Thinking of buying a book to read? Consider knowing this before you do
Have you ever read a book before? There are many reasons why a person wants to read a book. Sticking to the fact that reading books helps a lot, people pick a random book out of recommendations with so much enthusiasm hoping to read more, fill their bookshelves, or become a book tuber one day.
But that enthusiasm will last only for a few days or a week. If you are one among those, the question is, WHY? What is that one reason that is stronger than your enthusiasm and goals?
My answer would be, you do not know ‘How to Read a Book?’ before which you need to answer ‘How to Pick a Book?’ as a beginner.
Take Away:
· How to pick a book?
· How to read a book?
:) How to pick a book?
What you choose is more important than what you read because whatever you read will always have to start with choosing. The world around you will only care about ‘what’s on the outside rather than focusing on what’s on the inside. And this is one of the biggest mistakes you could ever make while picking a book.
Remember, all books with beautiful covers cannot provide you with great value like how all the good-looking people aren’t good. Here are the steps you need to follow while picking a book as a beginner (applicable to all stages of readers)
- Know what interests you the most
- Pick a genre that resonates with your interests
- Pick a book from the genre & read the back cover copy
- If you like the description, grab it
- If you do not enjoy the snippet, do not waste your time
4. Do not pick a book just because you know/like an author
1. Know What Interests You The Most
It might sound super basic and a little boring to hear over and over, but this is the only way if you could ever find out what you want. Now, pick a pen and paper and put down all your interests, anything you love doing.
Now that you have put down your interests, find out the dominating interest, the one you love the most.
For instance, let’s say you have interests in various aspects such as traveling, reading science stories and facts, cooking, learning history, it is easy till here. And finding what you love the most from what you like or love is a little tricky.
To get it done, you have to dig deep into your daily activities and be mindful of every action you take for a day or two. How do you define the dominating interest? The thing you enjoyed doing that entire day will be your dominating interest.
2. Pick a Genre That Resonates With Your Interests
You are going to a book shop for the first time with the hope of buying the best book. As you move into the book store, your mind would go blank by the number of books and the shelves the store has. The question boggles you “what book do I have to buy?”
To simplify the process, you need to understand the genre you can relate to. Why do you need a genre? Genre is simply an area you have interests in, and it will let you be more specific and productive while reading something without getting bored of it.
For everything you love doing, there is always a genre. If you love traveling, there is a genre for it. Do you love science? There is a genre for it. Do you like reading love stories? There is a genre for it. Find the genre that can at least relate 80% to 90% with your dominating interest.
3. Pick a Book From The Genre & Read The Back Cover Copy
Now, you do not have to go blank by the collection. Because you know the genre to pick a book from, to make it easy for readers and visitors, the book stores would have labeled the genre on top of every bookshelf, indicating the whole bookshelf carries the same genre of books.
Go to the bookshelf that shows the books from your genre and pick whatever title you like. One of the best features of novels is that they carry a small snippet of information about the book on their back covers, usually known as the back cover copy.
Read the back cover copy, and understand the theme of the book.
- If you like the description, grab it.
By the time you complete and understand the small snippet, you will guess what the book is trying to covey. If you like the story, grab the novel.
- If you do not like the description, do not waste your time and money on it.
If you do not like the story, do not grab it. It is a waste of your time (you will try reading it) and the money (you will not get it unless you pay for it) because you would stop reading the book in the mid-way since you do not find it encouraging.
4. Do Not Pick a Book Just Because You Know/Like An Author
Some authors inspire people not only through writing but also through their voices. They give inspirational and motivational speeches publicly at the school or the college events.
You somehow like that person. The author publishes the book and asks his audience to purchase the book. The point is you read the back cover copy and didn’t like it, but you still buy it to help the author. Yes, you have to help others till you do not get affected.
How do you get affected? You do not like the book, and you still try to complete it since you’ve spent some bucks on it. As you force yourself, you get demotivated. It affects your future reading habits.
:) Let’s look at “How to Read a Book?”
How to read a book should be given the same importance given to how to pick a book. Both processes are interlinked to each other. You choose, what you read, and you read what you select. The steps to be followed are:
- Start with a novella
- Set a minimum and maximum page goal
- Maintain your streak
- Start with a physical book
- Chose the language free books
1. Start with a novella.
Books anywhere between 100–200 pages are known as novellas. Novellas are beginner-friendly and one of the best ways to develop a reading habit because each time you complete a novella, you get a sense of self-appreciation, which motivates you to pick another book.
As a beginner, nothing seems more important than a simple appreciation. Sometimes, picking novels (200 pages or more) may overwhelm you by the size of the book.
2. Set a minimum and maximum page goal
Anything starting new should always begin with small, and then as time goes by, it should improve to become enormous. Similarly, as you are getting started, set a minimum and maximum page goal for every day, and that can be as simple as one or two pages for one day.
And as you grow up, increase the daily page goal. Initially, you might take a month or two to complete reading the first book while increasing your motivational and inspirational levels to read more. However, the second book with the same number of pages might take a month or even less for you to complete.
Do not force yourself out of your interests to complete reading the book fast, only if you have started your book tube channel, LOL.
3. Maintain your streak
It is not crucial to buy the book, but reading it is. It might be hard to adapt to reading as a beginner, and the results will be fruitful. To get adjusted to this new thing and enjoy the benefits, you need to maintain the streak of completing your daily page goal.
Losing the streak initially means losing the habit that you are building. Make at least reading a page or two every day a daily habit in your life. The results will always be astonishing.
4. Start with a physical book.
Now, close your eyes, and imagine that you are surrounded by peaceful nature with a book in your hand. The scent of the new book gently touches your face, and you sense it by its smell. You are reading without any disturbances as you flip every single page after you complete it, and after a while, you finish reading the book, gently close the book”.
How did you feel about it? Amazing, right? One of the best benefits of reading a physical book is that you do not get distracted by the outermost disturbances like the internet. Nevertheless, in the case of digital copies, you read it on your phone, tablet, or computer, and you are most likely to get disturbed by the notifications. Even if disconnected from the internet, you are triggered.
5. Choose the language-free books.
Books that are easy to read and understandable in one go are language-free books. Books with critical language or advanced use of vocabulary can retain your interests simply because you couldn’t understand what it is about or you have to spend time reading the same repeatedly to understand.
It will create a negative mindset about books. To avoid all of these, pick a book free from advanced language.
Final words:
There are many reasons why a person has to read books out of their curriculum. And these books are called different names in different places, but Novels and the Novellas are pronounced widely around the world. Just like how you are advised to make the right decisions in your life similarly, you have to pick the right books to develop the habit of reading. Reading books is an everlasting process the more you read, the more you benefit and the better reader you become.
