Becoming a "Better" Reader

A couple of weeks ago, while working at our local independent bookstore, a gentleman asked me what I would recommend to read next. “I’m laid up after shoulder surgery; I’ve read five books in the past three weeks!” A recently retired tradesman, he was reintroduced to reading due to life’s circumstances.

To help recommend titles, I asked him to share some of the books he had recently read. “Let me see…The Names, have you read that? It’s quite good.” I said I hadn’t, but my wife had and also enjoyed it.

“Do you want to borrow my copy?” he asked. I thanked him and said my wife and I share a Kindle account, so I could read the digital version on my device when I was ready.

He was persistent. “Well, reading print is always better, even when you only have one arm,” holding up his recovering limb as evidence. “I agree, print is nicer…” What I didn’t want to say is that I didn’t want to read The Names, at least not right now. I also caught the feeling of resistance, surfacing from being “told” what to read. This was a desire for control, of having a reading plan, and not wanting to deviate. The consequence was potentially missing out on having a new experience.

I thought for a moment and then offered a productive response. “To be honest, my to-be-read pile is quite high.” His eyes lit up. “Your pile of books you want to read? I’d like to see that. Take a picture of your pile and share it with me.”

My to-be-read (TBR) pile wasn’t an actual pile; it was just books sitting on different shelves of my house that I mentally labeled as such. I don’t need to organize them, I thought. I know what I want to read.

But the work of organizing them wasn’t the barrier. Rather, I saw myself as a “better” reader. I didn’t want to be influenced by someone rebuilding their reading life. But would my arrogance prevent me from a new experience? Why was I positioning myself in this way? Likely my ego and a need to reinforce my identity as a reader.

Eventually, I warmed up to the idea, so I collected them all, took a picture, and emailed the image to his wife.

As I looked at my TBR pile, I realized how almost every title was there due to another reader’s influence on me.

• Upstream is a used book gifted from a retired educator, who thought it would be a nice fit with my current role as a systems coach.

• Harlem Shuffle was introduced to me as an excerpt during a writers’ retreat; we studied Whitehead’s excellent craft as a mentor text for our own work.

• My family and I watched the movie Hamnet; I want to revisit the idea of art as healing and immerse myself in this story once again.1

Balancing personal agency while being open to others’ suggestions is a key feature of living a meaningful life. It is a principle not limited to literacy. That said, access to high-quality literature and the conditions that support collective engagement with reading are good practice for being in community with others.

A good place to start: find fifteen minutes in your day devoted to any of the following:

• Partner up people to share what they are reading and why they chose that text.

• Everyone organizes their TBR pile — physically, illustrated, or digitally — and reflects on why each title is there.

• Read said books without any requirements or incentives (quizzes, points, reports, free pizza).2

These activities can work for students or adults. This small shift alone will likely not lead to lifelong readers. But it will give you and those around you a glimpse of what’s possible. When a group of people acts together, you can barely differentiate the individual from the community.

The Names isn’t in the image of my TBR pile. But I am open to putting it there.3

What’s in your TBR pile? How did those titles get there?

Leave a comment

3

I modeled what it means to be a reader during the webinar earlier this week, “A Simple Process for Getting Into Every Classroom in September,” asking participants if they would rather only read new books or only reread books they’ve enjoyed. If you couldn’t join us, you can watch the recording here (scroll down to “Webinar: A Simple Process for Getting Into Classrooms”). If you are a principal, coach, or specialist hoping to get into classrooms more frequently this year, join us for our September Instructional Walks course!