Reading train - Improve your reading skills

Reading Books -.-*?

It is Summer!!! But instead of hanging out with friends I am staying at home to read books. I heard that you can sometimes get more from reading one book and analyzing it instead of reading 100s of them very quickly. Is this true? I would like to increase my vocabs and reading comprehension very much so that I could read complicated books like Modame Bovary and A Tale of Two Cities. I also would like to understand important quotes and philosophies in the books. I enjoy reading but sometimes i just don't understand some things. I am a junior. and i will be taking AP English Literaturea & Composition. I want it to be a a great and useful experience (and also fun of course)...so here's the question: how can i read something quickly but at the same time understand it very well. do good critical thinking based on the book.? i tried asking myself questions about the book...but it is difficult to do. any sites? i heard that reading outloud can improve critical thinking too? does it?

Public Comments

1. Balance. Try to go for something between all that. Read 5 books and analyze them. You don't have to spend all your time analyzing one book, nor reading 100 books. A handful of classics will do. Recommendations: Shakespeare Charles Dickinson Mark Twain Emily Bronte Just take your pick :)
2. Well I think you should have a mix of classic books and newer ones. If you are reading classic ones, try sparknotes.com. They give some questions and study guides online. It also can help explain a chapter or quote you may not understand. Good Luck.
3. Honestly, the easiest way to interpret what you read is to have read enough other books so you can make comparisons. Without that option, however, you can always go to the web, such as www.sparknotes.com, and find a study guide. Some people use those to cheat and not read the book--BUT--it's actually a really useful tool that helps you understand what you read. Also, keep a thesaurus and dictionary with you, that way you can immediately look up words you don't understand. A final thought--when you do read something, take notes. Record themes and contexts (i.e. symbolism, metaphors, rhetoric) and then you'll have them when you read later books so that you can draw comparisons/contrasts. Happy reading! :-)
4. It is refreshing to hear young people interested in improving their reading skills. Madam Bovary is indeed a complex book and was actually banned at one time for its sexuality so I do not think you will be reading that in High School. A Tale of Two Cities is a classic and Dickens is a great place to start on your endeavors. The key to improving vocabulary is to take the time to look up words that you do not know the meaning too. Many young readers understand the paragraph so do not bother with the words within the paragraph that they did not know. Take the time to look it up and use that word sometime during the day. In regards to philosophy...it always helps to know a little about the author's history and the era to which he/she belonged. Dicken's work for example is almost always semi-autobiographical. To understand him and his era is to understand his philosophy. Yes...reading out loud does indeed enhance the reading experience...go for it. You may also use Spark Notes to guide you and see if you are on the right track. But the best advice yet is to keep reading and reading and reading...you will get better at what you are trying to do...believe me.