We are hearing a lot these days about how curing the world’s ills will require radical transformations – of our government, global institutions, technologies, ways of doing business, etc. For some, such calls to change are thrilling, while others feel threatened and anxious.
Personally, I’m skeptical. As far as I can see, revolutions of every sort have sown plenty of chaos and, at times, even superficial changes in how our world functions; ironically, however, even when the goal is fulfilled, there is no sense of fulfillment. Most frustrated of all are the revolutionaries themselves, who then cry out for even more radical changes, even as they feel a tinge of regret for what has been lost.
If our thirst for change leaves us ultimately disappointed, perhaps that’s because we have been looking in the wrong place. Maybe the thing that really needs to change is much closer than we have imagined. “If we want the world to change, then first our hearts must change,” as Pope Francis once said.
Marcie Stokman and Colleen Hutt would agree. And they have their own radical proposal for one way this transformation of the heart might be carried out: by reading books intently.
A "well-read" book
For years I have known about the group they lead, called Well-Read Moms. (Last year I even wrote about them.) I must confess feeling, however, jealous and excluded. Alas, being a man and definitely not a mom, I knew I’d have a hard time participating in one of their monthly reading groups. That especially stung when I learned from our Tess Barber how much participating in the book club for women has helped her.
Now, thankfully, the sting has been taken away. Well-Read Mom founder Marcie Stokman and Colleen Hutt, the group’s Director of Literary Evangelization, have penned a new book that shares many of the lessons they’ve learned over the last dozen years since the first reading groups met.
The Well-Read Life is an engaging and inspirational book that makes me want to improve my reading habits.
How to read better
Technology has altered the way we read – and not for the better, as the first section of the book explains. Smartphones, social media, etc. have made us impatient and inattentive, and may even be rewiring our brains. That has made for a decline in reading habits – and made reading weighty challenging books something we are loathe to do.
Some of Stokman and Hutt’s suggestions are familiar – from embracing guilt-free reading time to keeping a journal. However, even these basic tips are drawn from their many years running Well-Read Mom groups. Members of their community share stories of their reading struggles and why certain reading practices proved to be helpful.
Two suggestions in particular are key to Well-Read Moms’ success and, in my opinion, make this book a must-read for all those who want to deepen their interior lives through reading.
First, Stokman and Hutt emphasize the importance of readers bringing their own experiences to the books they are reading. For Well-Read Mom, reading is not just a way one enterprise. Yes, authors speaks to us through the books, but the act of reading is also a dialogue, allowing us to respond to what we read.
They show us how to compare our own experiences and desires with a book’s content. This way of reading is crucial if I want to be changed by what we read. Conversely, if some or all of a book The chapters about how we can judge what we read, filled with many real-life examples, are extremely helpful and can transform how we read.
Stokman and Hutt limit their examples to “great” books like Crime and Punishment or Geore Eliot’s Middlemarch, but in my opinion the method they describe can and should be applied to everything we read – from great works of literature to online newspaper articles and comic books.
Building a better world through books
A second strength of the book is how Stokman and Hutt link deep reading with the fostering of friendships. While it is possible to enjoy a book alone, sharing one’s thoughts, experiences, and difficulties with others is an essential aspect of the well-read life as they conceive it. Simply put, my conversation with a book is enriched when it expands to include other readers in an open and caring environment. As they put it:
“Because each person is unique, our experience of a particular book is different from anyone else’s; therefore, we have something personal to share with other readers, and they with us. This reciprocal friendship enriches our experience of literature and life by weaving beautiful threads of understanding among us, uniting disparate parts and synthesizing our human experience.”
In their view, reading together is like growing a garden that brings unforeseen benefits to all of one’s life:
“Becoming well read is like planting seeds that suddenly spring to life at unexpected times. More meaningful connections with our children, our husbands, and in all our relationships are possible and surprise us how and when they come about. Meaningful relationships down the road come from the intentional decisions we make today.”
That’s a noble and beautiful vision for spreading authentic change, the kind that starts with you and me and that in time builds stronger communities and a better world. Amazingly, that isn’t a pipe dream, but a reality that is unfolding in kitchens and living rooms on a monthly basis
And now, thanks to The Well-Read Life, the rest of us all share in the bounty.
