Best way to study novels

[JWHooper]

Hey guys, this might be a common thing to say, but I have come across that when I read the novels, I read very slowly, but I don't know why, but biologically it says that reading takes time. Novels also include hard words to comprehend, and I struggle to understand the main themes. Can anyone tell me how to break from this habit? Also, how to read faster?

[Gladys]

Novels also include hard words to comprehend, and I struggle to understand the main themes.

Beware of guessing figurative meaning before you have adequately grasped the literal meaning of a passage. Do not disregard evidence from literal decoding that conflicts with your figurative interpretation - as if the writer has erred. Understanding literal meaning is so important.

In this way you can link together plot and character development scattered throughout the novel to eliminate all but valid interpretations. Hard words become more comprehensible and main themes become obvious.

[JWHooper]

Gladys, thanks for the reply. But, you have mistaken on one thing. When our biological human eyes see the words on the book with perfect eye-sight, we now can predict what will happen to biological model of philosophy of humans. But, the main concepts can be determined by smelling the nature, and the beauty of the sight of the sonnets that is politically correct. This term is often ignored, but this is what the literature scholars call "analysis of the human's emotion toward writing and comprehending the Haiku".

[Annabelle]

I am sorry for I am not giving any precious advice. The thing is, I have the same problem too. Even in my native language, I read slowly. Don't think it is dyslexia.
I don't know why, but my eyes slide slower...

[Mathor]

Sort of like writing, reading is a sort of skill that must be honed and used. The more you read, the better you will read. If you take a couple months from reading, you will notice a slow-down. If you always keep reading, you will become better at comprehending texts, and become a more efficient reader.

[Lynne50]

I do believe, too, that the more you read the better you get at it. I think that you have to get into the 'rhythm' of the book,too, before you start enjoying it. And if you're feeling bogged down by it, maybe you could consciously speed up a bit, not worrying about reading every word, especially if you're starting a new book. I know that a strategy we teach our 1st graders, just learning to read, is to skip a word they don't know and read to the end of the sentence. Very often the word they get stuck on will become obvious by the end. And skipping over some words will probably not have much impact on understanding the story as a whole. I think this strategy would work for adults too.

I am a slow reader. I want to get the most meaning out of a sentence that I can, but when I find myself reading the same sentence twice, I try and speed things up.

[kelby_lake]

Sort of like writing, reading is a sort of skill that must be honed and used. The more you read, the better you will read. If you take a couple months from reading, you will notice a slow-down. If you always keep reading, you will become better at comprehending texts, and become a more efficient reader.

Definitely. I read plays for a long time and when I came back to novels, I found it hard as I wasn't used to reading like that.

[Fen]

As the people above me say the more you read the faster you get and the easier it is to understand the difficult words and grasp previously missed meanings. That said you can only improve a certain amount when it comes to speed. For example I read more then the rest of my family (except my Dad) and am much slower then them for no discernible reason. So don't worry and enjoy.

[Paulclem]

If you have to read a book for study, or you are going through a dense part, then you can get more from it by interacting with the text. On way is to ask questions before you start a page such as:

Is a new character introduced and what are they like?

How is the plot progressing?

Are there any themes recurring? etc and make very brief notes.

It may slow you down a little, but it will help comprehnsion.

[JuniperWoolf]

What's with this obsession with reading quickly? So many people here have this weird pre-occupation with speeding through novels, as though they want to get the process over with. I noticed that in the "books that we've read in July" thread, too. Who cares how fast you read? That's not really the point. It's not all about how many books you devour in a week, the main issue is what you absorb and learn. Don't you agree that what you get out of a novel is more important than how quickly you are able to toss it aside?

Sometimes when I read something that hits me, I stop and THINK for up to an hour. I defiantly don't mean to preach, but I believe that this whole thinking process is vital. Afterwards, I read some finely-written essays on the novel; through this process I ensure that I understand the novel fully and get everything useful out of it that I possibly can. This “lets-just-speed-through-it” crap must be a modern phenomenon. Everything these days is all rush, rush, rush...

Edit: So yeah, my advice (whatever that's worth to you): keep reading as slowly as possible, take your time and let your skill and comprehension develop naturally (no tricks, no "way to break this habbit," just as much time as you need without worrying about it).

[Lynne50]

I don't think that the people that posted before you, myself included, meant that we should sail through books just for the sake of seeing how many we can read in a week/month. Some people have difficulty with the fluency of their reading which sometimes hinders comprehension. It's the same with online discussions and emails. The tone of one's voice while writing it may not come across correctly when someone else is reading it. The same is true for reading fiction, although, it seems to be more of an email phenomenon than with books. Sometimes you have to read a sentence quickly to get the nuances of language. If you find yourself reading the same sentence twice, I would definitely see if speeding up the' rate per min.' helps. That doesn't mean, flying through it without understanding or appreciating any of it.
Reading is supposed to be fun, not laborious.

[JuniperWoolf]

Maybe. I stand by my conviction that the general tone of this and a few other comments on this forum (as I said, the "what we've read in July" thread included) tends to be one of "quantity over quality." As usual, I don't think that there's much to gain from debating that point because its my personal opinion vs. yours, which is always hard to argue.

