Any tips on learning me how to read good? No but seriously.....

oldscoil

Hi Folks.

I’m wondering if anyone can help me out here.

I can read, and I do not have any reading disability (dyslexia etc), however I find it very hard to sit down and read a book.

My wife reads books in no time and really enjoys reading.

When I hear people discussing books I get mad envious to be honest as I really enjoy music and would love to get the same satisfaction from literature that I do from music.

Does anyone have any tips or information on how to go about improving by reading capability.

I sometimes think its my short attention span!!

Are there evening classes or tutors that specialise in this.

Like I said earlier, I have no difficulty reading a paragraph in the paper, however if that turns into a long article or a few pages than my mind looses focus.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Its not a New Years resolution as such , I just feel myself using less and less of my brain as time goes on and I want to turn that around this year!!!:)

Thanks in advance Folks.

deman

Find something that interests you, be it fiction, biographies or whatever. Sounds to me you just haven't found the right book.

legatti

dyslexia is not a disability and anyone with dyslexia wouldnt like to be labeled as such,

just find something you like to read that interests you,
and if you still find it doesnt happen then maybe try a audio book, if you like music then maybe your ears are more intune with concentration than your eyes (which could in fact be a sign of dyspraxia!)
good luck with it:)

djk1000

You might have a bit of an attention deficit, I'm exactly the same. I have to read a lot for the college course I'm doing and I don't have a choice about what to read.

I try to make the reading as active as I can, by having a notebook beside me and I take a few notes as I go along. I'll never use the notes, but it helps me to pay attention like nothing else. I also re-read chapters sometimes to reinforce things. I also take Omega fish oil supplements which help with concentration too.

Concentrating on something and taking in information for a longer period of time is a skill that you need to learn, it will get easier over time.

You can also search the net for mental exercises to help your memory, this can also increase your attention span.

I get what you're saying about music. But listening to music is passive, you need to learn to be active in how your brain absorbs information.

To use an analogy, your brain is a muscle and reading a book is a marathon, start with a few jogs around the park, push yourself a bit further each time and eventually you'll be fit enough for the big race!

Stick with it, it does get easier!

scriba

deman wrote: »

Find something that interests you, be it fiction, biographies or whatever. Sounds to me you just haven't found the right book.

I'd say this is what it is, combined with a little 'reading laziness'. My brother has only started reading books relatively recently (around two years ago) and he's 30. He had convinced himself that he wasn't a reader, but once he found something that he was interested in, there was no stopping him.

I read quite a bit in bursts, but I find I have to stick at it if I'm reading my first book in a while. I also have quite a busy life, so sometimes I find the 'sitting down to read' part the most difficult. No more than finding time to go to the gym, if it's not part of your schedule, finding time to read can be similarly tricky (at least for me!)

Best of luck in finding something you enjoy! (If you've read this far! :P)

oldscoil

legatti wrote: »

dyslexia is not a disability and anyone with dyslexia wouldnt like to be labeled as such,

Sorry about that, perhaps reading difficulty would have been more appropriate.
I hope that doesn’t offend anyone. Apologies if it does!!

Thanks for both of your speedy responses.

Interestingly enough the only books I’ve ever read through to the end are music books!!

I was just hoping to branch out into history or even a bit of fiction….
....But hey I’ll keep at it.

Might pick this up
http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/8077823/Lowside-Of-The-Road-A-Life-of-Tom-Waits/Product.html

Thank you both very much.

oldscoil

djk1000 wrote: »

You might have a bit of an attention deficit, I'm exactly the same. I have to read a lot for the college course I'm doing and I don't have a choice about what to read.

I try to make the reading as active as I can, by having a notebook beside me and I take a few notes as I go along. I'll never use the notes, but it helps me to pay attention like nothing else. I also re-read chapters sometimes to reinforce things. I also take Omega fish oil supplements which help with concentration too.

Concentrating on something and taking in information for a longer period of time is a skill that you need to learn, it will get easier over time.

You can also search the net for mental exercises to help your memory, this can also increase your attention span.

I get what you're saying about music. But listening to music is passive, you need to learn to be active in how your brain absorbs information.

To use an analogy, your brain is a muscle and reading a book is a marathon, start with a few jogs around the park, push yourself a bit further each time and eventually you'll be fit enough for the big race!

Stick with it, it does get easier!

Wooow, thank you very much DJK.

I'm gonna get crackin with the note over the weekend.

Thats how I used to study for my exams in college. Write out my notes, then write them out again have looking at my notes, then try to right them out but memory. And it worked enough to get me a degree, so I'll put this to the test with a good read!!!

