Reading

As members of the education community, we all know the importance of reading. We teach it, devise new strategies for encouraging it, promote it in every way we can. But do we, as busy professionals with families and tons of responsibility, take the time to read ourselves? Do we derive the tremendous pleasure available to us when we put ourselves in the hands of a great author and admire his beautiful descriptions or nod knowingly at his universal insights – which all too often apply directly to us. (Especially Tolstoy). But when? How do we find the time?

I’ve recently discovered Audible, the next iteration of books on tape. Audible is a subscription online service at (www.audible.com) that allows you to download full length books onto your computer, ipod, ipad or other device. Now, when I’m commuting or at the gym, I get to “read” the great books I’ve always longed to. In the past two years I’ve “read” War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Lolita (OK, enough Russians!), Sanctuary, The Old Man and the Sea, Richard III, The Way We Live Now, White Noise, Freedom, Ulysses, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Sound and the Fury, The Great Gatsby, Lush Life, Midnight’s Children, Norwegian Wood, Let it Come Down, Indignation, The Dying Animal, American Pastoral (my Philip Roth period!), James and the Giant Peach (for my grandchildren and I to listen to on car trips), The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Don Quixote (one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, about the original Laurel and Hardy), Death in Venice, Blood Meridian (certainly the most beautiful, yet darkest book I’ve ever read), The Beautiful and Damned. One of the great bonuses of Audible is that often they hire the finest actors in the world to read. To listen to Jeremy Irons read Lolita, the French Lieutenant’s Woman and James and the Giant Peach heightens the enjoyment of the book even more. Other greats such as Donald Sutherland, Will Patton, Campbell Scott narrate other books. And when you listen to Toni Morrison herself reading Their Eyes Were Watching God, well…what can I say? I’ve even downloaded and listened to a few different kinds of French lessons, but I fear the only way to learn a language is to speak it daily with a native. So, I encourage all educators to take the time to enjoy the pleasure of a good book, at a time when you might actually be able to.

Richard A. Lasser
President