How do I become a reader?

[Anonymous No.21963511]

I'm a subliterate caveman with little time and little reading experience, but I want to change that. I have a son on the way, and I want to try and foster the same love of reading in him that I wasn't lucky enough to get when I was young, but I don't think I can do that unless I become an avid reader myself. So, how exactly does one get into reading as a hobby? How do you figure out what has good writing and what doesn't? Lastly, what titles would you suggest for someone very late to this field?

[Anonymous No.21963534]

>>21963511
Pick up a good book. And read.
To get started painlessly you might want to find a genre you enjoy, like Science Fiction or Detective stories or Sea Stories... Every genre runs the gamut from masterpiece to hack-work, so you'll basically find your level.
For SF, I'd suggest Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, or possibly the Foundation Trilogy by Asimov as particularly accessible for you. For detectives, of course Sir A. Conan Doyle. Also try van Gulik's Judge Dee books/stories. For sea adventure, you ca'n't go wrong with Moby-Dick.
Kipling is also a good author to try, his Captains Courageous is a fine sea-tale, and I personally enjoy his poetry...

[Anonymous No.21963551]

Why? You obviously went your whole life and procreate without reading books.

[Anonymous No.21963580]

>>21963511
Seize every opportunity to read to your kid, even when he's a dumb drooling infant. It may seem pointless but it's really not. Read poems to him, act them out, do voices. When he's older read to him before bed, and try to get him to learn how to read as soon as possible. There's probably a chart for kid's literature somewhere in the mega.

[Anonymous No.21963584]

>>21963551
Well, I guess it just seems like a wise thing to do. It'll make me more cultured, I assume, and it seems like a better time sink than alcohol. That, and I want to be a well-read reading buddy for my kid one day.

[Anonymous No.21963588]

My advice would be to simply find something that interests you and start reading while also building a foundation of great literature. Around here it's a meme to suggest everyone start with the Greeks (pic related) but there's truth to it as well. You can safely skip the secondary literature and you don't have to read Plato and Aristotle unless you have the drive to do so, but the Iliad and the Odyssey are foundational works of fiction and their influence runs throughout all of literature. Similar things may be said about The Bible, Shakespeare, and others. My advice would be to simply read but try and engage with these foundational works. Make use of the /lit/ wiki, we have charts on there. Some of them aren't so bad.

[Anonymous No.21963602]

>>21963588
I just realized I'm retarded and forgot the pic related.

[Anonymous No.21963703]

>>21963534
>>21963580
>>21963588
These seem like very good point of advice. Thank you kindly.

[Anonymous No.21963714]

>>21963511
Pick up a book and start reading.
If you're at a loss as to which book to pick, either go by recommendation or look up books in a genre you think you'll enjoy.

[Anonymous No.21963921]

>>21963703
I'd also add that I agree with the other anon. It helps to just keep reading to your kid and make it an emotive performance. Poetry should be read with feeling. The Hobbit cries out for a father to read it to his son at bedtime. Those kinds of things are particularly important to kids and linger in their memories.
On that note, I might add to my previous post and say it'd be a good idea to read stuff like The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as well. I believe there's a kid friendly lit chart on the wiki that should be of help. Having engaging, impactful stories around the house for your kid to grow up on will certainly help cultivate an interest in reading.

[Anonymous No.21963971]

>>21963511
You've gotten some good advice already, anon, I'd like to add some about what challenges you will find. (Also, I am an ESL-faggot, so this might be a bit clumsily worded).

First of all is of course the fact that reading doesn't give the same dopamine rush as consuming other media does. You want to get into reading as an adult, when the opposite is common; people read voraciously as kids but then drops it as they get older. So in the beginning you shouldn't worry about being cultured or well-read; read stuff that actually sounds fun to you to minimise the risk of feeling bored and unrewarded. Tackle the greeks and that shit when you know you have the ability to focus, not until then. In the meantime, just read whatever catches your fancy. Played a lot of WoW? Read the Thrall novels. Dreamt of travelling on a motorbike? That's it's own genre, with some books even considered classics (Zen and the art of Motor Cycle Maintenance. I didn't think it was all that, desu). Got a favorite movie? If it wasn't adapted from a novel, then chances are it was adapted INTO a novel.

Secondly, the fact that ,many people struggle with visualising is sadly not just a meme, and not necessarily a sign of low intelligence either. It IS a skill that can be learned, remember that almost all our grandfathers read. There are various learning resources to train this ability systematically. But you can also start on the intermediate step: Comics. Many of them are quite wordy. May I suggest Asterix the Gaul? https://asterixonline.info/
There's also a lot of non-fiction books that doesn't NEED visualisation. And books that you've seen the movie of is easier to visualise.

Thirdly: If you're anywhere in the world other than the United States, there is such a thing called libraries. And I believe they exist some places in the US as well. Libraries are great for beginners for two reasons. One is that librarians are supposed to have a wide-ranging knowledge of books, so they can suggest them to you. The other is that when you loan a book from a library, they have a due date, meaning your reading has to be done on a schedule. That makes it easier to prioritise.

Fourthly, although you really should aim to get in the habit of finishing stuff, realising that a particular book is not for you is ok. Is ok. The old saying goes "some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, others chewed and digested". It's a trite cliché that's written on the wall of every coffeee shop bookstore north of the equator, but its also true.

My fifth advice is about this specific question:
> How do you figure out what has good writing and what doesn't?
You don't. It's a gradual process. You notice that some authors give you more information with fewer words. Sometimes the descriptions flow by but you still don't have to go back and re-read; You got it the first time. Some sentences just stick, either because they were exactly right, or totally wrong. It doesn't have a specific pattern either.

[yAnon No.21963993]

get him into history if he's a boy I think it'll come naturally

[Anonymous No.21964089]

>>21963511
>>21963584
you're right in thinking your son won't learn to be a reader unless he sees his parents doing it. Just start with the things you are most interested in, relating to a hobby/interest you already have. If you try and make yourself read tolstoy from the start you're never going to make it. reading is a skill, i found myself not only able to withstand, but also enjoy hard books much more every year after I picked up reading

[Anonymous No.21965763]

>>21963511
Open a book, and read.

[Anonymous No.21967428]

>>21963511
Don’t exactly to your question but >> 21965416 may be of interest

[Anonymous No.21967431]

>>21967428
Whoops, >>21965416

[Anonymous No.21968001]

Just start reading lol. I started reading Ambrose and Warhammer novels when I was in 5th grade.
I was an autist that thought I was special because I read the "big boy" books unlike my friends who read Percy Jackson shit.

By time you'll mature and just read whatever interests you without thinking too much about it.