Edit: Oh also Lynne, I wasn't personally attacking you or the other previous posters by any means (going back I figured that you might think that I was). I was just stating my opinion on a general trend that I was sad to notice (and I realize that you may not agree, but I like that; I think that people have to disagree in order for things to work properly).

[Paulclem]

JWHooper

If you want to read faster, then the speedreading technique is to not focus upon each word but to sweep your eyes over a line. You'll find that you can see all the words, but it takes time to practice. While you get used to it you may lose some of the meaning, but it does work. You may decide that you don't want to read like that and go back to your usual speed. It does take time to develop. My wife reads by running her eyes down the page - taking each line as she goes. I can't do it, but I can go across the page. quickly when I want to. It's all practice. As JuniperWoolf has said, you may not want to or need to.

[JWHooper]

Thanks for the replies, but my point of view is that we cannot comprehend psychology behind the nature of literature. We the scholars know the Shakespearean theory of biological philosophy behind our eyes, and we cannot thus read slow. We have to read sonnets every night, but why does that matter - we already are philosophical human beings, and we are supposedly the intelligent beings that read novels that tells us the right of the nature.

[LMK]

It sounds as if there are several issues that the opening poster is grappling with; vocabulary, comprehension and then speed.

If you are reading works that challenge your vocabulary, and you can understand the sentence and guess at the word in its context then, take note of the word to look it up later, but read on.

If you cannot continue with the sentence, stop and look up the word. Keep a dictionary and notepad near you.

After you have looked up the word and understand the sentence, try re-reading the paragraph, go back and re-read the page or even the chapter.

All of this will help you build your vocabulary once that is done, comprehension can be tackled. As your vocabulary grows and you are able to stretch it beyond its denotation and into the author’s connotation your understanding will expand so that you can follow the story line.

After you have been reading you may find your speed picks up, but you needn't feel it's a race. Some people read slowly, take their time breathe in the imagery and the characters.

~L

[Mathor]

Maybe. I stand by my conviction that the general tone of this and a few other comments on this forum (as I said, the "what we've read in July" thread included) tends to be one of "quantity over quality." As usual, I don't think that there's much to gain from debating that point because its my personal opinion vs. yours, which is always hard to argue.

Edit: Oh also Lynne, I wasn't personally attacking you or the other previous posters by any means (going back I figured that you might think that I was). I was just stating my opinion on a general trend that I was sad to notice (and I realize that you may not agree, but I like that; I think that people have to disagree in order for things to work properly).

I will not try to debate this opinion. I don't disagree, but I don't agree either. I take AS LONG AS IT TAKES to read a book. I never fly through it, I read and ponder and read and ponder, and sometimes read it again for a better understanding.

That being said, I find the more I read on a consistent basis the more I can read in a period of time (like a month). I will start out reading a book a month. Then 4 books a month the next month. Then 12. And usually what happens is I get bogged down by being busy in school and life and stop reading altogether. And I start over at 1 again. I do not rush through books, EVER. But the more I get in a rhythm and a habit of reading all the time, the easier it is for a book to "hit me" so to speak. It's not that you should try to read fast, but you should recognize that life is short, and you should try to suck up all you can. If you can read more efficiently (like get more out of two hours of reading than another person can in two weeks), then that means you have more room in your life for many other books to read. I love books and film so much that I know I'll never get around to seeing and reading everything I want to. So I hope to experience as much of it as possible.

There's no reason to rush through a book, true, but there's no reason to procrastinate, either.

"I am not a speed reader, I am a speed understander." - Isaac Asimov

[Gladys]

Gladys, thanks for the reply. But, you have mistaken on one thing. When our biological human eyes see the words on the book with perfect eye-sight, we now can predict what will happen to biological model of philosophy of humans. But, the main concepts can be determined by smelling the nature, and the beauty of the sight of the sonnets that is politically correct. This term is often ignored, but this is what the literature scholars call "analysis of the human's emotion toward writing and comprehending the Haiku".

Excuse my ignorance, but are you saying that, what each reads he fits into his sensual concept of the human?


Thanks for the replies, but my point of view is that we cannot comprehend psychology behind the nature of literature. We the scholars know the Shakespearean theory of biological philosophy behind our eyes, and we cannot thus read slow. We have to read sonnets every night, but why does that matter - we already are philosophical human beings, and we are supposedly the intelligent beings that read novels that tells us the right of the nature.

And are you saying that, literature's representation of life is necessarily problematic, but our place in nature entices us to read nevertheless?

[Alarum]

I was never much of a reader, but when I was around 14 or 15, I decided to get into books. I dived head first into classics and was painfully slow getting through them. Even The Catcher in the Rye took me months, as I struggled to understand what it was that was so captivating about this book. I have since then improved vastly, and it's all about practice, really. The more I've read, the quicker I became.

That said, it's also about time management. I like to set aside a specific part of my day in order to read, but often, other commitments get in the way, so it takes a toll on the time it takes me to get through a book.

[susan_p]

for me, it usually helps to find a discussion group, or at least talk about it with a couple of other people who have read the book before. Other than that, I like to check on Wikipedia or Infloox to find out the author's background, influences, other works and so on - basically just to figure out where they're coming from. Sometimes it helps me get a bit more insight, and then the book makes more sense.