Celebrating the Slow Read
Slow reads add rich layered flavors to your reading life
I’m not even officially retired yet (July 1 is the official day!) and I’m breaking one of my first rules of retirement (thou shall not should all over yourself) but frankly I have so many things I should write about including my next installments of Ekphrastic Exaltation and Reading the USA as well as refreshing the about page of Deanna’s Third Act/Space that it is hard not to apologize for leaving thes self-assigned tasks incomplete. But I’ve decided not to worry about any of those shoulds because like Scarlett O’Hara I can worry about that tomorrow (not likely) or next week (possibly) because I want to discuss the slow read. More accurately, I want to celebrate the slow read in all its awesome ponderous splendor.
I have always been a reader. Most people know this about me. In fact, I have been a fast reader my whole life, diving deep into books and only coming up for air when forced to by the dictates of life or reading the last page. I’ve always gotten a bit panicky though when I didn’t have another book lined up so I’ve often read more than one book at a time just for insurance purposes. After all, is there a fate worse than not having something to read when you sit down? No. There is not. I will never understand the people who can walk around in the world for a day (or, shudder in horror, weeks) without a current read. We are not animals and we are not meant to live that way.
When I contemplated my options for my practice retirement I decided to focus on reading, watching, and writing in community and I am happy to report that I have zero regrets about these choices and things are going very well on all fronts (updates are another should as my last update was weeks ago). My decision to join multiple book clubs set me up for multiple slow reads and six months into this adventure I feel compelled to report (repeating myself) that slow reads are pretty great!
Much of my slow read journey in 2026 has been guided by Sarah Stewart Holland (see Slow Read and Reading America250). These book clubs covered Stephen King’s The Stand, Edna Ferber’s Giant, and E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime. We are currently reading Alex Haley’s Roots for America250. The Slow Read Book Club spent six months reading The Stand which gave me (us) so much time and space to really think about the characters and their journey as well as what King has to say about humanity (we never really learn from our mistakes no matter how horrifying their demonstration). I also really enjoyed taking various side quests with my fellow slow readers or on my own (reading George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides was my favorite). The Slow Read archives offer you the opportunity to savor a read (or re-read) of The Stand and I strongly encourage you to accept the invitation (your choice if you want it to take six months)!
However, it is Reading America250 combined with my own Reading the USA Challenge that is currently blowing my mind and prompted this post. While reading Giant I became obsessed with America’s preoccupation with the cowboy and the west (see A Recommended Reading List, A Suggested Male Studies Curriculum (in three tankas), How To Break A Cowboy, and America loves a cowboy as evidence). I read or re-read several westerns and watched or re-watched westerns and (see above) wrote a lot about cowboys and what that identity means for America and American men in particular. The theme has also come up quite a bit in my Reading the USA Challenge as well (Bless Me, Ultima, This House of Sky, and That Old Ace in the Hole come to mind).
Ragtime encompasses a lot of modern issues that we are still struggling with today (race, gender, immigration, labor, class) but rolling right from that into Roots while simultaneously reading The Personal History of Rachel DuPree and Harryette Mullen’s Sleeping with the Dictionary led me to read Denigration in conjunction with these other texts. I want others to experience this journey too. Roots is a powerful read. It is often hard to hold myself back to a slow read pace but I know this marshmallow test is worth the reward to find these books in conversation. I could read The Personal History of Rachel DuPree at a faster pace but find myself savoring for the same reasons. This is a captivating novel on its own merits but the ways that Ann Weisgarber masterfully weaves in historical events makes me want to slow down and savor each chapter. I know that Roots is old news and not everyone is looking for stories set in the badlands of South Dakota, but I strongly encourage you to read both!
Sometime soon I will share the full status of my Reading the USA Challenge, but for now check out: Celebrate Our 250th With Books. I am busily reading and writing poetry and will soon share my next installment of Ekphrastic Exaltation. All my reading and writing has left me little time for watching but there is some of that going on so stay tuned for that update as well! Let me know what brings you to this space and what you most want to read from me: reading recommendations, writing invitations, or thoughts about what I’m watching?