Rediscovering the Joy of Reading
Written by Maria Gallagher
When I was a little girl, my favorite summer pastime was to sit underneath the tree that my Grandpa Harry had planted in our backyard and read a book that had been carefully selected from the children’s section of the Bexley Public Library. The sunshine illuminated the words on the printed page as a cool breeze rustled through the trees. And from there, I traveled the road of imagination to places like Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie and Eleanor Cameron’s The Court of the Stone Children.
By the time I was in high school, our family was living in a different home. I could no longer seek shelter under Grandpa’s elm. We had only a small patch of grass behind our house, but I claimed it for my lawn chair and spent hours engrossed in books such as The Great Gatsby.
But then, in college, something changed. My focus shifted toward becoming a broadcast journalist. I rationalized that I no longer had time to spend reading fiction. My mother liked to read the books that I would bring home from the library during the summer. She began to complain that the only books I ever read now were the biographies of old male journalists. She craved the stories that had been so much a part of my growing-up years.
I swore off fiction, thinking that it was a waste of my time and energy. Why would I want to spend even an hour reading the made-up plots of someone I didn’t know? What good did it do me when there were so many real-world problems to contemplate and address?
I am embarrassed that my glum attitude toward works of fiction continued until fairly recently, when I discovered the book The Well-Read Life by Marcie Stokman and Colleen Hutt. The little girl who devoured fictional books re-emerged from a cocoon created by the vicissitudes of life. I once again desired to be lost in the pages of a great book.
That epiphany became my catalyst for joining Well-Read Mom. I needed guidance on selecting books that would edify my soul. I longed to share the insights I gained with other women who shared my passion for high-quality prose.
Unwilling to wait until September to begin my reading journey, I downloaded So Big by Edna Ferber on my Kindle. The book transported me in time and space and made me rediscover the joy of reading great works of fiction. Not to give anything away, but I found myself cheering on the protagonist as she boldly and heroically made her way through life.
Each evening for the past week I have cuddled up in my Lazy Boy chair and traveled to a marketplace in Chicago and found myself swept away in the moment. I am sorry for what I missed all those years that I thought I had outgrown the world of fiction. But I am so looking forward to the reading adventures that now lie ahead.
About Maria Gallagher
Maria V. Gallagher is an advocate and author who seeks to celebrate truth, beauty, and goodness. Maria is the author of five books published by Marian Press. Her latest, Fulton Sheen’s Guide to Joyful Living, has been released to coincide with Sheen’s beatification. Maria considers her greatest achievement to be giving birth to her daughter Gabriella. She makes her home in the shadow of the mountains of Pennsylvania.
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
