Maximizing your connection with novels: A Guide
FROM WORDS TO WORLDS: Maximizing your connection with novels
There is nothing sweeter than opening the first page of a book, and knowing straight away that you’re going to enjoy it. Sadly, not everyone feels this way about reading. Many of us detest the very thought of lifting up a book. Others are keen on starting but can never quite make it to that happy ending. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your novels.
Choosing your Reading Space
Would you be comfortable eating your dinner on the bathroom floor? I don’t think so. Putting yourself in an uncomfortable position or place can make concentrating even harder than it should be. Give yourself some space to allow your mind to wander. Pick a quiet area in the house or outside. You could even listen to music as you read. I can never really find a quiet place around the house, so popping on my headsets and playing my carefully selected reading playlist makes any place serene. Quieter, softer tunes could slowly relax your mind and allow the story to flow as you read.
Active reading strategies
Most people read because they want to learn something from the book, others just for the fun of it. Why did you decide to open that book today? When I was in my tenth grade, our English exam comprised of a section specifically for words and their meanings. This of course was not a part of our syllabus. Though I already enjoyed reading novels, I decided to use novels to help me get ahead with my vocabulary. If I did not know the meaning to a word I came across in the book, I would write it down and search for the meaning later on. This helped me enjoy reading even more because I had more to look forward to than an interesting story. This is an example of an active reading strategy to help you enjoy your novels even more.
Analysing plot and structure
A plot is what drives a story. You could decide to take regular breaks to think through the story. Authors write from a place within, intertwining personal experiences into those of the characters and the plot. Others like Chinua Achebe write literature books for educational purposes where nearly every line written has a deeper meaning than is first observed. Many people tend to attach themselves to specific characters in the book, looking at each of the major characters and trying to wrap your mind around their actions, behaviours and motivations can make the reading experience feel even more personal.
Savouring the language
People are different. Authors are different. Books are different and novels are written in different languages. Books could be written in Spanish, Latin, Greek, Bemba, and Nyanja and are later translated to English. Moreover, even English has gone through stages of development and change. The Shakespearian way of writing is not common in any recent publications. Do your research on what year the book was written and in what the society was like at the time. Understanding the period and activities at the time the book was written will give a deeper meaning to everything happening in the book. For example, the book “Quills of Desire”, a Zambian literature classic was written at time after the colonization and eventual independence of Zambia. Reading historic articles or books could help to understand why the characters did what they did and lived how they lived.
Reflecting and discussing
Book clubs are not the only places to discuss your books. Recommend a book to a friend read it together and talk about it later. The discussion could bring about something that you didn’t even realise as you read because everyone has his or her own opinion of things. You may believe Amy Dune (Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn) was a sociopath who was seeking attention someone else might argue to say she was a troubled girl trying to escape the terrors of her childhood.
Expanding your Horizons
Reading must not be a monotonous cycle. Read beyond what you normally would. If today you can read a 20 paged book, in a month or so a 200 paged book should be a walk in a park. Many authors play around different forms of writing while others stick to a similar pattern, read a variety of books according to your preference. However, remember, it is never a bad idea to step outside your comfort zone. If all you read is Danielle Steele you venture into Sidney Sheldon and eventually end up reading books by Dan Brown.
At the end, Read! The mind needs to exercise just as much as the body.
Additional Resources
What Genre of books is good for me?
What is my Reading Personality?
Why reading novels is good for your brain
