COME, LET'S READ

Okay, let's talk

Sit down, let's talk.

I am tired of shouting. sit down.

In one of my posts, I said I read 100 books last year and some of my readers were like wow!. Some others, being human, being friendly, being musical sang to themselves 🎶"why are you lying? Why are you f*****g lying"🎶. But it is all good and all truth.

Come here, pull your ear, and listen to me again and gain. These are the few tips that I would like to recommend :

1. MAKE A LIST: At the beginning of every year(since the last four years), I write out 300 books. I strike out the books gradually till I get to 100. But how is the striking out done?

A. Use Goodreads: If you use goodreads, you may end up being a biblioklept. You steal books. You can always steal at the books your bibliophile friends are reading and you can simply store them to your list. The App also makes recommendations, and the recommendations can be very useful. You can also scan book covers and simply add them to your reading list.

B. Store the list on your phone:

I read novels, history, how-to and motivational books. The list you have gotten can be stored using the google keep app or Evernote. You can always edit and add.

C. Review the list based on themes and genres:

I am practically another guy whose taste can be intimidating. My taste is very selective and particular. I reconsider the books based on genre: romance, thriller, action, mystery, historical, poetry. The themes are quite overwhelming. Those that talk about politics, crime, books on writing well, motivation are basically top on my list.

D. Strike them out:

A good reader has read books he has never read. Why? He has read the back cover. I know many books that I haven't read. I listen to others speak about these books, I read the summaries and reviews, and I gradually strike them out. The covers of a lot of books can be deceiving, get the synopsis. I gently strike the junks out and I'm very careful not to lose substance. Like I don't need synopsis or reviews for James Patterson books, Micheal Connely crime and legal fictions, Harlan Corben books, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Paulo Coelho, Agatha Christie, Micheal Critchton, Richard Patterson, John Grisham, Stephen King, James Joyce, Sefi Atta, Ama Darko, Chinamanda Adichie, Richard Wright, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Wolfe and other good and popular authors. I don't check twice before I add their books to my list. I wish Harper Lee wrote more than TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD. Why?! Why?!

(Edit: Go Set A Watchman)😪😯

1. GIVE A TIME OF THE DAY TO READING:

I drown in books but people don't know. I deeply believe that the more you read, the less you know you know. Therefore, I know more. I give my morning 20 pages. I give my night at least 60 pages. After "Subh"(dawn prayer), I read the Qur'an and then I read my 20 pages. When I return in the night, tired and overused, I read the remaining till sleep.

You must be a conscious time planner to know how many books you can possibly complete. You can't be lazy when following your schedule. You must be strict or you just started the joke. You must be curious to know more in order to read more.

1. GET A GOOD READING APP:

   I have never used kindle. I like apps like Aldiko and the moon+ Reader. The look of the library encourages you to read. They put you on track. Moon+Reader tells you the number of books you have read, your average words per minute, the number of pages read per hour and Reading hours per day.

1. BE CONSCIOUS BUT DON'T TRY TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING :

As Douglas Wilson, author of the book Wordsmithy, says:

"Most of what is shaping you in the course of your reading you will not be able to remember. The most formative years of my life were the first five, and if those years were to be evaluated on the basis of my ability to pass a test on them, the conclusion would be that nothing important happened then, which would be false. The fact that you can’t remember things doesn’t mean that you haven’t been shaped by them."

You can read two books at a time. That is exactly what I do. You can't remember everything you've read but be a conscious reader. Follow the plot of a story but you can't always remember the events that shaped the antagonist.

1. BOOST YOUR READ SPEED:
   The more you read, the faster you become. Practice doesn't make you perfect, it makes you practice. The nature of man is addictive to something overtime. The problem with drug abusers. You may read slow now, wait, persevere, get addicted to books and you see how fast you can become. You would never feel comfortable if you haven't read.

I recommend some applications that can help though:

A. Spritz is a fantastic browser extension to increase your reading speed. Their browser tool (Chrome, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer) allows you to speed read any article.

Spritz works by removing what is called "saccade," which is when your eyes move from word to word. By presenting all the words to you at the same location, your eyes never move and your brain can process the words faster.

B. The Spritz speed reader is also integrated into the BookShout app, allowing you to speed read through digital books.

C. A Faster Reader app(for android) is similar to ReadQuick(for IOS) , but for Android. Articles can be imported through a variety of integrations, and then the words are presented one a time. The better you get, the higher you can increase the Words Per Minute. Additionally, you can import .epub, .txt, .html, and .pdf files, allowing you to read eBooks in a similar fashion.

D. You can also try Spreeder.

1. USE AUDIO BOOKS:

Sometimes I read a book and I smile. Same happen when I listen to books. But people look at me like I need medical help. You can listen to books while walking, running, eating, chatting, and nothing. Audible seems to be the best application for this because of Amazon wealth of books. But you can always download audio books and add to your music playlist. Listen to audio books of good writers and I can assure you of structured thought and listening speed.

You can also use Scribd or overdrive App . They have wealth of books. You may have the dollar issue.

1. READ ALWAYS

2. CONCLUSION :

   All these tips are just mine and they may work for you. They may not. You must note here that: the more books you read, the more you feed your brain. You must be wary of the books you read. Books structure the way we see issues and see the world. We can't always be sold out to nonsense. But some people write nonsense with passion. And every nonsense is an added value consciously or otherwise.

   Think of it like the mortar in between bricks. Bricks are big blocks of time dedicated to other things and reading is the mortar holding them together. Reading is like breathing, it's a free gift and we must do it.

Till I write again...

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