Here’s a sentence I can’t believe I have to write in the year 2025: Reading is good for you.
Granted, coming from a newspaper editor, there’s some implicit bias in that statement, given that my livelihood depends on people reading. But self-preservation aside, at a time when the written word seems to be under attack, it’s an important message.
Did you know that since 2021, the nonprofit advocacy group PEN America has recorded more than 23,000 instances of book banning in the U.S.? That includes nearly 7,000 last year alone. Fortunately, Vermont schools and libraries have largely been spared the confederacy of dunces’ edicts about what you can and can’t read. But the trend is nonetheless alarming, especially in light of declining literacy rates nationwide and a presidential administration that openly despises free speech and the press. It’s probably no coincidence that the country (the world?) is mired in a crisis of misinformation, huh?
These are complex issues. And while they require complex solutions, I’d like to suggest a simple fix to start:
Read a fucking book.
Reading builds intellect and critical thinking skills. It can improve focus and reduce stress. It enhances vocabulary and communication skills. Most of all, it builds understanding of people, places and ideas that you might not encounter in your daily life. That, in turn, can create compassion, a commodity that’s in desperately short supply these days.
But where to begin? May I suggest: One of Vermont’s many excellent indie bookstores. We asked the staff at three of them for their reading recommendations this year. Their suggestions ranged from epic fantasies to hard-nosed nonfiction to delightful kids’ books.
Despite what book banners would have you believe, there’s really no such thing as a dangerous book. Except in Margot Harrison’s The Library of Fates. The Burlington author and Seven Days contributing editor pens a short story, set in the world of her new novel, about a book that will foretell your future — for a price.
Harrison’s latest would likely be a hit at Bridgeside Books’ reading retreats, which bring authors and fans to cozy Vermont inns. So would The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter, the new mystery from Norwich author Peter Orner.
October was a rough month for the local poetry scene. Three influential Vermont poets died — David Huddle, Ellen Bryant Voigt and Baron Wormser. Critic Jim Schley reflects on the loss of those iconic voices.
But the Green Mountain poetry community remains strong thanks to folks like Major Jackson. The part-time Vermonter pairs two of his passions — poetry and soup — in his forthcoming book, A Bowl of Goodness: Nourishing Poems With a Side of Soup.
After all that reading, give your eyes and mind a rest and turn to Jack Rowell: Photographs. The Tunbridge photographer’s new collection of portraits captures a host of Vermont characters and half a century of change. Let’s just all agree not to tell the book-banning crowd about the nudity.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Read a F*cking Book”
This article appears in The Reading Issue 2025.
