’000 and 35’000).
Off to read some Wendell Berry now at the breakfast table....
I have read you recommend Dickens a few times. I have yet to read any Dickens, but I have liked a few 1940s black and white films based on some of his stories.
Read him - it is salubrious and at times uproariously funny! If you prefer shorter books, start with 'A Christmas Carol' or 'A Tale of Two Cities', if you don't mind longer tomes give 'Great Expectations' or 'Bleak House' a try.
Since you asked... Reading habits / time: Three 10-20 minute slots per day. One book by my morning chair along with the Bible (currently Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age), one in the back sitting room for after lunch (Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome), one on the bedside table before sleep (Nicholas Spencer, Magisteria). Plus a couple train journeys a week; perfect for forging ahead with one of those. - BTW it’s not always three such heavy tomes! I relax with Trollope or a mystery: Josephine Tey and John Buchan this year. / Choosing the next books: I keep a list, add to it when I hear of something. Popping up to London in a couple weeks to hit the bookshops 🙂
I too wrote a piece about the nourishing quality of deeper reading a while back and this piece fills in many of the gaps I didn't know I'd left. Grateful for this food for thought. An essential guide to being a thicker person.
Thanks for your comment Mike (and the restack:). I am glad that you found the piece nourishing. It was one of the closest to my heart, and I hope that it will serve to encourage readers to return to "eating books". I would be interested in reading your piece, could you link it?
I'll be having more to say soon, in light of your insights. Incidentally, you inspired me to order a hard copy of the Book of Huang Tzu, which I began reading on Kindle.
Thanks for the link - will take some time today to read.
I have only read one book online and found the experience dreadful; my eyes just skim instead of dive into the text. Great to hear that this piece served as an inspiration for you - walking even a thousand miles only happens will single steps at a time:)
Thanks Collette :) Happy to have you join the School of the Unconformed. I often glean some insights from your substack and am happy that you enjoyed the read. Old books are my favorite too!
Love Susan Weiss Bauer! I've used her texts for teaching kids from K through 12, and we use them with our own kids homeschooling. My 2nd grader wasn't interested in reading until we started to read out of her Story of the World primers and now he sneaks the Lord of the Rings in bed. Can't understand all of it, but, he's very well read. And we attribute a lot of it to SWB's curriculum.
Yes, she is a solid inspiration and offers great guidance. The Story of the World series is a staple in our home and I think we must be on round 4 of reading through them all. Our kids loved the audio version read by Jim Weiss when they were younger, which was a great quite time companion. I'll be posting some more homeschooling resources on a separate page over the next few weeks that you may find useful for your kids:)
Ruth, this post is a trove. Thank you for the effort you put into writing these posts (as well as including many resources throughout). I think your point about the airline passengers having no other choice but to talk, play, or read, is a good one. I also do an afternoon quiet time with my 4, 5, and 7 year olds. Each is in his own space and there aren't electronics to use. My children often page through books at this time but only (I'm convinced) after they have gone through the tedium of boredom - exhausting splashy alternatives. So I can see the benefit of having no choice but to read. That sort of controlled environment is hard to replicate in the world outside our home, but hopefully my kids are experiencing the reward that deep attention brings and will develop muscles in that area. That way when they are bombarded with stimuli and device temptation, they'll at least have the habit of attention to return to. I also second how helpful Susan Wise Bauer's work is and how the curated lists online make it easier to just start reading. Thanks again for your work here!
"That sort of controlled environment is hard to replicate in the world outside our home" - yes that is the challenge. However, having older children now (one in first year university) I can confirm that the habit of attention, when established as a norm over years, is bred into their bones. And when they choose to be on screens too much, they notice the negative effects and know what to return to. Glad you enjoyed the resources - I have been gathering these over the years and finally I have found a place to share them :)
This is encouraging!
And I’m thankful to benefit from the resources you’ve gathered thoughtfully over time.
As busy and successful real estate agents at the time, we had no plan at all to homeschool our 2 daughters. Yet, grace of God, we did and it was His promptings that did it. I remember very well watching my wife and daughters curled up in the fat leather chair working thru the books in the Five in a Row plan, and then later into the Robinson cirriculum. That started a love affair that remains to this day with books in our home. It is worth any price, no excuses about being busy or growing a business, to gift this to our children. Your essays (and Peco's) are a welcome exhortation, and a spiritual gift of your own. Thanks!
We also loved Five in a Row, and sitting piled on the couch among my children's leg salad was my favourite time. We still kept all their childhood books and I actually pick up additional copies whenever I come across them at a used book store, so that they will have physical copies for their own families. I agree that growing a love of books it is a gift worth any price :)
Yes, I've taken to collecting all the classics that I can, even if I have to pay shipping! I want a large collection for the next generation, too.
I was recently given probably 150 books by a retiring professor of the New Testament from my alma mater. Many of these books were old to him, a professor of 40 years. Now I get to carry them for the next decades, and, Deo volente, provide a forest of books to explore for the next generation. Great post, thank you!
