How Do I Read A Book?

Reading is always one of the biggest challenges in my life since English is my second language. I always find many difficulties in understanding the book that I am reading. It is not only about sentences, and literacy elements, but it is also about vocabulary. When I first read a book in English, it was like Mount Everest that I had to conquer because I really didn’t understand a thing that the author wrote even the plot of that book. I shared my concern with my high school English teacher. She told me some ways to read a book and they have been in my mind ever since.

Reading a book is like entering a new world you can never see in real life. It helps you to open your imagination. Once you have a book on your hands, try not to read it first. Do some research on the author, why they wrote this book, and what inspired them, then, do research on the text on the theme, the plot, the characters, the summary, and what to expect. After completing all of those, you are ready to read. Opening a book, the first thing that comes to my mind is don’t be afraid. I used to read a few books that were over 1000 pages. I was kinda sick of it. But I remind myself to not be afraid, just relax and try my best to enjoy and understand it. While reading a book, it is essential to take notes and highlight the important details or quotes that you might use for an assignment. I highly recommend having a highlighter, sticky notes, and a small notebook when you are reading.

Reading with an open mind is advice that I always apply. Don’t pressure yourself that you have to read it to do an assignment, you have to complete this chapter as soon as possible. I recommend reading over and over again even if it is only one chapter or a part of the chapter. Doing that will help you to absorb the information, the details, and the art that the author is trying to say. Then, write it down and voila, you made it. Repeating it with other books and I am sure soon you will love reading more.

In my own experience, I think the most important element while reading a book is being active. It doesn’t matter if you read one chapter to do an assignment, you can read more or read ahead of time. It will reduce the time and gain you more knowledge of what is happening next in the book. When you have free time, you can spend one or two hours reading books. Also, don’t hesitate to find a similar book to read.

There is a podcast show in Vietnam that I love listening to and at the beginning of the show, the host usually asks the guests a question if one day you are left on an empty island and you have to bring a book, what the book will be. I love the question so much because choosing a book can somehow reflect on how that person lives and sees things in life.

To me, I have an answer for myself. A book that has a significant impact on me would be “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I started reading this book when I was in my college freshman year after a friend gave me it on my birthday. It is fascinating and dramatic.

I re-read “Crime and Punishment” every year. This book has shown me a social level that was ignored by others and nobody knew they even existed. They were pushed into the dead end with no hope, no light, and no future. In a society where the rich was getting richer, the poor were getting poorer, a young man, Raskolnikov, because of poverty, murdered the pawnbroker and her sister. Throughout the book, I sometimes cried with the character who could have had a better life if he continued his education. But the barrier of poverty was too big. He didn’t have any other choice than to commit a horrible crime. And that made me angry at Raskolnikov. In “Crime and Punishment”, there were elements of thriller and horror. The ghost of the pawnbroker and her sister kept haunting Raskolnikov and making him suffer. It is an excellent detail that Dostoevsky brought into his book. It means that whenever you committed a crime, serious or misdemeanor, you will be punished by the laws. But the greatest punishment will be the sentence of conscience. It will come back and suffer you for the rest of your life. The skynet is big and you can’t escape it easily. “Crime and Punishment” taught me the truth of life and that’s why I choose this book.