How to start reading?

I learned today that in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, March is designated as National Reading Month. Dr Seuss happens to be my Niece’s favorite author. And I thought what a great day to write about reading, an opportunity to encourage people to read everyday and teach how to start reading. There are multiple reasons why you should start reading. I won’t stress on reasons here, and would focus more on the how-to part.

BEGINNERS

-       Pick a book, a good one. Start with the best sellers such as Pulitzer Prize winners, or New York Times bestsellers (there are many NYT bestsellers though) because those books are less likely to disappoint you and in beginning will be helpful to keep the motivation up. Books recommended by your friends/family is also a good start because they have read it, and are probably recommending knowing your personality, so there is less chance it could go wrong.

-       You can also start with books that will be very helpful for you e.g finance if you do not know about finance, or particular history if you are curious about history, or short stories that are fun.

-       Go slow, its ok to be slow. Read just a few pages a day. Goal is to form a habit, so one page per day is fine too.

-       Set a time for reading. Whatever works for you. Morning, or before bedtime or afternoon anytime that works for you. Target to go through 1-5 pages, 5-10 minutes a day.

-       Keep track of reading. I won’t recommend phone but something like checkboards on the fridge for instance. Nothing more satisfying than to see the check mark on the to do list.

-       If you do not like the book it is ok to switch, go grab a next book. (I have never left a book unread, if I start it I will finish it. I think about the hours author has spent on that book, and my thought is there is always something I can learn from a book and I keep reading, but this is a bad way to start.)

-       Audiobook counts! Audiobook is a book. Listening is good. Having said that reading is faster than listening, but whatever works for you is ok.

-       Set a goal per year. Any goal is good goal. If are new to reading, any positive integer above zero is good goal, in-fact great. Goodreads is a good start and that’s where I keep track of mine. https://www.goodreads.com/ (Not a promotion)

-       Focus on quality of reading over quantity of books. Reading few books and enjoying it is better than reading more than fifty books but not understanding or internalizing any of it.

-       Find your community. Join a club that will keep motivate you to read.

NON-BEGINNERS (If you are already reading one or more book a year, to continue to read and to read more, all of the above plus following-)

-       Share your knowledge, guide the beginners. Motivating others will only motivate you. Teaching others will only increase your knowledge.

-       Reading multiple books at same time is Ok. Multiple formats are Ok as well. When I am having hard time focusing, I do both audiobook and physical book at the same time. How fun is that.

-       Try different genre. You are expert in reading, challenge yourself. Haruki Murakami  said-"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."

-       On days when you don’t feel like reading, shorten the reading time instead of totally taking break. Goal is to keep up with the habit.

-       Join the community or friend circle who reads, it is awesome to be with the like-minded people.

Picking a book…Does genre matter?

Absolutely not. I encourage reading, reading any genre is good. I like non-fiction and I have my reasons. If you are into thriller, Sci-fi, gothic horror or any fictions, that is great and that makes me happy for you. Just read! Reading fiction builds your imagination, teaches you empathy. Sci-fi even it is fiction teaches some science, the literary knowledge in fiction could be amazing. Reading increases your concentration span. Reading is a form of meditation. Just because my club talks about non-fiction, please don’t focus on the genre here. I encourage reading, anything! Every book is months of hard work from author, a capsule of knowledge and creativity awaiting to burst open in your brain. Be thankful for thousands of hours that was spent on writing that book, be grateful that you have a book in your hand and read joyfully. How lucky we are to be able to read?

Happy reading!