I also got a few new books of quotations, to add to the few I described here in this post: https://open.substack.com/pub/codyilardo/p/omnia-romae-cum-pretio?r=1q8ur0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
There is rarely something that I get more excited about than a treasure trove of old books (unless they are mouldy). Yes, let's grow forests of books for the next generation! When our local libraries started to get rid of books if they had not been checked out for two years, I was ready with open arms:) We also keep a little library (looks a bit like a giant bird house) on our front lawn where people can come and take /bring books; a simple way of sharing the forest and spreading the love of tangible books. Great post about quotations!
Many thanks!
Thank you so much for this post! My wife and I are committed to home schooling our kids (we have a 3 year old and a 3 month old) and it’s so helpful to have all this information in one place. I’m inspired by the experiences you’ve shared about reading with your own children.
And since I’m commenting, I’ll take this time to share that I received Exogenesis in the mail a few days ago and have not been able to put it down!! It instantly pulled me in, and the world Peco constructed has been riding along in the back of my consciousness ever since. I’m recommending it to everyone.
Thank you Justin - I shared your comment about Exogenesis to Notes (I hope that was ok).
Wonderful that you have committed to homeschooling even while your children are so young. This is the perfect time to actually start reading about all the different methods, look over resources, etc because there is no hurry. I will likely write a post on homeschool resources this summer and make it separate section on this substack. If you are interested in the classical vein of homeschooling, Susan Wise Bauer's Well-Trained Mind is a good place to start.
I homeschooled my kiddo to college. He’s now 30 and an Aerospace engineer. It’s a great way to go!
My wife and I love reading first thing, in the AM sunlight. Two benefits: peace and quiet, and we boost subcellular melatonin throughout the day!
https://romanshapoval.substack.com/p/how-to-treat-emf-radiation-part-1
Love the 100 classic word list.
Thanks for writing this. I feel it is the need of the hour to inculcate a habit of reading physical books. I am sharing this article to my book club group. We had discussed last month about a time when every passenger in a local train journey will have a book, magazine or at least a news paper. Magazines and newspapers will be exchanged among all and there was lot of personal interactions and even heat discussions among total strangers. These days when I enter a train all I see are lot of people intently looking on screens. When I pulls out a book these days, I get astonished stares, as if I am a time travellor from past. Cheers.
Thanks for sharing the post with your book club! It is indeed "the need of the hour" - I feel that sustained, deep reading will grow extinct if it is not cleaved to physical books. Take heart in being the odd one out with a book in hand; you may well inspire others with this quiet yet revolutionary act.
Having read night time stories to my daughter, then she has done the same with hers, both are solid book worms. I am not so much, but this was so inspiring to me, I must make time to read a book! Thank you!
Wonderful that you have raised book worms! Yes, pick up a book - you will not regret it :)
I stopped doing my “fast reading” very quickly when reading this beautiful article, and as I read I wondered how many people REALLY read it and followed up with even the links (I did and they were wonderful). 1965 GenX here so I have really enjoyed slowing down (well not at first) with a good book. Like many, I fell into the “if I’m not always busy I’m not productive” and yet after early retirement I found out that much of the time I was a human doing rather than a human being. Books keep me in the “being” section. Beautiful article, thank u.
Thanks for your kind comment Jim. I place pictures in the middle of my articles to help slow the eyes down, and hope that readers at least focus on the relevant parts:) It is hard to read slowly online...Yes, book definitely help us stay in the human being section!
Thank you for all these great book lists! I was a middle school English teacher for a few years, so I was deeply immersed in middle grade fiction. Now I’m looking to broaden my horizons a bit.
The two more “modern classics” I loved teaching were:
1. The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993). It was great for 7th grade because it touches on serious issues and moral dilemmas, in an age appropriate way, while also being an overall hopeful book on the value of life and its many dimensions.
2. The Wednesday Wars - Gary Schmidt (2007) -- this is the perfect book for a whole classroom setting, because it’s rich in historical layers, AND it’s also got a bit of everything (Shakespearean insults, swashbuckling, romance, friend and family dynamics, religion). It’s about a boy in the 1967-8 school year, who reads a Shakespeare play each month, that dovetails with his life (naturally). It also has plot arcs around the Vietnam war, JFK, the Civil Rights movement, and more. A real rich (and fun!) look at that era for kids who many not be as familiar with it!
I know those two might not “seem” classic, as they are pretty recently published, but I think they totally could be, if they don’t get swallowed by the zeitgeist. The most “traditionally” classic book I taught was The Miracle Worker by William Gibson. Kids loved reading it aloud as a play, and I also supplemented by teaching some basic sign language, which was fun and novel for them. We also read several classic short stories: Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl), Sound of Fury (Bradbury), The Greatest Gift (O Henry), and the one by Van Doren Stern that inspired Its a Wonderful Life (the name escapes me now). The kids overall enjoyed these, especially with the help of it being read aloud, to understand the intonation/humor of some of the language.
Anyway, now I am staying at home with my first child, and after making it through the brain-melting sleep-lacking newborn phase, I’m happily reading SO much more for pleasure than I was even as an English teacher. It’s been an enjoyable surprise of this phase of life. I’ve been flipping through more light hearted novels, but also found myself drawn to more challenging classics when I can. Next up on the docket (after my current fizzy summer read 😊) is Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis, and then I’m going to reread Everyman, the mortality play. After that- I might dip my toe back into the Aeneid/Iliad/Odyssey. Perhaps Dante’s Inferno. I still have my beloved Norton brick of Classic Lit.
