How do you get the most out of your reading? Also, what are the biggest lessons you have learned from books?
How do you get the most out of your reading? Also, what are the biggest lessons you have learned from books?
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What a great question!!! 🙂 I get the most out of my reading by writing about it, conversing about it, and also reading literary criticism!! Oh, my goodness!! That last question is a big one!! I’ll have to think about it!! ?
Thinking about what I’ve read and talking about it. As for lessons, I’m with Jamie, that’s a big question and has got me thinking 🙂
I agree with both of you that that is a great question and a big one. I get most of my reading by underlining or make brackets around specific passages. On readings that I find the language or plot more difficult to follow (as well as in non fiction books) I put a bracket [ or a | line on the side that marks and separates paragraphs by ideas/thoughts or by the questions/statements the author poses if it’s non fiction and on non fiction by important changes in plot or scenery, etc… or by who’s speaking as in Paradise Lost because I was getting lost with the language until I started separating the lines at every change of a speaker. Also, in books that have many characters, settings, or difficult language, I underline the name of each character as they appear first time along with something important about the description of their character, for instance how old they are, nice or mean, etc, and also I underline each
setting/place important to the character. It helps me remember things and connect them as I move along. Also, dictionary is my best friend when I read.
As for what I have learned. I can’t answer that in one simple black and white type of answer. It’s not one thing I have learned; there are many lessons, most of which I can’t pinpoint them in words. But I can say that everything I’ve learned, still learning, and will always be learning is encompassed in the critical thinking reading has given me and in consequence a deeper understanding of myself and of others, and of life. That is not something that can be learned and be done like one learns to drive. It is a journey of learning that doesn’t end, but becomes deeper, and most times is not even conscious. It’s as if little bit by little bit something is built inside me. It reminds me of one of my favorite parts of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman: “This day before dawn I ascended a hill and look’d at the crowded heaven, And I said to my spirit When we become the enfolders of those orbs, and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be fill’d and satisfied then? And my spirit said No, we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond.” My motto is Read to Live. I don’t live to read. I read so I can live, so I can live better, deeper, more aware of myself and of others, in relation to others and to the world that surround us… I guess I could say the greatest lesson I can get from reading is life — a deeper understanding, an awareness of life, our world, and of others. Here is something I had written a few years ago about reading: Reading doesn’t mean we must agree or even necessarily like everything we read. Reading is about getting out of Plato’s Cave and seeing the light. It’s about learning and about expanding our horizons. Reading is about recognizing the genius of the writer, and even when we don’t agree with the views and sentiments presented, we are at least now able to have an internal, personal conversation with the writer and ourselves by diving into the writer’s mind and becoming aware of the reasons behind our own beliefs and convictions. Reading, even when it is done simply for pleasure, helps us become aware of the world that has been left behind, the world that’s coming ahead — The world in which we live in our physical environments and within our own minds, within our very own souls.
Although I wouldn’t deny that I’ve learned a lesson or two from books, it is more words as instruments on the way to methods to decipher and interpret our world. And to answer the first part of your question, I get the most out of reading by letting it inspire me to write.
The more i read is when i realize how much more i dont know but want to. So i read more….and more……and then again some more. Thankful that it never ends
Thirty years ago I began the habit of marking up books in red ink. Initially the idea was just to underline or bracket sections of text that was particularly meaningful to me. Occasionally I would jot notes in the margin or make a small diagram, often referring to a passage elsewhere that I felt there was some kind of connection or similarity. Over the years, the purpose of this reading habit changed — outwardly there was little difference, but inwardly, I discovered that I could not read without a red pen! This wasn’t only due to force of habit, but, more importantly, I realized that it helps me to process what I’m reading differently. I often find myself reading over passages now two or three times before moving on (certainly where I make certain markings). I feel now, with a lot of reading experience, I can digest more, and that I’m often seeing passages in connection with other writers, books, ideas, and expressions.
…So my answer to the first question really morphs into an answer to the second one: By engaging in the act of reading, I am taking part in a larger dialogue spanning centuries and countries. Reading is NOT a passive act, but one which involves reflection and examination. It has provided me with the kind of inner education that I treasure. I very much agree with Louiza above, that it’s not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing with an author, but learning about their own perspective (certainly this holds true I think for established classics that have outlasted their own time and place). What is more, I recognize more how the ideas of many authors have influenced us today (for better and for worse) — no idea or expression arises in an ahistorical vacuum. Each of us truly begin our lives in media res. The notion of a tabula rasa is a fiction — we inherit a series of interpretive lenses, and not all of them provide a coherent picture (this is not necessarily a bad thing). Examining the origins of ideas and the evolution of their interpretations is facinating, and helps myself not only to understand the world around me, but even more crucially, myself.
Books taught me life. I grew up in a rural area; my father was away a lot and my mother didn’t drive, so my universe was small, consisting principally of school and the fields and woods of our farm. Books were not just a window on a wider world; they were my transportation to a limitless one. In them I roamed freely to every corner of my own planet and far beyond, unconstrained even by time. I met people of fascinating diversity, both physical and cultural, unimaginable in my homogeneous little community; I met the great and the small, the famous and the unknown, people of the past, the present, and the future. I read their minds and hearts and learned understanding. Books stretched me, expanded my humanity, and fueled my dreams. I would not be the me that I am without them.
I think the thing they teach me most is that I never know what is around the corner. The next amazing book is out there, and it can be the most unlikely of titles.
Great books, especially literary fiction, have made me a more empathetic and well-rounded person. Like @Elizabeth above, I grew up in a rural area. I spent many, many hours reading and reading and reading as a child. I still live in that same rural area but books have helped me venture far beyond myself and my physical world. Books are small, portable and free if you use a library. Books are for all—young, old, rich, poor. Hubby and I have known each other for our entire lives and he would tell you that he has never known me to be without a book!
I grew up in a bubble of Christian fundamentalism where the outside world was shunned. For whatever reason (probably lack of thought), they gave me free run of the public library and never censored my choices. I think books saved my life.
I’ve learned almost everything I know from books. Any subject I need to learn or just am interested in, I read about. Finances, health, relationships, cooking, ………
I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from books is that not everything in life is black & white. Life itself is all sorts of shades of gray. I grew up in a politically conservative home and reading helped me realize that there was an entirely different world out there. It helped me realize that gray does exist.
As far as getting the most out of reading, I like to use study guides. I especially like the guides on http://litlovers.com/ and course http://hero.com/
I link themes, characters, motivations with other books and with my own life and use them to get different perspectives to try and understand more things than I’ve had experience of directly. I’ve learned that humans are pretty similar in their desires and their ways of going about things and that if I don’t understand something, I’ve just not considered the right perspective
In high school it was drilled into me that we needed to annotate and underline. (It actually became a joke among the students. ?) But it’s a great way to really interact with the text. Make notes in the margin reacting to what you just read, connecting it to the philosophies it’s promoting/critiquing, or even just annotate who’s talking or basic plot points (“wife yells at her”)—those will help you find favorite or important passages later. You could even take notes in a separate notebook if you want! Also, for me, I can’t listen to music and read at the same time. It helps to focus completely and not multitask ?