/lit/ - Literature

>>20221946
I know I'm reading well when I start to feel my psychologial stability deteriorate and a neurosis come on. On a smaller time frame its usually when I start looking away from the book and around the room im in becuase I am entertaining the idea.

>>20221971
damn bro you really enjoy books then

>>20222003
not as much as I enjoy you

>>20222012
oh you ! .. stop it !

I read with a pencil in hand. I underline or mark words, sentences or ideas I find signficant enough to revisit after reflecting on the chapter. It helps me quickly find what I was thinking about. Also helps me collect ideas to crystallize off of for my own writing. Im usually pretty focused and can read each word, but if Im tired it seems like shapes with no meaning until I clear up.

>>20222199
I have some difficulties to perceive when i'm focused or when i have really understood the texte I was reading. This is probably my main difficulty : i'm struggling to take a step back

>>20222392
How much life experience do you have? Im still young all things considered but in my 30s Ive become more confident at making sense of what I look at. Some books are profound enough that you really have to take a break and read it again later. Often times you will notice something new that makes a reread worth it.
Herman Melville wrote:
>And still deeper is the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we see ourselves in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of tge ungraspable phantom of life, and this is the key to it all.
That line comes to mind when I try to figure things out. Try to see it as a reflection of yourself.

>>20222526
I'm still young since i'm only 24, so not much life experience.
I think I understand what you quoted and I believe this is what I started to understand some months ago.
Since I was born I always thought everything had some sort of absolute essence inside of them. But it only came to my mind recently that nothing has nothing inside but what you decide to put inside. And I believe what I put inside is the willpower to make them alive.

Sorry for my broken english since it's not my mother tongue but I hope I was understandable

>>20222562
to sum up, untill recently I "waited" for the essence of things to came to me only to realise that I was the one that had to do the first step

>>20221946
All explained here but you don't really care.

>>20222735
Those kind of books are really worth it ?

>>20221946
I try to subvocalize and think about what I'm reading actively

>>20222742
Worth what?
Money? You could find it for free all over the place
Time? Yes, but it's up to you to decide, just read part 1 and see for yourself.

>Those kind of books
One would be enough.

I just look at the wordss

>>20222816
I tried this but isn't that really tiring ?

>>20222855
alright then I'll try and read the part 1

>>20221946
i know i'm enjoying a book if i imagine the places that are being described and read rather slowly. when characters are speaking i ímagine voices inside of my head and read at the speed that i think the character would speak at. so basically it's like watching a tv show inside of my head, just without a soundtrack

>>20222881
is that process conscious ? I mean, all of that, are you imagining it actively ? or you just read the words and all of that just sort of came automatically ?

I push my finger along the lines and enunciate each syllable. I focus on the beauty of the prose and the profundity of the themes, ignoring pleb fixations like plot. I write a short summarizing essay at the end of each chapter.

>>20222889
Can you understand anything by doing that ? ..

>>20221946
I usually scan the words without vocalizing them in my head, often imagining an image or short “video” of what’s going on. If I’m bored or distracted sometimes I’ll read a bit without actually absorbing what’s happening and have to go back. I retain enough but usually need a trigger before I start remembering details.

>>20222886
Not that anon but for more it is both. I visualize the scenery and the characters with what the text gives me. If the book returns to the same place a lot the visualizing becomes automatic.

>>20222199
This helped me got more out of reading too. I don't think I'll go back and look at the highlighted text but just the act of thinking about the line while you underline it has made me appreciate authors more and helped me understand what I enjoy in prose. Unfortunately dry reads are still dry but it makes everything else more enjoyable.

>>20222920
I think I read like you when I read scientific articles or when I want to learn something. I can go "straight" in the texte. If I do that I have the feeling that what I'm doing is useless. So I skim in the text to catch the principal idea of it, and leave the details behind. Then I repeat the process for other articles about the same subject. I guess I'm trying to get a big picture before starting to dive in

>>20222947
can't go straight *

>>20221946
what do you mean? You're making me nervous. I just read the shit and interpret it with respect to whatever I already know or believe.

>>20222963
What does "read" means ?

>>20222880
Take notes

>>20222742
I just finished it. I think it's most useful as a guide for reading philosophy, but they touch on every type of work

>>20221946
>What do you do when you read?
I read.

>>20224045
what does read mean ?

>>20222735
Yes, but what do we read so that we know how to read THAT book?

>>20222816
That will slow you down.
The very first lesson in Evelyn Wood Speed Reading involves training yourself to not do that.

>>20221946
i try to picture everything, explore my imagination and have fun

If it the book is in a foreign language then I’ll write down every word I don’t know and look them up one by one when I finish the chapter (or right in that moment of that word happens to be imperative to understanding what’s happening).
If the book is in english then I’ll do >>20222920 or >>20225644.

>>20221946
if its book important to my worldview I try to memorize at least 3 or 4 concepts the book presents. if its not, I find ways to critique it on my blog or to people I know interested in such things. if its fiction, it depends on how engaging the plot is

>>20221946
What the fuck is wrong with people? You read and retain what you've read, it's that fucking simple. I only belabor the point because this is apparently not the norm based on my observations of others. I have no trouble recalling material I read in September when tested on it in December without restudying because I fucking read it before. Once is enough. If I read something twice or three times I barely catch any forgotten info. It's all there stored in long term memory. Hundreds of narratives just chilling in my memory bank, because part of reading is remembering. I'm not a savant, I don't have photographic memory or some crazy autist superpower. I just fucking read. What are you all doing when you stare at the page?

personally i masturbate the entire time while reading. it's the only thing that keeps me awake while slogging through the ordeal.

>>20221971
touch some fucking grass anon

>>20225461
You read it twice!

>>20222735
Imagine reading a book to learn how to read a book. You can't make this shit up

>>20225697
What are YOU doing ? that is the question

>>20225871
Imagine taking a foot up your ass! Oh Wait!.. I could make that come true.

>>20221946
I'm always focused. If it's a harder text I might just have to stop more often to think about it, and maybe even jot down some general notes like characters. Or have to Google search some concepts or words I've never heard of before and get some more context.

>>20227070
And could you like, read without thinking that much about it or taking notes ?

>>20227092
Yeah it just depends how difficult the text is for me

>>20225697
I forget what I've read almost as soon as I've read it. In the time it's taken me to reply to your post I've forgotten what you said.

>>20227116
interesting. For me, it's almost impossible to read straight if I want to learn something or if I read scientific articles. I have to jump from text to texte to try and get the big picture. If not, it seems like that I don't catch what I'm reading. I understand but I have the feeling that I'm not mastering what I'm reading

>>20227126
So what is appealing for you in the action of reading ?

>>20227300
the moment to moment feeling

>>20227332
I see. Even if I read a lot and I love it it's quite painful for me because I have a lot to do with the texte before feeling the satisfaction of having read well

I used to have this habit of looking away after reading good passages and ruminating on them, but I kicked it by using my finger, reorienting my posture and focusing on my breathing.

>>20222876
If you do this with passive media such as music or television it's infinitely useful and can allow you to connect with works in ways most people do not choose to. For books it is possible but you must refrain from letting your internal biases get in the way; especially if it's an author whom you dislike or disagree with the views of.

If it's non-fiction sometimes I look up summaries about them or read articles/commentaries to get the gist, and make an outline alongside it.

I find that the best way to remember things that I read is to periodically stop and pretend to have a conversation with someone where I summarise what I have been reading and give my thoughts on it.

Usually I read with almost no mental effort and letting my mind wander every few pages, but recently I've been putting in more effort and using meme techniques in order to stop forgetting everything I read and taking nothing out of most of it

>>20227567
I see. For me it's not a problem for remembering but instead that I have to read an reread to get the really feel like i've understood the text. I can't read it straight up. I have to do some researches on the author I need to circumscribe it.

>>20227495
Yes. In fact i believe that the best way to remember anything is to be active. Reading itself cannot be active. You need to simulate something about what you're reading to integrate the text in something active and to remember it. Our brain isn't made for remembering that kind of things.

>>20222881
wdym without a soundtrack? if you are visualizing, surely you're imagining the sounds and other senses as well?

>>20222886
I feel like I just sort of slip into it.

>>20227421
why would you avoid rumination?

>>20227673
Okay. I believe I can't do that. I guess for me reading is too serious that I can't relax

Zoomer mysteries.

>>20225461