In keeping with last week’s blog on personal reading, I’m thinking about how, over the years, my reasons for reading a book have changed. When I was a teenager, I would read a book to find out what might happen if I married:
1.) a rich man
2.) a poor man
3.) an executive
4.) an artist
5.) a pirate (not really but it’s hard to avoid them in books, though they’re scarce in rural Virginia)
And what if he turned out to:
1.) have a secret life
2.) be a gambler
3.) find a treasure map no one knew about before
4.) be a faithless drunk
5.) be a real prince
…well, you get the picture. In other words, when I wasn’t reading for school, I read to see what grown-up authors — who were certainly wise because after all, they were authors! — were saying should, could, or would happen to women who married into these different situations. The choices they made, and what happened to them helped me see how I should navigate the grown-up world.
Now that I have been married many years to a prince, (thanks in part to my youthful reading, perhaps), I no longer read for the same reasons. Now I read, in part to:
1.) become closer to the Lord
2.) challenge myself
3.) catch up on the classics
4.) keep up with the latest trends
5.) stay informed
And yes, I do read for fun, too. And I’m still a romantic. Some things never change.
Your turn:
What type of books did you read as a teenager?
How have your book reading habits changed over the years?
Patience Please
I don’t recall what I read as a teenager. Those years, and the years of childhood, do not bear the scrutiny of memory.
I suspect that I read then, as I do now, to survive; those were fell days of a different stripe, but I had to know that betrayal and abuse were not that which would define me.
Today I read only that which will inspire me to keep looking forward with hope, but not with fantasy. I’m currently reading David Sears’ “At War WIth The Wind”, the story of the tokko (kamikaze) attacks on the small ships manning the radar picket stations off Okinawa in April 1945.
It’s harrowing, but in the individual stories there’s both a will to survive, and a will to duty, and I can hold those lessons to my heart as each day becomes more painful, more tiring, and more existentially demoralizing.
I have nothing left with which to fight the pain (morphine no longer does it!), and the fatigue’s a bit much for caffeine (even if I could keep it down), so morale’s my only option, and I nurture and guard it zealously.
When young, I read to escape, to learn what a real family might look and feel like, and to relate to the world and others in it. As a mature adult, I still read to escape, but more often I find myself reading to savor another’s words, to open my eyes to new ways to relate to the world and to God, and to discover new books to read (one author will often point me to another.) I am currently reading C.S. Lewis’ letters and have just finished a book he mentioned enjoying, H. Rider Haggard’s People of the Mist and Sigmund Brouwer’s Merlin’s Immortals Series of which one book is Fortress of Mist. Do you sense a theme here? Perhaps, I’ll next return to 6th grade when horse books were a theme and read Misty of Chincoteague!
Misty! I LOVED that book and anything else by Marguerite Henry. By the way (not to brag) but. . . my mom’s friend got to ride Misty when she was a little girl. I have a black and white picture of the pony standing with her front hooves on a platform and the friend is on her back. I recently blogged about it and Misty fans responded from various corners of the country.
I too read the Janette Oke books. Oh yes, and Nancy Drew! How I miss that super sleuth! I wanted to be her! Now that I’m a “grown up” I’ve been reading more for information and reading blogs. I am less prone to read for just the fun of it. I want to learn more and soak up stories of real life.
I didn’t begin reading fiction much until I was in college. Not that I didn’t want to, but I was an information hog (read lots of non-fic) and the fiction people suggested to me was not particularly God-honoring (I didn’t know about Christian fic at the time). In college I found a broader selection of books, and some classic authors I enjoyed and became a big fiction fan. Back then I loved complex plots with historical relevance, or things that would help grow my understanding of the world. I wanted to stimulate thought. THEN, I became a counselor and worked in some tough areas with tough issue. My brain needed a rest at the end of the day, so I preferred fiction that was fun, and to some degree escapist. That phase ran through my children’s early years. Now that my family does not require the same degree of constant mental input, I can enjoy thinking again in my leisure moments, so I like a variety of stories depending on my mood of the day. Sometimes I want to escape and sometimes I want to consider complex societal concerns. My reading is more diverse now.
Interesting post, Tamela! When I read through the classics in high school it was a curriculum requirment, and I didn’t appreciate any of them. Now, reading those same books as an adult is MY choice, and I can’t get seem to get enough. This could be a case of maturity, but it also might be freedom of choice. Although I’m in 2 book clubs which prompt me to read a lot of things I wouldn’t normally choose, I’m still choosing to be a part of that club. Make any sense to anyone?