Mary, thanks so much for your thoughtful comment and detailed suggestions ! My daughter very much enjoyed The Giver and I'll check out the Wednesday Wars for my younger son. O' Henry is one of my favourite short story writers (and often makes me tear up...). I read the most when I had my first baby, spending many hours reading while the baby was napping on me. A great time to take advantage of for quiet reading time. All the best with your reading endeavours!
I love the idea of becoming acquainted with classical words Ruth and that table from Clay Thompson is very helpful. I know it is the case with me that attention deficit has been linked with a diminishing of my vocabulary range - quick, simple and easy words become the "go to" vocabulary and I struggle at times to recall more complex classical words. I wonder if others have experienced the same?
I am in the habit of circling words in physical books that I do not know and then looking up their meaning. I am now going to start the habit of underlining words that I wish to add to my repertoire everything I come across them - thus through repetition imprinting them into my memory.
And I agree with your emphasis on physical books. I notice how much faster my mind feels when reading online and how the light from the screen plays a big part in this. One thing I love about older book is the beige tone of the paper - it is more conducive to slower reading I find.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the classic vocabulary - I love words that are richly descriptive and thus Dickens is my favourite author :) I cannot bear to read online, and often will print out even substack articles. Circling words works; when I was learning English I kept a notebook and would write each word five times which made it stick.
If you are up for an informative diversion, you can test your English vocabulary here https://preply.com/en/learn/english/test-your-vocab. It takes just a few minutes to complete and provides an estimate of your acquired vocabulary (for English speaking adults between 20’000 and 35’000).
Off to read some Wendell Berry now at the breakfast table....
I have read you recommend Dickens a few times. I have yet to read any Dickens, but I have liked a few 1940s black and white films based on some of his stories.
Read him - it is salubrious and at times uproariously funny! If you prefer shorter books, start with 'A Christmas Carol' or 'A Tale of Two Cities', if you don't mind longer tomes give 'Great Expectations' or 'Bleak House' a try.
Great tool - 22259 for me.
Solid! Makes for a fun light-hearted competition among friends :)
Since you asked... Reading habits / time: Three 10-20 minute slots per day. One book by my morning chair along with the Bible (currently Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age), one in the back sitting room for after lunch (Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome), one on the bedside table before sleep (Nicholas Spencer, Magisteria). Plus a couple train journeys a week; perfect for forging ahead with one of those. - BTW it’s not always three such heavy tomes! I relax with Trollope or a mystery: Josephine Tey and John Buchan this year. / Choosing the next books: I keep a list, add to it when I hear of something. Popping up to London in a couple weeks to hit the bookshops 🙂
I too wrote a piece about the nourishing quality of deeper reading a while back and this piece fills in many of the gaps I didn't know I'd left. Grateful for this food for thought. An essential guide to being a thicker person.
Thanks for your comment Mike (and the restack:). I am glad that you found the piece nourishing. It was one of the closest to my heart, and I hope that it will serve to encourage readers to return to "eating books". I would be interested in reading your piece, could you link it?
Hi Ruth, here were my thoughts https://www.rarelycertain.com/p/on-longer-reading
I'll be having more to say soon, in light of your insights. Incidentally, you inspired me to order a hard copy of the Book of Huang Tzu, which I began reading on Kindle.
One step at a time...
Thanks for the link - will take some time today to read.
I have only read one book online and found the experience dreadful; my eyes just skim instead of dive into the text. Great to hear that this piece served as an inspiration for you - walking even a thousand miles only happens will single steps at a time:)
This post made my day. I've already shared it with a handful of people. Thank you.
...and your comment made mine :) (apart from the excellent pork chop dinner we just had in the garden). Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for drawing my attention to your fantastic article. We are on the same wave-length, as I just published today Forget Robots-Read Books! https://khmezek.substack.com/p/forget-robots-read-books
Love this. I read every beautiful word. Thank you. I wish I had subscribed sooner!
I surrounded my kiddo with books from day 1. He’s a confident, well adjusted, well read millennial. Loves books, especially old leather bound books.
Thanks Collette :) Happy to have you join the School of the Unconformed. I often glean some insights from your substack and am happy that you enjoyed the read. Old books are my favorite too!
Love Susan Weiss Bauer! I've used her texts for teaching kids from K through 12, and we use them with our own kids homeschooling. My 2nd grader wasn't interested in reading until we started to read out of her Story of the World primers and now he sneaks the Lord of the Rings in bed. Can't understand all of it, but, he's very well read. And we attribute a lot of it to SWB's curriculum.
Yes, she is a solid inspiration and offers great guidance. The Story of the World series is a staple in our home and I think we must be on round 4 of reading through them all. Our kids loved the audio version read by Jim Weiss when they were younger, which was a great quite time companion. I'll be posting some more homeschooling resources on a separate page over the next few weeks that you may find useful for your kids:)