Not Too Late for a Resolution

New Year's is past, but it is not too late for a resolution.  It probably will not surprise you that I am about to suggest that you resolve to set a reading goal.  In the past I have written about my Millennium Reading List.  I chose 100 great books published between 1900 and 1999 to read.  Have I read all of the books on my list?  No.  Is that a bad thing?  No, because the list became the source for discovering more and more books I wanted to read.  

The original list was intended to be fiction, but often fiction made me curious about the time period in which the novel was set, and I discovered history books I would not have otherwise read.  Then the history books led me to biographies.  I also discovered authors I admired, and in addition to reading a single book by that author, I sought other books that particular author had written.

The point is that by making a list of books to read it is likely that you will discover more and more books to enjoy reading.  At least, that is my experience.  

I have also written about the decline in reading.  From my perspective, that is a serious matter.  I know that many people now "read" audio books, especially if they have long commutes to work, or their jobs involve repetitive labor that allows listening to a book without hindering their work.  Audio books have their place, but the reader's interpretation inevitably alters the content with every decision about where to place emphasis, the tone of voice to be used to describe characters, or the character's voice used in dialogue.  All of those things and more can alter a listener's response to the book.  Listening to a book is not the same as reading a book, but it is better than not reading at all.

I am a slow reader.  A friend told me that she set her goal for the number of books she wants to read in a year at 50 books.  I could never accomplish that!  If you make a Resolution, do not set yourself up for failure by demanding more of yourself than is reasonable.

First, consider the kind of books you want to read.  For me, fiction is much quicker to read than nonfiction.  A friend of mine loved reading Romance Novels.  I asked her why she enjoyed them, and she said because they are all alike.  For her, they were just a way to relax and escape into an imaginary world.  Those are not really the kind of books for which you need a New Year's Resolution or a book list.  Another friend told me she reads to relax at bedtime.  She might not select books that stimulated her mind with new ideas for her bedtime reading.

If you decide you want to make a reading list of books, here is my advice:  Don't set yourself up for failure by making an impossibly long list or selecting especially long books.  To start, set a reasonable goal, maybe one book a month, or ten books for 2022.  If there is a particular book you know you want to read, start reading it now.  

If you don't have a particular book in mind, visit your local library and ask the librarian for a suggestion.  Before you go, decide the type of book you want to read--fiction or nonfiction, history or biography, a classic you remember from high school or college that you want to read again with a more mature perspective, a book by a particular author you have liked in the past or that you have heard about.  If you have a particular type of book in mind, the librarian will be better able to direct you to something you will enjoy, or at least to direct you to the shelf when those books are housed. If you are fortunate enough to live in a town with a bookstore, ask a knowledgeable clerk for suggestions, but be prepared with the same thought about the type of book you are interested in reading in order to give the clerk some guidance.

Finally, read the first two pages before you buy or check the book out.  Don't force yourself to start off your New Year's Resolution with a book that feels like an assignment.  If you want to be generous to the author, read five pages before you decide, but don't begin your Resolution with a book you are not enjoying.  Maybe later you will want to give a challenging book another chance, but at least start off the year's reading with a book that interests you from the early pages!

Good Luck!  I'll see you next week with some fresh ideas for why we should Resolve to Read!! 
     

Meet Rebecca's Children

Since last week's post was about Isaac Werner's mother and some important events in her life, this week I will share four other important events--the births of her five children!

On May 23, 1844 Rebecca Werner gave birth to twin boys, Henry Beckley Werner and Isaac Beckley Werner.  To both boys she gave her maiden name of Beckley as their middle name.  Henry did travel some before his marriage, but he chose to settle down with his wife Eva {Hain} and son Charles near the Pennsylvania area in which he was born.

Next came daughter Emma Rebecca Werner, born October 3, 1846, to whom she gave her own given name as a middle name.  Emma married William E. Good, an executive with the railroad, and they had four children:  Miriam, Florence, Paul Eckert, and Marriott Augustus.  Emma spent her life in Pennsylvania, living in Philadelphia at the time of her death, and buried in Redding.

A fourth child, daughter Elmira Rebecca Werner, lived only briefly, from 1849-1850.

Rebecca's last child was Henrietta Catherine Werner, born August 5, 1851.  She married Samuel Palmer, a pastor, called not long after their marriage to a church in Abilene, Kansas.  Four daughters were born of their marriage:  Miriam Agusta, Emma May, Mary M. and Gertrude Octavia.  Rebecca lived with the Palmer family until her death and is buried in Abilene.  A few years after, the Palmer's moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where Ettie and Samuel are buried.

Composition book for 1866-1867, Ettie C. Werner, Harrisburg, Pa.

Rebecca's surviving children lived successful lives, and their mother must have been a contributing factor.  I like to think that her influence on education made a difference.  My research found that her twin sons were still students at the age of 17, a significant education for that era.  The younger daughters were still in school at that time as well.  Unfortunately, I could find no further records of their educations, although there may have been more.  (See Ettie's book, which seems to indicate she may have attended a boarding school in Kentucky.)  What I did find was that Ettie's daughters attended college.  Education was clearly important to the Werner family.  I have journals kept by Isaac, Henry, and Ettie, and Emma may have kept one as well, although I did not locate it.

I was very fortunate that a descendant of Ettie shared a faded copy of Ettie's journal kept in 1866-1867 when she would have been about fifteen.  The image above is from that journal, and I transcribed the faded ink of a passage I found very telling of the importance the Werner family placed on reading.  Obviously, Isaac's amazing library has been mentioned many times in this blog, and his youngest sister clearly shared the same love of reading, as I suspect all of the siblings did.

From the words of the teen-aged Ettie, taken from her "Composition Book," it is obvious that her love for books was strong.  "We should also be careful to read at right times, for if we create a passion for reading it [the book], and then do not control this passion we often get to be very careless and negligent about a great many other things when we have commenced some book in which we are interested, it is very hard to resist the temptation to sit down and read and not attend to any thing else till it is finished."

As someone who rarely lacks having a book near at hand, I can certainly appreciate Ettie's words.  I only wish that passion were stronger among the larger population today.  Surely credit is due Rebecca for having nurtured such a love of reading and of learning in her children.