How do you read novels or other books?

Poetic Justice said:
When reading non fiction books you should try a technique called previewing.

What you do is start at the beginning and read the index. Then go through the chapters only reading chapter headings, sub-chapter headings and bolded text etc. Basically read anything but the main body of the text. DO NOT be tempted to read the main text even if a chapter catches your eye. Look at any diagrams but don't study them in depth.

Go through the entire book in one sitting like this. Don't be tempted to quit part way through. This should take you around 20 minutes.

When finished doing this put the book down and leave it until the next day (optional)

Then read the book normally. You will find it SO much easier to read and you will remember significantly more of the book. I can't stress enough how awesome this is. The difference is immense.
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I can vouch for this this style! It got me through the last 2 years of college with a 3.6 GPA. Lots of technical details and test worthy questions are usually right in the subject, diagrams and bold/italicized text. The body is just filler on most text books. Even if you don't have a chance to go back to the book, you still obtain most of the information it has to offer.
 
Edit: never mind
 
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when i finish a book it feels like a door opens in my mind. i want to be competent in interpreting my world and since i'm not very good at listening, reading is my way to gain new perspectives. people sometimes talk about literacy as if it is the simple act of getting a word from the page into your head, or from your head to the page in grammatically acceptable form, but i think it's really much more than that, and that a highly literate person can read a piece of writing or a film or even a situation from more points of view. every time i read something i feel like i become just a bit more literate, even if it's just something small. sometimes i remember an episode from my past and i think "THAT's what they were talking about!" or something like that. i never know what i'm going to get out of a book, they seem like they're the same, but so many of them are completely different from any other book. (at least that's what it feels like to me in the world of literature anyway.)

i have my bookshelf for the books i own that i've read and i have the books i haven't read in a cupboard. i like seeing my bookshelf get more full with books i've read every time i read another book. i keep imagining what it will feel like to fill all my shelves (and then also be able to start getting rid of books i didn't like for new ones i read...)
 
invisible said:
when i finish a book it feels like a door opens in my mind. i want to be competent in interpreting my world and since i'm not very good at listening, reading is my way to gain new perspectives. people sometimes talk about literacy as if it is the simple act of getting a word from the page into your head, or from your head to the page in grammatically acceptable form, but i think it's really much more than that, and that a highly literate person can read a piece of writing or a film or even a situation from more points of view. every time i read something i feel like i become just a bit more literate, even if it's just something small. sometimes i remember an episode from my past and i think "THAT's what they were talking about!" or something like that. i never know what i'm going to get out of a book, they seem like they're the same, but so many of them are completely different from any other book. (at least that's what it feels like to me in the world of literature anyway.)

i have my bookshelf for the books i own that i've read and i have the books i haven't read in a cupboard. i like seeing my bookshelf get more full with books i've read every time i read another book. i keep imagining what it will feel like to fill all my shelves (and then also be able to start getting rid of books i didn't like for new ones i read...)
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Agree, well said.
 
I usually have like four of five books on the go at any one time. Not joking. Sometimes it takes me months to get through them, sometimes a year, sometimes I'll devour it within a couple of days. I have to be in the right mood/right time to feel like reading and having a number of books on an array of subjects caters to my screwball system.

I guess reading on a schedule just throws me back to my university days. It's amazing how time constraints can really suck the fun out of a good book.
 
I read one book at a time usually. I'm a very, very fast reader. I basically open it up, read for hours, and then continue in such a way until the book is done. In terms of textbooks and other boring things, I avoid reading them when possible. I'll skip straight to the summaries and will skim through to pick out anything that might strike me as important or interesting. For the most part I don't bother.
 
Try reading some 'light novels' like Boogie Pop (the second and third ones are absolutely amazing!) or The Melacholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. They're really easy to read (about the same level as a young adult novel, but shorter) and are written with a good pace.
Or try reading Redwall - whenever I'm in a slump, I go back and read one of the series, then I'm okay to read again :) (although it's aimed at 9-12 year-olds >>")
 
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I'm a very slow, sporadic reader. Imagine that you can only read, say, upsidedown with your head in an aquarium full of water, so you keep having to rest and take air breaks. I used to be better at it but Google has made me stupid.
 
You just have to make time to read and dont have any background noise. I took ages to get back into reading after college exams, so I just picked one book and sat down and made myself read it and eventually got really into it.
 
In an erratic, haphazard, speedy fashion.

I often read many at once, stopping irregularily to pick up another, scribbling on the cover to make notes on ideas/quotes/inspiration.

I love when two, seemingly innocent, seemingly normal, words together on one page can inspire a completely abnormal, abstract concept from the back of the mind.


Jude the obscure, Dante's Inferno, David Copperfield and the hunchback of Notre Dame... Are a few I have on the go.
 
Poetic Justice said:
When reading non fiction books you should try a technique called previewing.

What you do is start at the beginning and read the index. Then go through the chapters only reading chapter headings, sub-chapter headings and bolded text etc. Basically read anything but the main body of the text. DO NOT be tempted to read the main text even if a chapter catches your eye. Look at any diagrams but don't study them in depth.

Go through the entire book in one sitting like this. Don't be tempted to quit part way through. This should take you around 20 minutes.

When finished doing this put the book down and leave it until the next day (optional)

Then read the book normally. You will find it SO much easier to read and you will remember significantly more of the book. I can't stress enough how awesome this is. The difference is immense.
Click to expand...




Wow, wish I'd known this for uni! Sounds like a good plan...


I read very slowly. Often, I mutter the words under my breath as I go. There are a few reasons for being slow. Firstly, I like to absorb all of the atmosphere from the book, the tone and the perspective of the author etc. Secondly, I love words. If I skim read, I miss half the words, and often sections of characterisation and this is most of the point for me!

I do think reading in general, as in having the concentration span to read book after book, is a practise thing. I can read non-stop now, but if I have to stop for some reason, I will be unable to read books for a while. It's also your mind-set, how strong your thirst for knowledge or your imagination are at a certain time.

I would pick a short book. I quite like short stories, like Chekhov, or actually, Roald Dahl is awesome for adult short stories! Then, if I enjoy these, I pick a short book, and then keep increasing from there. I also make sure that I pick whatever I feel like reading. As in, I don't start a book I'm not in the mood to read, and then continue with it, battling against the tide. If you don't feel like it, save it for a time when you do, pick another.
 
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