Are there any fundies who actually read?

[alba]

Jill Duggar could only come up with Before You Meet Prince Charming when asked by a grade two class what her favourite book was. The Maxwell childults don't read, they write. I can't help wondering, are there any fundies who read regularly? The more I think about it, the more I think they probably don't. What options do they have, after all? There's some children's fiction, especially older stuff like Enid Blyton and C. S. Lewis (if talking lions as Christ are okay), that would be acceptable, but even Geoffrey Trease's Cue for Treason, which was written in the 50s, features a girl dressing as a boy to escape marriage to a tyrant.

For older readers, there's modern Christian fiction, although I don't know enough about any of that to know if it would be fundie-approved. I would be surprised, for instance, if nothing in that genre featured female characters with careers. There's the classics, of course, but a lot of them aren't as fundie-friendly as you (and, admittedly, some fundies) might think. Austen, conservative enough to envision marriages as happy endings, still makes a scathing critique of the very patriarchal systems fundies strive to uphold.

At any rate, this got me thinking. If fundies are so cloistered away from the world that there isn't much that they can read*, what are the effects? Reading teaches things like critical thinking, creativity and empathy. I haven't seen much evidence of any of those in many of the fundies we follow here. The fact that so many fundie parents don't encourarge their children to read is, in my (admittedly highly biased) opinion, just one more way in which they limit their children's minds.

Are there any fundies that we know of who actually do read? I don't mean the Bible or devotional books, but regular reading for the sheer thrill of it. Anyone? Bueller?

*The idea of not reading a book because you disagree with the lifestyle or themes of the story is ridiculous to me (hey, I love Tolkien, and he thought women weren't as clever as men) but the fundie approach to differing viewpoints seems to be to hide from them rather than engage with them.

[DutchMommy]

Are there any fundies that we know of who actually do read? I don't mean the Bible or devotional books, but regular reading for the sheer thrill of it. Anyone? Bueller?

The first family that comes to my mind are the Carvers.

meghancarver.blogspot.com

Mom Meghan doesn't make it a secret that she LOVES reading, and she does everything she can to transfer her love of books to her kids. She just started to create her own high school literature curriculum.

[Melissa1977]

Muncks have a lot of books. Some of their children read The Hobbit, so I assume they have a bit freedom choosing non-chistian books, fiction, etc. Of course Maxwells would never allow The Hobbit.

Katie Bates (or Josie?) reads mistery books. Kelly said that in the beginning of their blog, when they were more fundie than now. I think it is good that they allow to read fiction books and they allow their children to have their own interests. You can't find it in Duggars home.

[childerowland]

There's My Lady Bibliophile! She read 46 books last year.

ladybibliophile.blogspot.com

[Rachel333]

There's My Lady Bibliophile! She read 46 books last year.

ladybibliophile.blogspot.com

Ah, I haven't checked up on her in a while. She never disappoints. Just from the newest post on her blog:

There is nothing more annoying than reading a Victorian-era tale with a woman who has to prove her capabilities, or a medieval story with a girl who wants to follow her dreams to travel the world. I'll give authors a point for unwanted marriages and elopements. Those have existed since before Shakespeare. But if the story is set in medieval times, then the men led in society, both in conversation, church, and work.

Or on William Zinsser in On Writing Well encouraging writers to include women:

While I appreciate Zinsser's point, using the male pronoun actually stems from the English language found in the Bible. Biblical genealogies were created with the male as the family head, followed by 'and their wives and children'. Biblical teaching is often, though not always, written with the word 'he', with the knowledge that the same commands and promises apply to women as well. The Bible designates the male as the head, and many Christians don't realize that removing gender in their nonfiction violates a biblical precedent. Besides, using the pronoun 'he' all the time doesn't change my ability to become a firefighter. Therefore, I disagree with Zinsser on that point.

She also skipped an example involving women's sports because of the "women's rights theme." Because the well-read Christian skips anything contradicting her views. :lol:

[Justme]

The Munck's had a very large wall of books in their old home.

[uber frau]

I'm fairly sure the Botkinettes read. It doesn't do much good though,since they interpret everything through their faith goggles/stuck up Reformed worldview.

[nelliebelle1197]

ZooZoo's kids read for pleasure. I think many fundie types do. The Duggars are just not too intellectual and the Maxwells are just insane. It's just like any other family- if the parents read the kids will. It just may be stuff through their own lens only.

[alba]

Wow, there's more readers than I thought. I'm going to have to check some of these out; I really do wonder about people who read widely yet remain close-minded. Of course, some of them might not read all that widely at all, but I imagine Katie Bates' mysteries aren't all fundie.

