This is how to become a lifelong reader (even if you’ve never enjoyed books before)

If you don’t enjoy reading, you’re doing it wrong...

Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

I adore books in all formats and absolutely love to read. It is informative and/or incredibly fun. Consequently, I find it a bit saddening whenever I read articles about techniques for condensing or speeding up the whole experience. They are missing the point.

Pieces that explain how to read a couple of hundred pages in a few hours are missing the point of reading, especially concerning literature. Similarly, sites or tools that provide book summaries skip the beautiful prose of a talented author and only allow for superficial learning.

This is clearly highly subjective, but my main point stands - if you don’t ever enjoy reading, you are doing it wrong.

Obviously, this is not always the case

There are also are clearly some exceptions, but they are usually related more to getting information than enjoyment:

• The book is poorly written and full of filler, with the odd nugget of insight.

• It is non-fiction, and some content can be unimportant or express opinions that have nothing to do with the facts you seek.

• If fiction, then it is something you dislike but have to read and have run out of time — for example, a school report or to impress someone that you’ve read James Joyce.

• Something is too complicated or lexically dense, and you just want an overview.

• It is part of a series, and you read the previous one a year or two ago and just need a recap.

So, I admit there are times when you want only the briefest versions of the book. But for all other circumstances: read the book. It is so much better. And I will now conclusively prove why.