Reading Advocacy

by

Andi Miller

This week marks my overdue return to Bibliobuffet after an unexpected and prolonged absence. Off the top of my head, all I can think to write is, “It’s great to be back!” Between family illnesses, moving to a new city, holding down a ridiculous teaching load, and juggling other boring grownup responsibilities, there has been very little reading done in my house as of late. Needless to say, the pile of immediate “to read” books on my nightstand is as deep and hulking as ever, but I find that I dive into those books less and less often. Or, on occasion, I do pick up a book and wake up around 3 a.m. with it resting soundly on my face.

As a lifelong, avid reader, I still find it inevitable that there are times that I simply cannot read. However, even when I cannot fully immerse myself in a book, I still enjoy buying them, stacking them, rearranging them, and planning my return to reading. I always jump back on the reading bandwagon, and my enthusiasm continues to shine in the interim. When I cannot read, I engage in reading advocacy.

Most recently, my reading advocacy has involved spreading my excitement about reading to my boyfriend, Chuck. While he would not consider himself a “reader” per se, he does enjoy books. He appreciates my love of reading, and there are a number of topics that fascinate him. In short, he’s open to the bookish experience even if he doesn’t always crave it the way I do. A few weeks ago I walked in the door from an early morning grocery store run to find him sprawled out in bed, glasses firmly in place, reading the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Be still my bookish heart. I’m surprised I didn’t fall over from the shock of that sight. He hasn’t finished a book since Frederick Douglass, but he has a hefty stack on his nightstand waiting to go, titles like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, graphic novels such as Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese, and the ultra postmodern and really cool Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski.

Seeing Chuck get a little more excited about books and reading as a result of my excitement is a truly fulfilling experience. For years I lived with a very limited sphere of people who read books of their own volition. While my list of reading friends grew in graduate school, the people in my everyday life who read have dwindled significantly since then. It makes me happy to be able to discuss books with Chuck without his eyes glazing over or otherwise zoning out. Whenever we make a trip to our local Half-Price Books store for a little browsing, and the inevitable acquiring of new titles, we have spirited discussions about all kinds of topics largely spurred on by the books we encounter. Whether we talk about modern vampires, the Bible, or the validity and emotional impact of fiction, it is always a thrill.

Likewise, it has been a wonderful experience to spread my bookish lust to Chuck’s son. While he’ll remain nameless here—known only as the mysterious and elusive Boy—his has been a shaky start with reading. When I first came into the house, he was struggling to get through his required reading logs for school. He would bury his nose in a book about pirates for half an hour and maybe only slog through three or four pages. Chuck came up with the bright idea of introducing the Boy to graphic novels—something he might find more visually appealing—and he asked me for some recommendations. Ever since I put American Born Chinese into the Boy’s hands, there has been a near endless parade of graphic novels and children’s books in our house. He now has no trouble finishing his reading logs, and we have family reading nights when we all take turns reading something fun; R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series or Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic come to mind. I always have my eye out for something he might enjoy reading to himself or out loud with us on family reading nights. We’ve been so successful with the Boy that a few weeks ago we had to put a new bookcase in his room to hold all of his new acquisitions.

While I could never take full credit for Chuck and his Boy’s reading since they had to have some iota of interest in the first place, it feels good to be able to spread some of my interests around. My enthusiasm for books and reading is something I always have, even if I myself feel too bogged down to read.

Books mentioned in this column:
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (HarperCollins, 1981)
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (First Second, 2006)
Goosebumps #01: Welcome to Dead House by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 2003)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (Penguin, 1982)
Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon, 2006)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Vintage, 2007)


Andi is a recovering university academic employed by the North Carolina community college system as an English instructor. While she decided to forego a Ph.D. and career as a professor, she fills in all the free time her current position affords her with editing literary publications, reviewing, freelancing, and blogging at Tripping Toward Lucidity: Estella’s Revenge. Her work can be found in the journal, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS), and Altar magazine as well as online in various venues such as PopMatters.com. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), and writes fiction. Her turn-ons include new books and gelato, while her turn-offs are reality television and washing dishes. Contact Andi.