What Are Your Reading Habits?
I'd like to read more books, both at a higher speed and with better understanding and retention. After neglecting books for quite some time, this year I've gotten back into reading and have managed a pace of one book per month. It will take time for me to retrain the reading muscle, but I've noticed some habits that I need to overcome, such as rereading passages I've already absorbed, zoning out, getting distracted, and simply struggling to open the book in the first place. There are also habits I'd like to develop, like taking notes, writing reflections after each book or even chapter, and really pondering thought-provoking passages when they come up.
What are your reading habits, good or bad? Can the voracious/seasoned readers give me some advice? I just want to get lost in a book like I did as a child.
Edit: Thank you to whoever downvoted this for keeping me in check! I'll think twice next time :P
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I seem to have these phases I go through where I alternate between constant reading and constant video games. I'm in a bit of a transitional phase right now where I'm doing half and half.
I find it hard to always get immediately absorbed in a book, mainly because I always feel like I'm such a time-constraint in life. There's a million things I want to do and never enough time to do them. I want to play this game, learn something new on guitar, catch up on my favorite shows, etc. Sometimes there's so much stuff I want to do that I start to feel guilty for not doing something productive (funnily enough reading is now on my list of non-productive things, which is pretty sad, but I've got a busy life).
Taking notes or writing reflections might be a good way to get into a book, but sometimes I find the best way to let yourself get absorbed into a book is to just put it down if it's not immediately catching you. I like to pick up something else that I can immediately jump into and then alternate between them. I was recently looking for new books to pick up, but actually instead I just started re-reading the ASOIAF books. For such dense books, re-reading them actually offers a whole new experience. I was able to jump right in because I already was familiar with so many of the characters and the settings that the familiarity is helping me get into it without too many problems zoning out.
This is also partially my problem to committing to a new book. Once I get started it's usually no problem unless the book really sucks, which after giving it a few chapters I will quit, but if it's an engaging piece of literature I will finish it quickly and with pleasure. I guess I experience procrastination with books just because I feel that there is so many other things I can be doing that actually require a little less effort.
TIL: The human brain can be such a dick.
For me, the idea of taking notes and reflecting on passages is to get the most out of a book. Sometimes I finish a book and don't walk away with too much — I'd like to really chew and digest every bit of it. I guess it's the whole idea of 'active reading'.
Yeah it's certainly not a bad idea. I think personally it just makes me think too much of writing a paper in high school so it doesn't sound like an appealing way to read. I do however really like the idea of coming together and discussing books after we read them. Maybe we could use this tribe as a sort of make-shift book club?
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See, I feel like if I'm stopping to make notes that much, I'm not really enjoying the book so much as studying it. Though, I guess I could always re-read and take notes then, especially on the new things I pick up on.
Yeah, I wouldn't want to sacrifice my enjoyment of the book. I'd just jot down little notes as I read and perhaps backtrack later to reflect.
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The absolute worst is when you are zoned out and thinking about something else, read like 4 pages, and then realize that you have no clue what you just read. I'm guilty of this all the time and it sucks having to have to go back and re-read.
Luckily, I get to take a bus for a commute, so I get to read both in the morning to help kickstart my day, and at night to help decompress. I'm mostly read fat fantasy books, so I don't necessarily get through a ton of books, but the volume on a per page basis has got to be fairly high. I don't read that often outside of my commute, but I would if I was into a really good part of a book, or didn't feel like I was getting through my to-read selection fast enough.
This! During my subway commute, instead of reading on the phone like so many others, I read on my e-reader. I always have it with me and take it out in those "dead" moments when I wait (for transport, for friends, etc.). With this habit alone I was surprised of how much I was able to go through. Another thing, and this also comes with the e-book reader, is that I read several books at once, but totally different books: some scifi, some non-finction, etc., so that way if sometimes I'm in the mood for something else, I have alternatives. Also, usually I give a book about 40-60 pages; if I don't get hooked or I generally feel it's a tedious style, I switch to another one. I found there's nothing worst than actually struggling to read and ending up not picking up the book at all at times because I actually don't like the book. Even if everybody says this or that books is a "must-read", if after a couple of tens of pages the style sucks for me, well...then it's not for me. The more hooked you are for a book, the less you tend to "zone out" while reading it.
Word, I'm with you on the ebooks. As much as I like paper, you can't beat that convenience when you're on the move.
Reading on your commute also turns what's more or less wasted time into productive time. It's like magic!
I'm so jealous. Back in college I would do tutoring, and the children I was teaching to were in the other side of the city. I will forever remember those times dearly, as it was the time when I got to read most while on the commute. Nowadays I do most of my reading while traveling on the airplane / train.
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Like most, I tend to become easily distracted. What I have been doing lately is reading out loud, whispering, or simply mouthing out the words. I tend to focus on what I am saying and what I am reading. I've also started to recount what happened in the last chapter of the book by discussing it out loud. To also keep me on track I have been asking myself the meaning of certain words; in many cases realizing that I thought I knew the definition but really didn't. I also try to define a literal image of the characters, many times taking on actors, singers, and even people I know. My biggest and worst habit is when I start reading a book and force myself to read it. What ends up happening is that the whole read become a chore...and being as lazy as I am, I drop the book and reading altogether for months at a time. I've devised a set of rules for myself when it comes to reading books. When I pick up a book, I will read at least 5-15% of the book, depending on size, regardless on how much I hate it. After this I am free to drop the book up to 70% of completion, after this, it's no turning back and I have to finish it. So far this year I have started 9 books, finished 4 of them, dropped 4, and currently reading one. This year has been the first time since I kept the flow this consistently since high school (5 bazillion months ago.)
I read a chapter or two before I go to bed. I move really slowly through books cause of it, but they do get finished at least.
I try to be consistent but it also depends on the quality of the book, and of how busy life can get. Ideally I read on the way to work and on the way back. That adds up to about 35 min of reading. If I'm really enjoying the book I will also read in the evening for an hour or more. I never take notes, however at the end of a good book I like to take 10 minutes to reflect on the story. I don't usually zone out, if I do I might move to a room with less distraction, or I'll stop reading because I'm getting tired.
I start a new book a day. I am far too curious for my own good and I cannot keep patient enough to read one book at a time. So I have a few hundred books that I've started and haven't finished, 30 or so books that I'm halfway done with, and 5ish books that I'm almost done with.