I clearly remember my first year out of college—that is, in relation to books. I’d become an English major quite late (can you say, last semester?) and I’d had to read nonstop to graduate on time. Add to this a constant diet of titles I’d consumed to tackle my English GRE’s and I was completely spent. I wasn’t sure I’d ever read a book again. In fact, I did not read (maybe not even the sides of cereal boxes) for at least a full year after graduation.
Where had my love of reading gone?
In today’s education system, I believe we’re at risk of driving both educators and students right off the reading edge. With so much emphasis on read and respond, read and annotate, read and analyze, read and summarize, read and tally, where’s the fun? (And I do understand that these activities *are* fun for some people, but I suspect they are the minorities.)
Enter a group of four educators who want to say, the fun is right here. You can Read for Fun. Go ahead, steal that Harry Potter in the night, dig that Batman graphic novel by day.
Like Tweetspeak itself, which began with a single tweet, the Read for Fun movement began with… a single tweet. Principal Sean Gaillard explains how a tweet from a network associate Jennifer Williams led first to book recommendations and, soon after, to a whole new Twitter movement you can follow through the #Read4Fun hashtag. Says Sean,
[Jennifer Williams] simply asked a general question for non-academic book recommendations. The former English Teacher embedded within me suddenly kicked into book geek overdrive and I responded with a few suggestions. This conversation led to Connie Rockow, another a new friend in my PLN to share a few book suggestions. Lena Marie Rockwood followed suit and joined in as well with suggestions. It was like we were all having a virtual cup of coffee together in a faculty lounge. The more we shared, the more I felt I had been working with these folks for years. The spark was ignited and we were sharing excited tweets and messages regarding our love of books and desire to get back to our roots of reading for fun.
Soon after, the group developed Read for Fun, which is currently driven mostly by weekly spark chats and general Twitter conversation. Read for fun. It’s a good concept to keep in mind—for our own lives, for our education system, for our children. Not to mention for our writing health.
What are *you* currently reading for fun? And, do you have favorite places and ways to read?
Photo by Ines Hegedus-Garcia, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by L.L. Barkat.
***
Follow Principal Sean Gaillard on Twitter
Follow Global Program Director & Literacy Specialist Jennifer Williams on Twitter
Follow Educator Connie Rockow on Twitter
Follow School Administrator Lena Marie Rockwood on Twitter
- Bookstore Tour: Transom is a Tarrytown Delight! - August 31, 2023
- Poetry Prompt: Into the Cave - August 14, 2023
- Where Poetry Lives—Interview with Beekeeper & Poet Sara Eddy - August 16, 2022
Bethany Rohde says
Oh, this tickles me. Just for pure fun I’m reading Anne of Green Gables. Is that okay at my age? I’m 35.
I must be enjoying it because my husband keeps asking what’s making me giggle from the next room.
L. L. Barkat says
I do believe Anne of Green Gables is ageless. Which is good. Because I’m… over 35 😉 And I haven’t read it yet! (And need to put it on my list).
I like to read YA actually and spend almost all day both Sat & Sun reading (which means I read about one book a week). I also love to read business books.
Have you read Anne before now? Do you have a favorite place where you read?
Bethany Rohde says
I have watched the movie about two dozen times. But I will tell you a secret, L.L.
(This is my first time reading it.)
Oh! I have so many secrets along those lines. As an English major, I’m embarrassed by how many classic books I haven’t read– yet.
What a delicious way to spend the weekend. Hm, a favorite place to read… well, in my dream world I sit in a overstuffed window seat overlooking the green Skagit Valley and nearby tulip fields.
At home, I sit lengthwise on my sage green couch (which has a window view) with a giant pillow behind me and one on my lap to support the book.
In both worlds, there’s a white mug of dark roast coffee and cream on the side table.
L. L. Barkat says
Seriously, that is a luscious reading picture! In my world, there’s always tea. Many kinds. Though weekends are reserved for flavored blacks of all sorts 🙂
I would like to go away on a reading retreat. And just read. Okay and maybe chat a bit too. Sigh. 🙂
Bethany Rohde says
Oh, wouldn’t that be decadent? Just afternoons and evenings-turned-mornings of stories and sips? What is your favorite flavored black tea?
Mine is the one I got at Butchard Gardens on my anniversary. It had a little raspberry, rose, and blue cornflower petals tumbling around in it.
L. L. Barkat says
Might be Monk’s tea. It has a hint of cherry. Or, I don’t know… Creme Earl Grey?
Laura Brown says
I have a confession. I was an English major and I haven’t read it (or a number of other classics) yet.
