Reading: The Panacea for What Ails Me
By Donnell Ann Bell
When my children were small, I’d plop one kid on my left side, the other on my right, and open a book. I’d read one page, hand it off to the one on the left and say, “Your turn.”
My daughter would read one page and hand it back to me. I’d read the following page, then hand it off to my son, and the ritual continued.
Over the 2025 Christmas holiday, I was reminded of this special time when I learned the tradition continued. My son and daughter-in-law take turns reading to their children every night before bed.
Reading is the gateway that makes all other learning possible.
Already at age nine, my granddaughter has read nine of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. “Grammy,” she asked, “Do you want to hear me read?”
Nothing would please me more, so I answered, “Of course.”
Not to be outdone, her brother, age seven, cut in, “Grammy, do you want to hear me read?”
“Love to,” I responded immediately.
My grandchildren’s elementary school hosts reading challenges, and clearly the competition is working. When I learned my granddaughter was reading C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I reread it so I could discuss it with her.
On this trip, I listened to her read chapters from The Curious Tale of the In Between by Lauren DeStefano, which I found to be an amazing middle grade book. While she stumbled over some of the bigger words, when that happened, we paused and discussed their meanings.
It was such an important, joyous time for me. I can’t think of a better bonding scenario.
For the past few months, I’ve been busy updating my books to become a hybrid author. What I thought would be tedious has turned into a fun opportunity for me to correct, tighten, and the best part is, I get to reconnect with my characters.
Periodically, Stiletto Gang member and critique partner Lois Winston asks if I have time to read a few chapters or even the rest of an edited book before she publishes. In no way is reading her work a sacrifice. I love to spend time with her reluctant amateur sleuth and the rest of her zany New Jersey crew. 😊
I certainly can’t read while I’m driving, so I turn to audio books. During a recent trip to Colorado, I listened to John Grisham’s The Widow. Audio books make long car trips fly by!
Back to the recent 2025 holiday, not everything was perfect. Christmas afternoon, I came down with the flu, which sadly cut my family visit short. The bug lasted well into New Year’s, forcing me to reschedule my planned company for New Year’s.
Don’t feel too sorry for me, though. In between sleeping I spent the time reading. Whether I’m healthy, sick or simply in need of escape, I turn to reading. It’s the panacea for what ails me.
Glad to be back, Stiletto Gang. Wishing everyone a happy and productive 2026!! By the way, what are you reading?
Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author who began her nonfiction career in newspapers. After she turned to fiction, her romantic suspense novels became Amazon bestsellers, including The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas. In 2019, Donnell released her first mainstream suspense, Black Pearl, A Cold Case Suspense, which was a 2020 Colorado Book Award finalist. In 2022, book two of the series was released. Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense won Best Thriller in 2023 at the Imaginarium Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Currently, she’s working on book three of the series. Readers can follow Donnell on her blog or sign up for her newsletter at www.donnellannbell.net.
Welcome back! I too love audiobooks and also just finished The Widow, which I very much enjoyed. I’m now listening to A Time to Kill, Grisham’s first. I read it in the 90s when it came out but although I remember the basics, I’d forgotten a lot. It’s a tough listen because of the subject matter and language, but it is riveting.
I’m reading in print Michael Connelly’s Resurrection Walk, a Lincoln Lawyer. I’m a bit MC fan.
The love of reading starts in our youth. You go, Gramma!
Ah, thanks, Judy! I felt The Widow started slow, then Grisham’s talons came out, and he hooked this reader, er listener 🙂 I watched The Pelican Brief a few nights ago; made me want to reread the book. I just read Catherine Dilts and her co-author daughter Merida Bass, The Ninja Grandparent Placement mysteries. Next, I only meant to read ONE of Author Mary Burk’s, Terrence Reid mystery series. As soon as I finished two, I downloaded the third, they were that compelling.
Thanks, Lois 🙂
So glad to have you back, Donnell! I can’t wait to read more chapters in your next Cold Case book.
Lois, I am rereading the opening as we speak to remember where I left off!
Hope you are feeling better. I, like you, stressed reading to my children. Now, I’m known as the reading grandmother because I always arrive with books, take field trips with the kids to libraries and bookstores, and send books. Having always been a reader, I’ve been dismayed not to be reading as much as usual the past few months (although I keep buying lots of e-books when they are on sale). Most recent book (read in print) – Dinners With Ruth by Nina Totenberg.
Debra, word of mouth is the best marketing ploy ever; would you agree? Will check out Nina Totenberg. WTG, Grandma. I find when I’m in writing mode, reading falls by the wayside. It’s such a luxury and lovely respite to read. I find it addicting and could easily (as I did when I was sick) sit for hours. Glad to be back, my friend. Thank you.
Inspiring young readers is so important. I wrote two children’s stories with my great-niece; one when she was 5 and another when she was 7.
Reading a good book is a cure for almost anything. Right now, I’m re-reading Agatha Christie’s “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.”
Kathleen, exactly. Reading is particularly important right now. I’m trying to recall if I’ve read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I believe I missed it!
Nice to see you here again, Donnell! Like so many of us, reading is my go-to for escaping to another world. Right now, I’m rereading a
Book to present it for a book club this week: By Any Other Name, a highly entertaining Jodi Picoult novel about two female playwrights living centuries apart, one of them a real-life poet who may have contributed to some of Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays.