When Were You Enchanted by a Book?
When Were You Enchanted by a Book?
Tell your story in this community writing event, now through July 26th
When was the last time a book carried you away so completely that you forgot the stresses and worries of regular life? Or found yourself proselytizing others about its beautiful form or sublime ideas?
To say that a book enchants is to say that it sings into you. The root is chant, related to the English incantation and a large extended family of cantos, cantatas, canticles, and chansons. This is language singing a spell that burrows in.
From now until July 26th, I invite you to tell the story of a book (or poem or oral tale) that once cast a spell on you. Perhaps it changed your language, thought, or feeling. Perhaps it changed your understanding of yourself or your world. Perhaps it revealed a possibility. For better or worse, someone’s song reverberated in your bones.
Why participate?
Spread to others the revelation that a book gave you.
Co-create a community of uplift, inspiration, and admiration.
Meet others for whom reading is a doorway to something grand.
Strengthen our mutual confidence to meet the challenges of our time. Yes, problems around us are dire. All the more reason to keep the heart refreshed and centered on its truth.
How to participate:
Your story
Any time from now through July 26th, post an essay, video, audio, visual artwork, comic, poem, or other genre in your Substack publication in which you answer:
When were you enchanted by a book, poem, or story?
Tell the story of the time this book, poem, or tale enchanted you: What moved you? Did circumstances in your life contribute? How did it affect you? Why is it memorable? Would it mean the same thing to someone else?
Use words, pictures, video, a poem, another story (e.g., fan fiction or condensed/micro version of the original), or whatever mode you choose.
Identify the author and book (or poem or oral tale) that enchanted you.
Choose any book, poem, or story, from childhood to adulthood. We don’t assume that enchantment is limited to childhood, but that age is fair game.1
Bonus if you can provide a link to a digital copy of your text; if there’s no link, consider providing slightly more detail about it. (What’s the currency of this bonus? Pride, friend, pride.)
Tell just enough about the book (or poem or tale) that readers know why it’s important to you and can follow your post about it. (Keep plot summary to a minimum. This is about your experience of the book.)
Suggested length: 2,000 words or less — but the final length is up to you.
Your post
When ready, tag me somewhere in your post using the @-sign in front of my name (@TaraPenry).
Copy the picture of Storm Reid as Meg Murry (above) somewhere into your post. It’s up to you whether this is a lead image or not. For example, if visual art is important to your post, your Meg Murry picture can be small and placed at the end, giving priority to your artwork. (Tip: Hovering a cursor over the picture, right-click a PC mouse or two-finger click a Mac trackpad for the menu that includes Save Image As.) If the picture gives you trouble, don’t sweat it. It’s your story that matters most.
In the post settings pop-up (bottom right when you are editing your post), choose “Everyone” and “Everyone” so your post is visible to all and your comments are open.
Publish your post with this heading or something similar by July 26th (any time zone): This post is part of a community writing project called “Enchanted by a Book,” hosted by . In July 2024, Substack writers are joining together to spread the joy and revelation of reading and the unique experience of every reader with a book. Find a complete list of participants at the project home page, where new links will appear all month.
Optional: Subscribe to Quiet Reading to receive the “Closing Ceremony” post on Monday, July 29th.
How to follow as a reader:
Check out the project home page any time to see live links as they are added all month. When a writer tags me in a published post, I will add it to the home page.
On July 29th, I will email Quiet Reading subscribers with a complete index and “closing ceremony” (the details of which I will closely guard until then — 😉 of course). Prior to that date, my emails to subscribers will include brief updates about the project and links to the home page as it grows.
Why I’m doing this:
About a year ago, when Substack Notes was new, I tossed a question to whoever might hear it: When were you enchanted by a book, poem, or story? That question introduced me to just the people I wanted to know — the ones who understood how books and other arts “sing” language, thought, character, and feeling into us.
Since then, I’ve found the quality of thinking and writing and community on Substack to be so high that I spend as much time as possible hosting or joining community events such as my Five-Word Reading Party and Alice Munro Memorial,
’s Fifties by the Fire series, and ’s Same Walk, Different Shoes, plus small-group collaborations. I love the opportunities to connect kindred spirits in novel ways on this platform for invention.Last year’s “Enchanted” gathering was structured as a low-stakes contest. The trappings of competition always seemed a little out of place, so this year we’ll just write and swap links and exchange comments.2 Marvelous things happen under the spell of enchantment. The less I orchestrate, the better.
Picture poet Rita Dove in an airport, people-watching, waiting for a summer vacation flight, feeling herself in the season of “a little hope, a little whimsy.”3 That’s what we’re after in these times of horrid war and fear and falsehood (and worse: people we love falling for falsehood). There is much to worry about. And that’s why we need to swap enchantments, to be sure we’re staying truthful about ourselves.
Grab your favorite pen and notebook. Listen! Is that an idea forming — already?
Yeah, me too.
How anyone survives without being a poet, I do not know.
— Naomi Shihab Nye4
(“There Will Be Peace in the Holy Land,” World Literature Today, Summer 2021, https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2021/summer/there-will-be-peace-holy-land-naomi-shihab-nye)
P.S. Big thanks to those who commented on the draft headlines for this post at the
Headline Hub: , , , , , , , , , , , , and . If the headline fails to enchant, the responsibility is mine, but tips from and feedback from this crew were a great help! 🙏For those who want to read something enchanting and NEW to them, plenty of excellent Substack publications review books. I wrote about an enchanting historical mystery here and an enchanting picture book for grown-ups here.
reviews books in translation at . is compiling a BookStack directory, and here she links a dozen Stacks that review and discuss books (as she does herself at ). Her directory is still growing. I don’t think ’s or is listed yet, nor by , both of which offer frequent reviews from wide-ranging interests. If you’re looking for a new enchantment, there’s a good chance of finding a lead to it in any of these places.If you participated last year and want to share the same post, I’m confident that readers would enjoy it. Those were wonderful! Ahem
, , , , . I could tell someone about each of your posts today, I enjoyed them that much. If you write something new, I hope you will at least link your essay from last year. Did I mention that they were so enchanting? And , I haven’t forgotten that we met just *after* last year’s writing. This one’s for you.Rita Dove, “Vacation,” from On the Wing, at https://poets.org/poem/vacation.
Naomi Shihab Nye, “There Will Be Peace in the Holy Land,” World Literature Today, Summer 2021, https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2021/summer/there-will-be-peace-holy-land-naomi-shihab-nye.
I'm confused about responding to notes on Substack and also about the enchanted list. Can you tell me where to find it and if this link below is included?
https://sdorman.substack.com/p/when-asked-what-book-enchanted
This is such a wonderful, creative response to the troubles of the world. Really - it's such a balm for the soul. Thank you for facilitating this, Tara and for being a stand for enchantment, for positivity and for hope.