Bethany R. says
What a relief.
L. L. Barkat says
I read what I like. That means some of the classics… won’t ever get read 😉
Bethany R. says
I absolutely love this conversation.
This week I’m writing an essay for the On Being a Writer workshop. It explores how I feel about not reading something that others have read.
L. L. and Laura, would you mind if I quoted you from this post? (It is only read privately there between the 10 of us.)
Laura Brown says
You may quote me, sure.
L. L. Barkat says
Bethany, anything said in a public comment box is fair game 🙂
Lakin Easterling says
Bethany, have you read Emily or New Moon, also by L.M. Montgomery? It’s similar to Anne of Green Gables, a trilogy, and very beautiful. You would love it. (:
Lakin Easterling says
I meant *of, not or. (:
Bethany Rohde says
I have not. Thank you for the recommendation, Lakin. 🙂 One of my favorite parts about Green Gables is Matthew (he reminds me of my dad) and what the narration tells us Marilla is actually thinking/feeling during moments where she looks so stern or indifferent. Anne is softening her.
Can’t wait to also put in a hold on Emily down the road.
Laura Brown says
What: “Things That Are” by Amy Leach. Working my way through the Narnia books again. Someone else’s discarded New Yorkers.
Where: my glider rocker with the glider footstool, which is pretty darn close to a perpetual motion machine. Or in my new reading chair that I put in the bedroom. Or, sometimes, in the tub.
Ways: With tea at hand, and cat in lap. I also love reading in companionable silence with another person in the room. That doesn’t happen often.
Bethany R. says
I just finished The Last Battle in December. I adore Narnia.
I’m delighted that you brought up reading in “companionable silence with another person.” What a pleasure that is.
L. L. Barkat says
This is a happy picture. (And I love a good rocker!)
Tell me about Things that Are?
LLB says
Lyrical, poetic natural history essays? No, wait — playful, loving profiles of things in the natural world. A passionately, playfully curious writer who delights in both her subjects and language. An adult who’s never lost her child-sense of wonder. Enviably fine first sentences/entry points that show a fascinated, fascinating mind at work (e.g., first sentence of “Please Do Not Yell at the Sea Cucumber,” an essay about invertebrates: “The nice thing about having bones is that you don’t get rerouted every time you run into something”).
You would love it.
Lakin Easterling says
Currently reading: The Mischief Cafe and the graphic novel rendition of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
Places: Normally the couch in my living room, where I can survey the children but retain my atmosphere. They hardly notice me until I intervene in their squabbles. Sometimes I’ll pop out for a green tea latte at a local tea house, or take a blanket out to a clearing in the woods behind our apartment complex. Those are decadent treats.
Ways: The aforementioned green tea latte, a cup of coffee, or water. Somehow or another, my hair ends up tied back. I think I do it when I’m anxious or anticipating something, and I need my expression to be free from any stray strands. Maybe my subconscious thinks I’ll absorb the story better that way. It’s a mystery! (:
L. L. Barkat says
Alright. I just ordered Anne, Emily, and Things that Are from the library 🙂 Wishing I already had them here, to accompany me on this wildly snowy day.
Bethany Rohde says
Yay! I hope you enjoy them, L.L. I would lend you my copy of Anne today, but the commute from Seattle might take just as long as your library’s hold system.
Donna Z Falcone says
Don’t know what took me so long to read this one, but I’m glad I did. This sounds like a fun way to share about books… 🙂 Thanks for pointing the way.
Jen says
I’m trying to get back to fun reading more… Neil Gaiman is one of my favorites for just reading a good yarn. I’m about to start my first Terry Pratchett book (Guards! Guards!) because I can’t remember the last time I read something silly and my husband says they’re hilarious.
L. L. Barkat says
Neil Gaiman is my older daughter’s favorite (or, one of her favorites). She’d join you with tea, but she’d be tucked onto the radiator behind the couch 🙂
Jen says
Oh, and to answer the “where?” question.. preferably on my couch, with a blanket and a cup of coffee or tea nearby. 🙂
Megan Willome says
Anne (with an “e”) rocks! Especially that first book.
L.L., I had the same experience of not being able to read anything for a while after being an English major. It took several years before I read again, and it started with a friend who still gives me good recommendations.
Currently, I’m having lots of fun reading anything by Neil Gaiman. I don’t have a romantic Where or How, just a Kindle, anytime but before bed.
A fun one my daughter just gave me was “We Should Hang Out Sometime” by Josh Sundquist. It’s a memoir of a guy’s quest to find out why he’s never had a girlfriend. Funny and sweet.