On Devouring Books

Generally, I read slowly. I didn’t used to, but I’ve come to appreciate leisure, which is required for education to take place; taking time to contemplate ideas. The practice of reading widely, deeply and slowly instead of quickly and superficially. Indeed, several of the books I am reading simply cannot be read quickly. The virtues of slow reading? They are real. I love the variety in my reading, and the deep books that must be savored. It is good.

But sometimes I want to race through a book, it’s as though I’ve stepped out into a warm and sunny spring day after a long winter. I have a burning desire to devour words. Just because I can. Because I love words.

Quotes from Watership Down (Richard Adams) and Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Mark Twain).

It was cloudy and wet a dark and stormy weekend, so I went to visit the Minnipins in The Gammage Cup. I knew I would love the book when I commonplaced my first quote in chapter one:

There had been complaints, of course, and only last year the major himself had begged her to tidy up, like a good Minnipin. Ever anxious to please, Muggles had tried hard, but the more she put away, the less able was she to find anything.

The Minnipins are completely charming, so worried about their doors and their history. But danger lurks, and in chapter 19 I recorded another inspiring quote. Somehow it reminds me of Charlotte Mason and making time for things that are important.

Plunging into his old house, he tore at the trapdoor in the fireplace, half fell down the ladder into the vault. There wasn’t time to put on the armor, but he took time anyway, his mind racing far ahead of his fingers.

So now that I’ve scratched my book-devouring itch, I’ll return to my slow and steady reading. Until next time. 🙂