Reading Is a Discipline

When I was a little girl, reading was my favorite pastime. I often read several books a week, in between schoolwork and church and playing with my sisters. Once my mom struck dismay in my heart by making a rule that we could only read one book a day. I didn’t always finish a book per day, but I didn’t want to be limited, either! A few times I was punished for something by not being allowed to read. (Although, of course, I was allowed to read the Bible – because that wasn’t exactly something my parents wanted to say no to. )

Nowadays it’s a little different. I still love to read, but I’m adjusting to what that’s like after college. After four years of reading hundreds of books and articles, sometimes I don’t even feel like reading anymore. It doesn’t feel as relaxing as it used to.

So I’m realizing that reading is still going to be a discipline, even though I don’t have college coursework to complete anymore. Tim Challies posted recently about reading more and reading better, which reminded me that I still want to be committed to reading, whether or not I always feel like it.

Right now I’m reading Radical Womanhood by Carolyn McCulley, and it’s been really good so far. Maybe I’ll share some of the things I’m learning from it in a future entry. Today I went to the library and checked out The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake. I’ve read Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was really intriguing and well-written, with lots of food for thought as a Christian too. I haven’t read The Kite Runner before, though. So we’ll see if I get to those sometime soon.

Enjoy Thanksgiving weekend, and spend some time with a good book while you’re at it.