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| Source: elements.envato.com |
With my kids a bit older now, I've been jumping back into reading in a BIG way these last few years.
But recently I've been struggling with retaining what I read in a meaningful way.
I don't just want to plow through mounds of book.
I want them to change me.
I just love this quote from educator and author Mortimer J. Adler:
"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you."
Exactly.
Problem is, how does that process happen?
I already read with a pen in hand, or a tin of book darts handy, and make notes or transfer important lines or quotes into a commonplace journal.
I've been keeping up with what I read using a reading journal, and I keep a list of yearly reads on my desktop (and update my list of Recommended Reads here on the blog).
I read slowly enough to comprehend what I am reading, and feel like I have a good grasp of what the author is trying to teach me, or the plot line and characters of a work of fiction.
I talk to others about what I am reading, and sometimes post here on the blog about books that particularly inspire, challenge, and equip me in life.
But, overall, I still feel like a LOT of useful and transformative information is just leaking through the cracks of my mind!
I've been doing a bit of online research about this topic recently, about doing this reading thing...better.
Here's just a few highlights I've come across:
- Don't be afraid to reread books
- Skim first, then read thoroughly through the book
- Read in paper format (vs computer screens or Kindles)
- Picture in your mind what you are reading and try to associate it with things you already know or have experienced
- Read out loud
- Ask yourself questions about the material
At first blush, I think I need to do a better job of asking myself questions about the material. Does the author have the authority to say what he or she is saying? Does it square with what I already know to be true? Do I agree with how the plot is moving or would I write it differently? Is this action out of character?
I also think I can do a better job of just jotting down some free associations with what I am reading. Maybe a brainstorming web or bubble chart, like the kids use in elementary school. That might even be a fun break for me, as I usually journal left to right in a linear format. Maybe I could draw or use symbols, imagery, or colors as I read, to cement down my initial impressions.
Here's an excerpt from a fantastic article about rereading books in The New Yorker entitled "The Curse of Reading and Forgetting" by Ian Crouch:
"Part of my suspicion of rereading may come from a false sense of reading as conquest. As we polish off some classic text, we may pause a moment to think of ourselves, spear aloft, standing with one foot up on the flank of the slain beast. Another monster bagged. It would be somehow less heroic, as it were, to bend over and check the thing’s pulse. But that, of course, is the stuff of reading—the going back, the poring over, the act of committing something from the experience, whether it be mood or fact, to memory. It is in the postmortem where we learn how a book really works. Maybe, then, for a forgetful reader like me, the great task, and the greatest enjoyment, would be to read a single novel over and over again. At some point, then, I would truly and honestly know it."
So, in the spirit of letting more books "get to me" rather than me getting to all the books, I put down Great Expectations last week (my first Dickens novel--how did I miss reading him in school?!) and picked up Emma again. I first read this novel back in March of this year and loved it. I want to savor it and understand it better. I want to think upon all of Emma's character flaws (how she can miss them all herself?!), and reflect upon how gracious Mr. Knightly is, to love her through them all.
How about you, dear friend? Is there a book you need to tuck away for now, in order to reflect more deeply upon something you have read before? Do you have any suggestions or techniques that you use to help you better process and retain the information you read? If so, I'd love to hear more about them--please feel free to leave any suggestions you might have in the comments section (click the bubble icon) below!
May we slow down, savor, enjoy...and be forever changed by what we read!
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