ETA: Lady Bibliophile in particular intrigues me. Someone reading close to 50 books a year must be reading some non-fundie stuff, right?

[polecat]

Are there any fundies that we know of who actually do read? I don't mean the Bible or devotional books, but regular reading for the sheer thrill of it. Anyone? Bueller?

.

Do you mean fundy bloggers? Fundies FJers follow? Or fundies in general?

If the latter, then I can say that yes indeed there are fundies who read. My childhood was filled with books. My father read Asimov, H. G. Wells, Lovecraft and Koontz. My mom read Tolkein, Lewis, P.D. James, Agatha Christie. Certainly they weren't all fundy-approved, but I don't think that ever stopped them. I still have my mom's Agatha Christie collection today, with all the "naughty" words blacked out. :? As for me, I whisked myself away with Frances Hodgson Burnett, L.M. Montgomery, E.B. White, C.S. Lewis and the like. Books saved me from an otherwise utterly miserable existence.

[browncoatslytherin]

Do you mean fundy bloggers? Fundies FJers follow? Or fundies in general?

If the latter, then I can say that yes indeed there are fundies who read. My childhood was filled with books. My father read Asimov, H. G. Wells, Lovecraft and Koontz. My mom read Tolkein, Lewis, P.D. James, Agatha Christie. Certainly they weren't all fundy-approved, but I don't think that ever stopped them. I still have my mom's Agatha Christie collection today, with all the "naughty" words blacked out. :? As for me, I whisked myself away with Frances Hodgson Burnett, L.M. Montgomery, E.B. White, C.S. Lewis and the like. Books saved me from an otherwise utterly miserable existence.

same here. my mum loved to read and encouraged my love of reading, taking me to the library every other week or so and letting me participate in summer reading challenges held by the library (do they do that anymore? i remember it being such fun).

[alba]

Do you mean fundy bloggers? Fundies FJers follow? Or fundies in general?

If the latter, then I can say that yes indeed there are fundies who read. My childhood was filled with books. My father read Asimov, H. G. Wells, Lovecraft and Koontz. My mom read Tolkein, Lewis, P.D. James, Agatha Christie. Certainly they weren't all fundy-approved, but I don't think that ever stopped them. I still have my mom's Agatha Christie collection today, with all the "naughty" words blacked out. :? As for me, I whisked myself away with Frances Hodgson Burnett, L.M. Montgomery, E.B. White, C.S. Lewis and the like. Books saved me from an otherwise utterly miserable existence.

Good question. I was thinking predominantly fundie bloggers/public fundies, because the ones I follow and read about here both seem to not read much and to lack the skills developed by reading, but honestly I'm interested in hearing about any fundies who read. I'm curious about things like where the line is drawn about what is/isn't appropriate (speaking of which, there are naughty words in Agatha Christie?) by individuals and organisations. I'm also interested in the effects of reading non-fundie books, like if it makes fundies more accepting of non-fundies or makes them question their beliefs.

Reading books has broadened my mind so much that I'm just incredibly curious about people with a strict worldview like fundamentalism who are also avid readers.

[browncoatslytherin]

Good question. I was thinking predominantly fundie bloggers/public fundies, because the ones I follow and read about here both seem to not read much and to lack the skills developed by reading, but honestly I'm interested in hearing about any fundies who read. I'm curious about things like where the line is drawn about what is/isn't appropriate (speaking of which, there are naughty words in Agatha Christie?) by individuals and organisations. I'm also interested in the effects of reading non-fundie books, like if it makes fundies more accepting of non-fundies or makes them question their beliefs.

Reading books has broadened my mind so much that I'm just incredibly curious about people with a strict worldview like fundamentalism who are also avid readers.

well, as far as my family's reading habits...my dad didn't and doesn't like fiction, but my mum loves it. she usually read a lot of christian fiction. there was quite a bit of christian fiction i went off of as well. classics were also pretty safe, too (i loved sherlock holmes stories and h.g. wells and c.s. lewis). i also really liked choose your own adventure stories, as a pre-teen, and i also branched out into other fiction, like the star wars expanded universe. my parents weren't too picky about books the older i got. i remember one expanded universe book i got - the courtship of princess leia - had what i considered a naughty moment (injured woman is disrobed by luke skywalker for healing...nothing actually naughty happened, but the disrobing was scandalous to me) but i never revealed that to my parents.

