the Chosen

Chaim Potok Our next book read in our "family" book club. The story of two Jewish boys who are raised by influential fathers. Fathers who are vastly different in their approaches. One boy is Hasidic while the other was just orthodox. The boys form a friendship that is tried by their different backgrounds. It was an insightful book, but one that I had a hard time with.
As I have gotten older and added more responsibilities my reading time has been limited. I think somewhere along the line I came to the conclusion that I can't read everything so I limited what I read to mostly non-fiction so that I would feel as if I hadn't waisted my time on mindless reading but rather that I had actually learned something. With Thomas Jefferson we are reading a lot more fiction than I am currently used to and I am finding myself having to break through that mental block to really enjoy the book.
Another component of TJ is that one actually studies as he reads. If you don't know a word or are not familiar with a phrase you underline it and look it up. If a certain passage strikes you and causes you to ponder, you write your thoughts in the margin to be discussed with others at a later time. Matt really enjoys this part, I not so much. The book was full of Jewish references and I know almost nothing about the Jewish religion. True to my public school upbringing I did not want to do this much research, or put in this much effort, I just wanted to read the book. At the end Matt really enjoyed the book whereas I did not. Maybe the amount of effort he put in was a reflection of this.
A third thing I have discovered is that I am a fast reader. I tend to not think to deep about the material and skip over minor details and descriptions. TJ encourages you to read books slowly, to ponder and think. I am so not used to this and find it incredibly frustrating! I have always considered myself a good reader, and now at 33 I am having to learn how to read all over again. How unfair! I am thankful however that I have learned these things while my children are still young so that I can teach them these principles and enrich their lives with learning rather than just mindless passing of time.