I’ve always been a voracious reader, and I think that we tend to gravitate towards what need we need to fill in ourselves at the time. It seems that whether I am reading for information or for entertainment, I tend to be drawn to the same types of things….words that get my blood boilng and wake up my senses to the world around me. I like to get my passion aroused with every book undertaken…and not necessarily of a romantic nature. World topics…God topics…emotional topics. They all seem to gather my interest:)
Interesting. I never thought about why I read what I read as a teen. I was fascinated by stories with ghosts in them, and teenage redemption stories. But I also loved mysteries and historicals. Maybe they drew me in because they made me feel deeply. I also read to escape.
Now, I gravitate toward stories with satisfying endings, in most genres. I like to see how a character changes for the better from the beginning of a story to its conclusion. And I still like books that make me feel deeply.
We didn’t have a bookstore in the town I grew up in, but we did have a library. I didn’t even know about Christian fiction then. I started out reading Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, and other stories about nurses and detectives.
When I outgrew these, I read my mother’s Harlequins. I think I read every Janet Daily book at that time.
I gave up reading fiction while in college except for summer vacations where I discovered Danielle Steele.
I don’t remember when I discovered Christian fiction, but I’m so glad I did. I’ve discovered many great Christian authors, and I love to read even more now that there’s an opportunity to learn more about God’s love.
I vaguely remembering reading as a teenager to escape or further engage in the dream of what could be.
I probably read for the latter reason today.
What could be with Jesus if I get out of His way.
What could be with understanding His Word if we really were open to all He has to say – cultural context for non-fiction and Biblical fiction for fun.
What could be in the lives of… name any great character here…
What could be for the world if we were all still dreamers.
To be honest, probably to escape a little too… there’s this addiction I have to a couple author’s romance books (not my normal read).
Argh. Sorry for the typo… authors’
Between 7th and 10th grade, I lived 3 blocks from the library, so I rode my bike there at least every other day. One summer I read mostly westerns (I’ve always loved horses but never had one. When I had the time, I didn’t have the money and when I had the money, I didn’t have the time), the next summer mostly science fiction, the next summer mostly mystery, which is when I discovered Ngaio Marsh. In late high school, I discovered Jane Austin, who is still my favorite author. I discovered regency romance by Georgette Heyer, who also wrote mystery very well.
For many years, mostly I read scientific papers even at home (that’s a lot more fun than you might imagine), but on vacation I indulged in clean romance and mystery. On business trips, I took classic novels (Dickens, Trollope, Austin), Christian nonfiction (C.S. Lewis, John Stott), scientific apologetics (solid science by believing scientists like Hugh Ross, Michael Behe, John Polkinghorne), and general apologetics (Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell) that might equip me for sharing. I like Christian suspense/thrillers, like Dee Henderson. I’m spending most of my reading time now with books to develop my craft and award winners in the historical and historical romance genres to learn from the current masters in those genres. Lynn Austin, Tracey Higley, Francine Rivers, and Karen Witemeyer invariably satisfy me. I prefer novels with more than two three-dimensional POV characters since they better simulate real life. I especially like novels where a major POV character goes through intense spiritual struggles to find or rejuvenate his or her faith in Jesus. That provides the core of my own plots with a romance interwoven that I hope leaves the reader with an “Aaahhh” at the end.
That’s Jane Austen, not Austin. Long affiliation with Texans and reading Lynn Austin’s novels have confused my internal spell-checker.
Then, as now, I read because I’m a bookaholic. I read every fiction book in the teen section of our small, branch library and reread many of the few books I owned. I especially loved Bullfinch’s Mythology.
I loved Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie, and John Steinbeck. I no longer read mysteries or romance, as the reason I read has changed from one of dreaming of Mr Right and tickling my deductive powers, to understanding the intricacies of life through others perspectives. I lean toward the literary genre, which is a bit untapped in Christian fiction, at this point.
Brilliant post! I was suddenly transported back to the “choose your own adventure” books I loved as a kid. As a teen, I read almost anything I could get my hands on, from Jane Austen to V.C. Andrews (and I had trouble sleeping afterwards). The only genre I stayed far away from were biographies, although I read Corrie Ten Boom’s and Anne Frank’s.
Not much has changed in my reading habits over the years. I still think, “One more chapter,” and then it’s suddenly 1 a.m. But at least now, I don’t stuff a towel under the door to try and fool my mom.
I read really serious books as a teen! I don’t know why. lol I was angsty. But I also read romances. 🙂 And a lot of nonfiction too. I just read anything that intrigued me.
Hi, Tamela!
As a child, I loved watching western movies about forts and wagon trains where the men pursued the ladies in their own ruggedly chivalrous way. I wanted to live in that time period and wear the dresses, too. Then I discovered Janette Oke and found the next best thing to living there was reading Christian historical romance. As a teen, I still wanted those things, but I was also curious about the “why” behind characters’ actions. Watching how those actions, or even the smallest words, could effect so many relationships fascinated me and had me dreaming up alternative consequences and “what ifs” of my own.