The Gift of Reading Never Grows Old

The Gift of Reading Never Grows Old

By Tom Northrup

Just over six decades ago, the high school I would be attending for my junior year gave me the gift of a lifetime— required summer reading.

At that age, I didn’t see it that way. My June, July, August plans would need to be altered— in a major way.

The first of five books on that long-ago list was Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield”, written serially over the years 1849-50, and published in papers and magazines originally. It was lengthy, and presented a daunting challenge for this less than enthusiastic reader.

Recently, watching the documentary, “Turn Every Page,” sparked these memories and motivated me to add a book to my 2023 summer list—Robert Caro’s “The Path to Power, Volume I of the Years of Lyndon Johnson (1982)”. For nearly fifty years, Caro, who will be 88 in October, has been researching and writing LBJ’s biography. He has completed four lengthy volumes, and is currently working on the finale, Volume V.

“Turn Every Page,” filmed a couple of years ago, is the story of the half-century working relationship between two masters of their craft—Robert Caro, the writer, and Robert Gottlieb, his editor. It was deeply moving to see how these two collaborated, to observe how conflict and disagreement are critical to working together creatively, by thoughtful and emotionally mature individuals.

Fortunately, Gottlieb’s daughter, Lizzie, who produced and directed this documentary, insisted that this film be made; neither her father nor Caro would seek such a public display. Unfortunately, Gottlieb died just a month ago at age 92, and it is uncertain whether Caro will complete the final volume.

My incentive to read Caro’s Volume I was not so much historical curiosity—to learn more about LBJ’s successes and failures—but rather to gain an understanding of and appreciation for the CaroGottlieb partnership. The results were stunning. The depth and range of the research, the insight into LBJ’s development as a man and as a politician, and the freshness of the prose, are monumental.

What was surprising was that this work was a page-turner; it seemed more like a novel, such as “David Copperfield” or Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead” (2022) than a dense scholarly text. The childhoods of these three protagonists (David, Demon, LBJ) were marked by deprivation and struggle. For better or worse, their spirit, energy and resourcefulness pushed them forward.

Whether we read, absorbed, in fiction or nonfiction, these writers offer us a pathway to become more fully human, to better understand the invisible places of the human heart and mind.

A lifetime gift.

Long-time educator Tom Northrup is Emeritus Head of School at Middleburg’s Hill School.