Are you into reading books?

Develop your imagination

To feel the maximum while reading a book, you need to have a well-developed imagination. There is a simple exercise for the development of imagination: imagine that the objects around you for a moment ceased to have the usual color. For example, the ceiling became pink, the walls - blue, the floor - white. On the street in the same way: the grass is orange, the houses are multicolored. This exercise will help you look at familiar things in a new way. You will need a white sheet for the next exercise. Try to depict some abstract phenomenon on it: love, passion. No special artistic skills are required, the main thing - emotions, feelings. The more often you draw abstract things, the easier it will be to perceive them in the pages of the book.

Read with Google

When reading, it is better to have access to the Internet to translate new words, to see what historical objects, household items or appliances look like. For example, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is worth reading both online and on paper, as it describes dozens of paintings, architectural monuments, documents and secret rites. Without the Internet, it is difficult to imagine what they look like, and therefore follow the plot of the book. Some authors themselves help readers read online. For example, Max Kidruk has created a mobile application with augmented reality for his novel "Until the light goes out forever." The application has tests, videos, photos, maps from the places described in the novel, diaries and a Facebook chat with one of the characters. All this will make the plot even more real.

Read the notes

After all, they explain what is important to know to understand the plot. For example, Suzanne Clark's novel "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" contains 185 notes describing a carefully crafted history of English magic. Sometimes they take up entire pages. In his review for The Washington Post, Michael Deerda writes that these notes are "carefully crafted mini-essays about anecdotes from the lives of semi-legendary magicians, describing strange books and their contents, reflecting on the early years and the future of the Crow King." 

Choose your pace

Often the pace of reading depends on the book: slow to think about Yuval Harari, dynamic for King's thrillers. Choose the one that is comfortable for you. For example, the founder of the social network Facebook Mark Zuckerberg in 2015 set a goal to read a new book every two weeks. This is not for everyone. Ukrainian writer Mark Livin, who read 150 books during the #bookchallenge_ua book marathon, says he was not happy. "I think reading should be fun. When I was #bookchallenge_ua, I read little for fun, because there was speed in the first place. If then I read one book for 3-4 days, now I read a maximum of two books a month. I try to make it when I want to read. When I feel the need for it."

Choose your book

You should not force yourself to read what is not interesting: choose the book with which you will be "on the same wave". If you miss your friends - try Remarque's "Arc de Triomphe", if you want to travel - read E. Hemingway, J. Kerouac or Jules Verne, there is not enough magic - take an old volume by Roald Dahl from the shelf. If you are not interested in the book - close and put the book aside. There are dozens of others in the world who can captivate you. Here is what Nassim Taleb, the author of the bestseller "Black Swan", said about it: the ability to throw a bad book in time helps to quickly find something valuable in the next.

Create the right atmosphere

So you can read more productively. Candles, soothing music, aroma lamps will help you relax. Forest, birds and the noise of trees - will inspire and give energy. In the company of friends you can read fantasy, detective stories, adventure novels. It is always more interesting to share impressions from reading with others! Even Instagram will help to create the appropriate atmosphere. For example, Olga Kotrus's book "The City That Ate Me" is better read by looking at photos from Paris taken by the author herself during her 4 years in France. Another book by the author, "Back to Meet", is dedicated to Kyiv. The book contains illustrations of interesting places in the capital, and the author's Instagram has her own photos of the city.

Leave feedback

Feedback can be shared on Facebook and Instagram or in the LiveLib or Goodreads apps. There you can share impressions, discuss and read reviews from others.

These are not universal tips and you can supplement them with your own. For example, rewrite your favorite quotes, take screenshots, take photos of book pages, leave your favorite bookmarks or dried flowers there. The main thing is not to turn reading into a boring routine, but to enjoy the process. Great credit to this article.