How to Enjoy Reading Books

If you want to read more, but aren't sure how to begin, then this is for you. Reading multiple novels will open and expand your mind by sampling the singular views of several individuals - the authors. It's different from other forms of entertainment in that way, it's much more personal.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Books
• Eyes
• Know How to Read

1. Find a discount bookstore or even just a book sale at your local grocery store. Oh yes, I found a lot of books at Top Foods and QFC on little tables near the front.
2. Pick 5 cheap books based entirely on their cover, title, name of author, etc. JUDGE the books based on their cover, but get at least 2 you think will be terrible in a GOOD way. Indulge your guilty pleasures, silly curiousity, etc. For example, try self-help, romance, star trek, etc.
3. Make sure the books you get are investments in time, say at least 150 pages, but not in money. At Half Price Books they have dollar shelves.
4. Choose one to read. There is no particular science to this, ESPECIALLY with the kinds you have hopefully chosen.
5. Read the prologue (if it exists and you desire) and at LEAST the first chapter. Starting a new book is always difficult, because there are many styles of writing and switching between them is initially taxing.
6. Continue reading from your choice on a semi-consistant basis. Don't go for an entire week without picking it up and make sure to read fair chunks at a time (such as a chapter), NOT a page. I recommend reading when you're in bed and ready to sleep ... see how many times you lose your place because you fell asleep and then try to remember what your fogged brain read the next day.
7. Find comfortable places to read with few, or ignorable, distractions. Go outside to read when the weather is nice.
8. When finished with a book you really liked, start another one within a day or two before getting too attached to that particular author or style. By sampling a lot of flavors, you'll get a bigger kick out of it. On the other hand after finishing a book that was so-so (or worse), wait a while for the bad taste to dull before trying again.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid books related to your profession. If you enjoy your job, great, but reading books about what you do isn't necessarily going to be a mini-vacation.
• If a particular page or passage has you bored, completely disgusted, etc. -- skip it. I've never had a book NOT make sense by the end, even when I skipped pieces of it.
• For troublesome books that don't tickle your fancy, thumb to a random page past where you are and read from there. It may be more interesting, or not, but at least you'll have made "visible" progress which feels nice.
• Have someone else pick the books.
• Words are hard for some people to understand, especially when not accompanied by pictures.
• You may crave books over TV and/or Warcraft.