Doing the work of deep reading

Farmers Market bouquets - C. L’Amoreaux

This weekend I’m taking a break from writing to celebrate the arrival of May with family and friends so this will be brief.

I’ve been thinking a lot about reading. Today I was reviewing posts I’ve written over the years about reading. For example, here’s my post in December, 2018 nominating Maryanne Wolf’s book Reader Come Home—The Reading Brain in a Digital World for my book of the year.

Deep reading is always about connection: connecting what we know to what we read, what we read to what we feel, what we feel to what we think, and how we think to how we live out our lives in a connected world.

~Maryanne Wolf

I read a lot, and even more, lately. I often feel like I am rafting Class 6 whitewater rapids in a raft without a paddle or a river guide. Do you know the feeling? So I’m taking time to do some of the work of deep reading—making the critical connections Wolf lays out so clearly, to better weave the threads of insight into my writing.

A few questions for your own deep reading inquiry

• What are you reading? 

• What have you wanted to read that you’re not? Why? 

• What formats are you reading? 

• What genres do you lean towards?

• What topics are you reading about? 

• What topics are you turning away from that you suspect you should be turning toward? 

• Do you talk about what you are reading with friends, family, work colleagues?

Be well. Enjoy the waning crescent moon tonight and the lengthening days. Thank you for making time to read The Interconnect. I’m glad you’ve found your way here and I hope you stay a while. And please consider sharing this post with family, friends, teachers, and/or colleagues who might appreciate it.