Kaizer Sosa

Hey OP, I admire that you're trying to improve yourself. If you don't have the heart for novels, why not try some short story collections. JD Salinger is in the news at the moment, try some of his short stories along with Anton Chekhovs and Annie Proulx. I think they will suit your attention span as well as giving you enjoyable reads and you can boast to the missus that you've read Chekhov!;)

Monkeybonkers

Trying to find something that you are interested in is half the battle imo. If the book you are reading seems like a chore them you are not going to enjoy reading at all. It should be something that you enjoy doing.
If your attention span is short then, as mentioned above, a book of short stories can be a great way of easing you in to reading for pleasure. You can eventually work your way up to longer pieces.
There are books on every topic imaginable so finding one to suit your tastes shouldn't be too hard. If you haven't already then join your local library. This means that you have every type of book at your disposal without having to fork out any money.
I think the key is not to put any pressure on yourself to 'enjoy' reading. If a book takes you ages to read then don't worry about it. Sometimes I read a couple of books a week and other times it may take me a few weeks to finish one book. It's not about how quick you can read, for me it's all about the pleasure of reading what someone else has written.
Also I wouldn't set yourself a time where you think 'I must sit down and read now' as this can also make it into a chore, something you think has to be done. If you want to read for 5 mins then fine, just do that. You'll eventually find that the times get longer and longer the more that you do it.
Best of luck with this. I hope this helps a small bit and sets you on the road to becoming a regular reader.

Sephiroth_dude

Find a quiet place to read it too,so there wont be any distractions or anything.

Carawaystick

I'd second the recommendation to read in short bursts. get a few books that are collections of newspaper articles. Bill Bryson wrote "Notes from a Big Island" and "Notes from a Small Island" where each chapter is a sunday newspaper article. Tom Humphries has a few books from his newspaper Sports columns in a similar vein.

Ordinary short stories can often leave you wondering "Huh, what was that all about"
Steven King has a couple of books of fairly good ones as fiction. they're stories and they're short, they're probably not "short stories" though.


Some novels have very short chapters, these are handy to read and stop at the end of a chapter.

OxfordComma

Great thread. I think this is something we all have difficulty with from time to time. Personally, I find it very hard to find the time to read at all, and when I do it's still really tough to just sit down and keep reading.

Not finding the right books to suit your taste is most certainly a problem for a lot of people. I think experimenting with different authors and genres can be very beneficial. The more "mainstream" literature that you'll find on the main shelves of bookshops (like, for example, Booker prize winners and so on) isn't to everyone's taste, so you could try a mix of books from genres such as fantasy, crime, sci-fi, nonfiction, poetry, the classics or anything else you think you might enjoy.

However, even if you've found a really good book, it does still take a fair bit of effort to keep yourself reading, especially in the early stages. I find that reading's a lot like exercise, in that the more you read, the easier it becomes. While I definitely wouldn't recommend keeping reading a book you really loathe (life's too short, in my opinion), you do need to bear in mind that the majority of books don't seem that great when you've only just started reading them, and only become enjoyable later on, so don't dismiss a book until you've been reading for a couple of days.

I also think it's a good idea to set aside a certain amount of time each day for reading, say 45 minutes or so. A lot of people only read when they're in bed, but by that time I'd generally be too exhausted to do anything except sleep, so I normally read during the daytime.

As regards short stories, I'd strongly recommend anything by Roald Dahl.

Denerick

Start off with something short, snappy, and revolutionary. IE, 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'Animal Farm', 'Fahrenheit 451', 'The Road', or something along them lines. A small book with an intriguing plot and an important message is just the right starting place... Then you can work your way up to something like the Count of Monte Cristo! (3 weeks into it now and only half way, haven't been able to find good 'me' time recently though so thats certainly a problem...)

WinstonSmith

Dude, the brain losing concentration the longer it works is natural. You don't have any sort of attention deficit disorder. You may be a little out of practice reading books, possibly partly due to frustration at thinking you may have some biological abnormality also, but you shouldnt think of yourself like that. Perhaps the best way to enjoy a book at your stage, and this has been suggested before, may be to simply pick up a classic page turner, perhaps something by dan brown or o henry, frederick forsyth's day of the jackal, and read a little a night a chapter or a page, it makes no difference. But read until you catch yourself drifting away and losing concentration. Notice how long it took for the case to occur. If it occurs after one page, the next night read for one and a half pages. try your best to regain concentration for slightly longer than the previous night. repeat this process over a couple of weeks and hopefully you should be able to read for longer but at all times remember that everybody will lose concentration and allow their mind to wander the longer they read for so certainly do not feel as if you are in anyway abnormal, different or inferior to your wife or anyone.
Best.