“Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.” Hazel Rochman’s words capture the essence of the value of reading. In this article I shall share some ways to keep the spirit of reading alive, in this hectic life of ours.
First and foremost, let me state the obvious: You cannot read, without having a book. So the primary step in getting back to the habit of reading is to always keep a book with you. Wherever you go, take a book with you. And whenever you get some free time, waiting in a queue, or during your daily commute, you can read from it. Or, if you drive to your workplace, you can get audio tapes of many great books, and play them on your way.
Another step you can take is to keep a reading portfolio. Your reading portfolio can be of two types – a reading log or a book journal. A reading log is a record of all the books you have read, the title, the author and the date. Each leaf may contain the names of the books entered as soon as you read them. Or you can have one leaf for each year, or you may keep one leaf for each alphabet.
A book journal is ideal if you have a little more time and patience. This is essentially a diary of the books you read. It would include all the information in a reading log, plus some more info. This info may be the book’s summary, or your thoughts on how enjoyable the book was, or how you related to it etc. Every book you read will have its own page in the book journal, with all the information you care to write down about it.
You can also add a reading wish list to your portfolio. You can collect information about the books you wish to read, and add it to the wish list. As you finish reading a book, you can cross it off from the wish list. In case you want to do the whole thing electronically, you can either start a blog for it, or join websites such as www.readinglog.info which keep a log of the books you read. At the end of this article, as a free gift, you can download a sample reading log, reading portfolio cover and a reading wish list.
Another way to really get back into the habit of reading, is to set reading goals. Your goal may be “I will read 20 books this year” or “I will read one chapter a week” or “I will read 2 pages each day”. Once you have set the reading goal, write it down and paste it where you can see everyday – maybe as a post-it in your fridge, or as a note in your desktop wallpaper. Telling other people about your goal also increases the chance of your actually doing it.
Joining a book club or reading group can also help a lot in keeping the motivation up. Used book stores are often a great way to get bargain deals on the books you really love to own. Taking the membership of a local library is always a great way to keep those books coming. Or you can download free ebooks from websites like www.manybooks.net.
If we could only invest a little time and effort, we can forever reap the benefits of reading. A good book is always our best friend and mentor. Yevgeny Zamyatin’s words sum it up beautifully: “Man ceased to be an ape, vanquished the ape, on the day the first book was written. “
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