My Journey as a Reader

Laying on the floor of my messy teenage bedroom, a Coke in one hand and Les Miserables in the other I fell in love with reading for the first time. 

I had procrastinated this particular reading until the end and some long-forgotten assignment loomed on the horizon. So, I had determined to stay up until I finished the book, hence the need for a Coke, but somewhere between the main character, Jean Valjean deciding he would live a changed life and sacrificing that life for the adopted daughter he loved, I realized something profound. If he could change, so could I. If someone whose life seemed doom for one tiny mistake could improve then maybe I could remake the parts of me I didn’t like or the possibilities I didn’t like. 

It’s not that I hadn’t read books before. I had. I had been consistently getting good grades in reading and writing since I was a small child, but I never really got books until this one. This is the one that opened my eyes to what reading could be: part inspiration, part roadmap, part path to a better me. And in all honest, I’m not exactly sure why. 

Partly because of that experience, I would spend the next few years pursuing a formal education in some form of writing and reading. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I was sure it had to do with education and growth. That path led me through the pages of many of the most famous literature in our Western cannon. Although, I enjoyed learning about the great ideas that make up our world, I was disappointed that time and time again those novels had the sublime and the smut in one package. 

Upon graduation, I resolved to find more of just the sublime and set out on my own literature journey. I picked authors: Lewis, Austen, Elliot, or Dickens and drowned myself in their words. I found that if there was a great idea out there, someone had packaged it nicely and someone had not, and my pursuit has been to find the inspiring ideas without the extra smut.

When our oldest daughter went through a long stretch of not sleeping, I discovered that books could also be educational and life changing in a different way. I practically devoured Babywise and learned that yes, books could hold some practical advice as well when she finally started sleeping through the night.. 

Now, nearly 15 years later, I still go to books for the same reasons and with the same expectations. I’m expecting to become a better person or receive some kind of practical advice. I like good stories and I certainly read my fair share of fluff, but after so many years of understanding what great literature could be, I feel a little bit off if there isn’t some great lesson in my novel of the week. 

My second foray into education taught me that I wanted to expand the cannon beyond just the Western world and I have since been trying to read more globally. It’s not always easy, but I feel like I’m becoming just a little bit better over the course of these readings. 

I hear stories very similar to mine all around me. Women, who maybe didn’t get reading until later in life. Women, who like a good story, but are looking for something more: something to inspire, something to make them think. And I promise, those books are out there and you can go looking for them on your own. But if you want a place to start, I’ve compiled a list of clean classics to give it a try. I am also starting a slow read on Substack that you can check out. I love to hear from readers. Is this something you’re interested in? What are the good books you would add to this list?