A Life Expanded

Written by China Weil

It started how all the best things do—a friend asked me to join. I politely brushed her off. I loved reading growing up, but somehow in the years of teaching and graduate school and then parish ministry, reading had lost most of its charm. It became a chore for learning.

Then Mary asked me again. This time, I had a newborn and two toddlers and board books on repeat felt like all I could handle. But God bless Mary Murphy, because she asked again. This time, they were starting the year with Death Comes for the Archbishop. That was a favorite of mine from long ago. I’d already read it. Could there be a gentler entry?

I reread Willa Cather. Then The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. By the time we got to Two Old Women and Two Old Men, I was having fun. I was talking to my husband about literature. I was reading the books faster than the meetings came, and so I started reading other things in between.

That first January after joining, I tentatively set my yearly reading goal for a lofty 30 books, a steep jump from my normal 0. I read 54. I’ve read at least 50 books every year since. Well-Read Mom completely resurrected my love for reading. It opened up periods of history that had been blurry to me. I started comparing literature, analyzing writing styles, and drawing connections in a way that I hadn’t been able to before. My literature-major husband was ecstatic. I was loving reading. But it didn’t stop there.

After the first six months with my group of absolutely lovely women, I wanted to invite every other woman I knew to join us. I thought, I have so many good friends in town who I never see. Could I possibly convince them to come over to my house once a month to talk about books? With not a little amount of anxiety, I sent out 20 invites. To my utter shock, at least a dozen said yes. And just like that, my own Well-Read Mom group was born.

What had I done? Hospitality had always been something I had valued and admired in others. Now I was forced to strengthen that muscle in myself. The first months were anxiety ridden—would anyone show up? What might I serve? How will I fit everyone in my house? Well-Read Mom gave me the opportunity to grow in hospitality just as quickly as I did in reading.

My group meets on Friday nights and I now gleefully spend the whole month filling up Pinterest boards with appetizers and desserts that fit the season or the book. I created a physical menu for a fictional restaurant named “Sebastian’s” for Brideshead Revisited, complete with foods from the book, using their page numbers as the prices. I’ve made Russian blinis and Italian tiramisu and South African melkterts. I discovered that I have a charism of hospitality and a gift in the kitchen. I try out new recipes, I welcome strangers, I open my home over and over again and it has brought so many blessings. My oldest daughter, age 8, helps greet guests and loves hosting beside me. I get to model for her what having a healthy community of women around you should look like.

This year we had a family potluck in lieu of the first meeting, so that all of our husbands and children could meet these women and families we keep talking about. The kids had their own book club during, and it was immediately decided that this was a new yearly tradition.

And the conversations we have had! Tears and laughter that is so deep it causes more tears. We’ve wrestled with womanhood and motherhood and supported each other in desperate times and rejoiced in the good times. We mourned members moving away and welcomed new babies and friends. I look forward each month to picking up the next book and then getting to ruminate over its content, themes, style, characters, and message with women who are dear to me. Women whom I trust. Women who are looking for the True, Good, and Beautiful in their lives, just like me. And I know it’s not just felt by me. When reading Giants in the Earth and discussing despair and loneliness, I asked the women what they do to build community or to feel restored. They all just looked at me and answered almost simultaneously, “THIS. This is what we do. We come to Well-Read Mom.”

So thank you Well-Read Mom for resurrecting my life of reading, for allowing me the space to discover new gifts within myself, and for giving me the opportunity to build up a community of outstanding women. My life has expanded beyond expectation. What a blessing that is.

About China Weil

China Weil is a Nebraska wife and mom of five, building cathedrals in the everyday. She earned her MDiv from the University of Notre Dame, a formative time which developed her love for real food and the Real Presence. She prefers reading, gardening, homeschooling, baking, woodworking, and liturgical decorating over doing dishes.

About Well-Read Mom

In Well-Read Mom, women read more and read well. Our hope is to deepen the awareness of meaning hidden in each woman’s daily life, elevate the cultural conversation, and revitalize reading literature from books. If you would like to have us help you select worthy reading material, we invite you to join and read along with us. We are better together! For information on how to start or join a Well-Read Mom group visit our website wellreadmom.com