[Coco]

The ones who do read widely are often obnoxious about it. Books like G.A. Henty and Elsie Dinsmore, etc that reinforce patriarchy and dominionsim. Almost always inapplicable to real life, just puffing up their grandiose ideas of proper society. What the one blogger (My Lady Bibliophile) said about how books that promote strong girls and women are annoying to her - that's what i encountered in our homeschool circles. So companies like Vision Forum found old Victorian fiction to reprint that fit their ideals. But thankfully my Dad and Mom didn't really have a problem with mainstream books. They only banned witchcraft and trendy culture genres. Mystery and adventure were fine. My mom loves John Grisham books, although she wouldn't let me read a few of them until i was older, due to some of the content. Michael Crichton was another favorite. The Cat Who... mysteries, and James Herriot. Fundies could learn a lot from James Herriot about real life and learning how to live in harmony with people who have different lifestyles. Mom went through and blacked out all the cussing. :lol: And i also got into sci-fi I wrote a fan letter to one of the authors of a really great book and illustrated it with a bunch of spacecraft drawings in pencil, and he sent back a signed postcard made out of the cover of one of his other book series. Probably just the standard thing authors did for fan mail in the 90's but it definitely was exciting back then.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Most of the stay-at-home-daughter bloggers seem to do nothing BUT read.

[polecat]

The ones who do read widely are often obnoxious about it. Books like G.A. Henty and Elsie Dinsmore, etc that reinforce patriarchy and dominionsim. Almost always inapplicable to real life, just puffing up their grandiose ideas of proper society. What the one blogger (My Lady Bibliophile) said about how books that promote strong girls and women are annoying to her - that's what i encountered in our homeschool circles. So companies like Vision Forum found old Victorian fiction to reprint that fit their ideals. But thankfully my Dad and Mom didn't really have a problem with mainstream books. They only banned witchcraft and trendy culture genres. Mystery and adventure were fine. My mom loves John Grisham books, although she wouldn't let me read a few of them until i was older, due to some of the content. Michael Crichton was another favorite. The Cat Who... mysteries, and James Herriot. Fundies could learn a lot from James Herriot about real life and learning how to live in harmony with people who have different lifestyles. Mom went through and blacked out all the cussing. :lol: And i also got into sci-fi I wrote a fan letter to one of the authors of a really great book and illustrated it with a bunch of spacecraft drawings in pencil, and he sent back a signed postcard made out of the cover of one of his other book series. Probably just the standard thing authors did for fan mail in the 90's but it definitely was exciting back then.

Oh, yes, I'd forgotten about Herriot! I loved his books. I still remember the story about the dog that Herriot euthanized, and the old man chased after him with a cigar to thank him. I had to set the book down I was crying so hard over that passage.

<--- teen girl hormones

[HereticHick]

One thing that has always struck me as sad about the Duggar homes is the lack of bookshelves. I've always guessed that fiction is NOT part of the Duggar "curriculum." Anna made a one-time "visit to the library to show I'm a good parent" show on 19KAC, but I am willing to bet that some Duggar children have NEVER been in a public library.

Kelly Bates just posted in a comment that when she was overwhelmed with multiple littles, she read every parenting book she could get her hands on. Still, I haven't noticed bookshelves in their house, either. Have y'all?

Kim C at Life in a Shoe's family were/are big readers, but after Vision Forum collapsed and she stopped blogging (Facebook posting only now), they seem too be drifting away from hardcore fundydum.

[busybee]

From what I've read lurking around here off and on, I'm thinking that I would be classified as fundie-light.

My top ten books list would include Animal Farm, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Northanger Abbey (one of Jane Austen's less well-known books) and The Long Winter (Laura Ingalls Wilder), along with some Christian biographies like The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. I also enjoy reading popular history books and historical fiction such as the Hornblower series.

I am picky about content, in that I don't tolerate more than a small amount of swearing (which often gets whited out if I'm going to keep it), avoid explicit violent content, and prefer to avoid sexual content, though in some good historical fiction (The Sunne in Splendour) where it's not a huge part of the book, I'll just white-out those parts. I can find plenty to read for myself and for my children. We have 7 full-size bookcases full of books.

Edited to change bookshelves to bookcases for clarity.

[FundieWatcher]

To play devil's advocate,I am a reader but don't have a bookcase in my house. They are all digital. Even our public library allows you check out books by downloading them. I prefer reading on my tablet to actual books. I only have a few physical books because they have sentimental value.

