My recent article in Common Good: "Reading Good Books in a Swipe Culture"
Sharing recent writings on reading good books
I recently wrote an article titled Reading Good Books in a Swipe Culture for Common Good, a Christian publication that highlights commentary on theology, work, and faith. This article discusses how Americans are reading fewer books overall, but Gen Z (who tend to be on BookTok) and Millennials (who tend to be on Bookstagram) are exceptions due to their focus on reading ‘popular’ books from BookTok and Bookstagram. While enjoyable, popular books often lack the lasting impact of more challenging literature that requires an investment of time and intellectual effort. I argue that reading good books is worthwhile to “challenge us, mature us as people, cause us to think deeply, and foster a desire for connecting with others” and that this can be done by reading widely across genres and time periods.
The article draws upon
’s book On Reading Well, Deep Reading by Rachel B. Griffis, Julie Ooms, and Rachel M. De Smith Roberts, and C.S. Lewis’ thoughts on reading from his introduction to On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius.Reading is extremely important to me for so many reasons, but most notably because it has allowed me to understand myself, others, and the world better. If you are a reader, I would encourage you to give this article a read!