Reading in the New Year

I’m not much for making New Year’s resolutions, but as a general, perennial goal, I usually set out to read more of the unread books on my bookshelves.  Perhaps you’re an avid reader yourself, sharing my tendency to buy books faster than they can be read. Or maybe you’re a reluctant reader, only picking up a book if you absolutely have to.

Whatever the case, it remains true that what we read profoundly shapes us as individuals. As students at Student Leadership University (SLU) are told, “In five years, you will be the same person you are today except for the places you go, the people you meet, and the books you read.” Reading helps strengthen our brains, expand our horizons, cultivate our imaginations, and develop our abilities to reason logically. It gives us the opportunity to learn what we don’t know and to be reminded of what we do. It helps us write better, speak better, and think better.  

So wherever you fall on the spectrum of readers, I hope your appreciation for reading will grow in 2018 and that you’ll challenge yourself to read more frequently, more intentionally, and more deeply this year. One 2018 Reading Challenge I’ve seen does an excellent job of guiding numerous levels of readers through a varied and interesting literary journey. But maybe you’re not up for sticking to a specific reading plan. So here are some general principles and ideas I’ve gleaned from this particular challenge, from mentors, and from life experience that can help in your quest to become a stronger reader.

Read actively.

There are several things that you can do to deepen your experience with a book and to maximize the mental benefits of reading. Perhaps the most helpful is to read with a pen in hand both to underline meaningful passages and to make notes in the margins. Yes, it’s okay to write in your books. It’s actually incredibly beneficial when it comes to comprehension and critical thinking development.

Do you strongly agree or disagree with the author? Write so in the margin. Do you have a question? Ask it with your pen. Does a particular point bring some other point to mind? Jot it down. In the absence of printed headings in chapters, can you discern an arrangement of content? Add the headings yourself for ease of future reference.

By interacting with both the text and the author, you are entering into a dialogue where you become an active participant instead of a passive sponge. And while, at first, it might seem that this practice is only suited to nonfiction, I’ve started marking my fiction books as well—particularly classic novels—for they provide just as much (if not more) opportunity to internalize profound lessons about human nature and about God.

Another habit to form when you read is to keep a vocabulary journal. My communication professor in college challenged my class of freshmen to do this, and while I have not been completely consistent in carrying it out, I do have a notebook filled with several scores of words. Essentially, this practice involves writing down words that you do not recognize or would not be able to define should someone ask you, looking them up in a dictionary, and writing the definition(s) with the word. To take it to the next level, you can write the sentence from the book you’re reading in which the word is used, both to provide context and to remind yourself where you originally encountered the word.

While you might think learning vocabulary words is the stuff of elementary school, there is nothing childish about intentionally expanding the scope of your language. Language is a gift; there is beauty in using precise and vivid words, and reading is perhaps the best way to bolster your arsenal of vocabulary. Doing this, of course, necessitates reading books that might contain vocabulary unfamiliar to you, which brings me to the next principle…

Read robustly.

Even those who enjoy reading might shy away from books that present a challenge—say, books over four hundred pages or those on a topic of little to no personal interest. But just as with a muscle, your reading habits must be exercised and stretched if they are to grow stronger.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting reading only books that are dull or that require you to read a paragraph three or four times before you can comprehend what it says, but I am encouraging you to read some books of that sort. Work up to them. If you’ve never read a book more than 200 pages, try reading a 300-page one before you pick up a 600-page one. If you’re not used to reading nineteenth-century language, pick a shorter book for your first exposure to it.

Some are quick to dismiss a book because the author’s writing style is different from what they are used to or what they prefer, or because the vocabulary and syntax are outdated or actually ancient. I’d encourage you not to let that attitude hinder you from experiencing the richness that is hidden in books such as these. Not all nuggets of truth are lying on the surface; like diamonds, sometimes the best things have to be worked for.  

Read variedly.

Closely tied to the previous principle is this one. Basically, change it up. Yes, you should read books that challenge you, but you also should read books that are quick, easy reads or are on topics you enjoy. Reading variedly also involves reading different genres of books, though—biographies, classic novels, theological treatises, commentaries, plays, screenplays, poetry, modern fiction, histories, memoirs, and the list goes on…

People generally gravitate toward either fiction or nonfiction, but being a well-rounded reader requires a selection that contains both. An entirely separate post could be written on the merits of fiction and those of non-fiction, but for now, I’ll simply say that as our bodies need a balanced diet of food, so our minds need a balanced diet of books. A mix of narrative and non-narrative (which isn’t necessarily a one-to-one correlation with fiction and non-fiction, by the way), gives us that balanced diet and helps us exercise different parts of our intellect.

Read physically.

I’ll try to refrain from getting on a soap-box here, but it’s so important to read a physical, tangible book on at least a semi-regular basis. Study upon study has been done on digital reading versus reading a printed book, and while there are varying conclusions as to which is “better,” it’s pretty conclusive that they are different. As this article explains, reading e-books and reading printed books engage different parts of our brains, and although it’s not necessarily bad to read from a screen, it is certainly depriving ourselves to give up paper reading altogether, because we can lose the ability to “deep read,” i.e. to enter into a text and absorb it fully.

Read diligently.

Finally, finish. However long it takes you, finish whatever books you start. Obviously, the exception to this would be if a book is so vulgar that it would be unwholesome or cause you to sin. But otherwise, don’t give up. Diligence will be most difficult when you’re practicing reading robustly, but the reward of completing a challenge is worth it. Plus, there’s the added benefit of cultivating the practice of finishing what you start in life in general.  Admittedly, there are several books on my shelves that I haven’t finished yet—key word: yet. But I certainly plan to finish them just as I try to follow through with other projects I begin.

There are, no doubt, other principles that can aid in our development of good reading habits, but I hope the above will give you a good start and encourage you to take baby steps forward from wherever you currently find yourself. If you decide you’d like to broaden your exposure and would like some recommendations, I’d be happy to suggest some titles. I’d also love to hear from you—what are some habits you’ve formed when it comes to reading? What ideas do you have for becoming a better reader this year?

As we ring in the new year, let’s read it in too. Let’s have fun in the world of books, grow our minds, and explore the gifts of language, story, and reason that God has given us.

Happy Reading!