READING SPECIAL ........4 Simple Rules To Get You Reading Again

4 Simple Rules To Get You Reading Again

Two lawyers, a businessman, a software developer, and your editor are sitting in a restaurant.

The conversation meanders from work to travel and eventually ends up, as many conversations tend to around me, on the subject of reading.

'We are supposed to read 30 books this year (one every two weeks). I can't believe you've started three and haven't even finished one!' one lawyer says to the other.

'I just can't get into reading. I really don't have the time.'

'I just picked up a book I really want to read. My sister gave it to me. She says it's awesome. I've started it. But it's so fat - I'll never get through it,' the businessman says.

The IT guy: 'I've set myself a goal of 12 this year. One a month - that's more than I can handle.'

All heads turn to me. 'I'm on my 16th book for the year.'

And I'm suddenly blasted with a chorus of: 'How are you doing it?' 'That's crazy!' And my favourite, the scathing, 'You must have a lot of free time.'

Not that there is anything wrong with having free time. It's a wonderful thing - and everyone should have more if it. But that's a conversation for a work-life balance letter. This is a conversation about reading.

The conversation made me a little scornful, actually. If you lot are so smart, I muttered under my breath, and so interested in becoming readers, why don't you? How out-of-control does your life have to be that you can't squeeze a couple of good books in?

But then I remembered that just until a few weeks ago (well, until the 31st of December 2015 to be exact) I was having the same exact problem. Since I began my 'book-a-week' challenge at the beginning of this year, I have learned so much about reading that I can't believe I ever got any reading done before this.

Listening to my friends - intelligent, hardworking, thinking individuals who wanted to read more - reminded me of you, my readers, who have expressed the same desire.

So I'm going to tell you the rules I have devised to read a book a week - or a book a month, or however many you may choose - in a fun, non-stressful, learn-what-you-need, grow-as-you read way.

Readers Rule # 1

This might seem too simplistic to be helpful, but it is the single most important rule in this list. The rule is, 'To each his own.'

Many people who start reading as adults think they need to read the 'best' books. I completely agree with this of course. As Henry David Thoreau said, 'Read the best books first, otherwise you'll find you do not have time.'

There certainly are lists of best books you can turn to - best-selling, most critically acclaimed, best fiction, most useful, most important, best classic, best art, best philosophy, best management, best spirituality... It goes on. Add up these lists and you will have about a thousand so-called 'best' books weighing down your once under-appreciated book shelves.

But luckily, you get to judge what the best books are.

So how do you decide what to read then? Do you judge books by their cover? That brings us to...

Readers Rule # 2

Well, yes, actually I do judge books by their covers. Especially their back cover. If the premise of the book intrigues you, there's a chance you will like what is inside. I also read the 'best' lists (the same ones that I sort of mocked before), and I readily accept recommendations from people I know and whose judgment I trust. Just as the businessman in my story above was reading a book his sister said was 'awesome'.

(That sister, by the way, happens to be me. The book I recommended to him was Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. I'm halfway through it and am astounded by it. I'm going around recommending it to everyone saying, 'If there's one book you read this year, let it be Sapiens.)

So the rule here is: Get recommendations from those you trust. But this rule is just for you to figure out which book to start reading... To learn which books to keep reading, see...

Readers Rule # 3

Read what you love (also known as 'don't always read the book your sister gives you').

If you are not loving the book you're reading. If you are not enthralled by it, not learning from it, not sinking into it...if you are intimidated by its size, or its subject...you will not find the time to read it. It's that simple. When someone says 'I just don't have the time to read,' they really just mean they don't have time to read the books they have been trying to read so far. And thus they condemn all books to the pile of, 'Too Busy for You.'

But if you're going home after work and choosing to spend your little bit of free time watching mindless TV instead of reading, then you're reading the wrong book for you. You clearly don't love it. You may think you 'should' read the book - that it will help you, teach you, grow you, and all that. But none of that matters if you don't enjoy it.

Don't try so hard. You have every right to quit reading any book that doesn't hold your attention. Whether it's a Booker Prize winner or 'my brilliant sister gave it to me', if it's not for you, shelve it. Remember the first rule - to each his own.

By Anisa Virji

COMMON SENSE LIVING