[Cartmann99]

To play devil's advocate,I am a reader but don't have a bookcase in my house. They are all digital. Even our public library allows you check out books by downloading them. I prefer reading on my tablet to actual books. I only have a few physical books because they have sentimental value.

We got rid of a lot of our books because they were such a pain during long-distance moves. I still have one bookcase that is overflowing, but I'm trying to only buy physical books if I really love a particular book.

Being able to download library books from the comfort of your own home is one of the things I love about the 21st century. :)

[Grimalkin]

From what I've read lurking around here off and on, I'm thinking that I would be classified as fundie-light.

My top ten books list would include Animal Farm, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Northanger Abbey (one of Jane Austen's less well-known books) and The Long Winter (Laura Ingalls Wilder), along with some Christian biographies like The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. I also enjoy reading popular history books and historical fiction such as the Hornblower series.

I am picky about content, in that I don't tolerate more than a small amount of swearing (which often gets whited out if I'm going to keep it), avoid explicit violent content, and prefer to avoid sexual content, though in some good historical fiction (The Sunne in Splendour) where it's not a huge part of the book, I'll just white-out those parts. I can find plenty to read for myself and for my children. We have 7 full-size bookcases full of books.

Edited to change bookshelves to bookcases for clarity.

I really like Sharon K. Penman.

I am surprised by how few people in general don't have book cases. They could be in the basement or bedrooms I suppose. And I know people read digitally. I have a kindle app on my phone, but it looks like I'm on my phone all the time so I try to read real books to just to set the example.

My mom hoards books. When she moved to an AL place and we cleaned out her house we had a book buyer come to buy and pick up the books. He bought a large van and I laughed. He was shocked and said he had never seen A person with so many books in thier house. Every single room except the bahrooms were PILED with books.

[PennySycamore]

The ones who do read widely are often obnoxious about it. Books like G.A. Henty and Elsie Dinsmore, etc that reinforce patriarchy and dominionsim. Almost always inapplicable to real life, just puffing up their grandiose ideas of proper society. What the one blogger (My Lady Bibliophile) said about how books that promote strong girls and women are annoying to her - that's what i encountered in our homeschool circles. So companies like Vision Forum found old Victorian fiction to reprint that fit their ideals. But thankfully my Dad and Mom didn't really have a problem with mainstream books. They only banned witchcraft and trendy culture genres. Mystery and adventure were fine. My mom loves John Grisham books, although she wouldn't let me read a few of them until i was older, due to some of the content. Michael Crichton was another favorite. The Cat Who... mysteries, and James Herriot. Fundies could learn a lot from James Herriot about real life and learning how to live in harmony with people who have different lifestyles. Mom went through and blacked out all the cussing. :lol: And i also got into sci-fi I wrote a fan letter to one of the authors of a really great book and illustrated it with a bunch of spacecraft drawings in pencil, and he sent back a signed postcard made out of the cover of one of his other book series. Probably just the standard thing authors did for fan mail in the 90's but it definitely was exciting back then.

Did your mom realize how liberal Grisham's books are as is Grisham himself?

There's a diary on Daily Kos about it that was posted a few days ago.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/1 ... howAll=yes

I can't wait to read Gray Mountain where John takes on mountaintop removal. (FYI, mountain top removal is an absolutely environmentally devastating method of coal mining. It takes strip mining to a whole 'nuther level.)

[PennySycamore]

same here. my mum loved to read and encouraged my love of reading, taking me to the library every other week or so and letting me participate in summer reading challenges held by the library (do they do that anymore? i remember it being such fun).

Yes, browncoatslytherin, they still have summer reading programs at the public library! My granddaughter participated last summer and will again this summer. They also still have teen programs; at least they do at my daughter's library because she's the teen coordinator.

Grimalkin, I am in awe of your mom! I hope to avoid having to go into assisted living, but if I do or when they finally plant me, I hope they need a big truck to haul away my books to take to the second-hand bookstore. I don't think it's possible to have too many books.

Polecat, you're not the only one who cried when she read that story of the poor, elderly man who had to say goodbye to his dog. I feel misty just thinking about it.

[Sobeknofret]

The Botkins read constantly- when they were producing one of their webinars, there was a picture of the girls surrounded by piles of books, including several Penguin classics editions of various colonial writers, including Abigail Adams, iirc. They seem to be the most widely read of all the fundies that we comment on.

[VodouDoll]

I guess I'm a little confused, busybee. If you white out the swearing and sexually explicit parts of your books, then you've read the swear words and sexually explicit passages in order to know where to put the white out. If that's the case, why redact it for yourself? You've already read it!