Tips on selecting engaging reading materials

Hello lovely readers,

Welcome to the second edition of the “Communicate Effectively” newsletter. I promise an exciting read today so follow me keenly and enjoy the journey.?

Our ability to communicate effectively is highly dependent on our knowledge of the English language. This is why emphasis is placed on how we can know and learn about the language. How do we know more about a language?

When we consider the four language skills, which are listening, speaking, reading and writing, we realise that two of these skills––listening and reading–– enable us to acquire knowledge of the language. These skills are referred to as receptive skills.?

Let us consider this scenario.?What are some of the things we easily learn when we watch a movie or read a book? Aside from the message the movie or the book will communicate to us, we meet new vocabulary and expressions which have been used beautifully. When one is fascinated by their usage, he or she learns them and tries to incorporate them in his or her speech and/or writing. This means that the movie or the book becomes a source of comprehensible input.?

Selecting the movie you want to watch is quite an easier task than selecting a book to read. Reading is a skill that most of us find difficult to develop. Yes, I know it is time-consuming and one needs to be intentional and disciplined to be a good and efficient reader. This can only be attained with conscious practice. One does not need to start reading three books in a day. No! That would be too stressful and you would not find reading pleasurable.?

Once upon a time, there were two sisters––Gail Bousbey and Joan Moser––who wanted to help people in the selection of books to read because they believed that reading is very beneficial to an individual. This desire to help people led to the creation of a simple but powerful mnemonic for what qualifies as a good book for a reader;?I PICK.

What does this mean?

I Pick a book based on?Purpose,?Interest,?Comprehension and words I may?Know.

This is interesting, right?

Before we can embark on an intriguing reading journey, we need to have a purpose for reading. I remember very well that in the last quarter of 2020, I decided to read a lot of Christian literature because I was interested in how writers in that domain would recount their experiences in a very practical manner.?

The movie,?God is Not Dead?birthed in me a profound desire to understand the philosophy of atheism. This interest directed me towards Christian literature by authors who were once atheists before becoming Christians. It is important to note that purpose and interest are very important if we want to develop and sustain our love for reading.?

Most often, we are advised to know our reading preferences as this will help us select books to read. This is absolutely true. However, what happens to people who do not know their reading preferences?

The act of reading can only be mastered by doing.?There are a few things we could all do if we want to ascertain our reading preferences.?

Before you decide to read a book, you can look at the title and the cover. The first time I heard Adichie’s?Purple Hibiscus,?I was fascinated because I had never heard of or seen a hibiscus flower that was purple. All I had seen were red so I thought to myself, what is Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie going to do for red hibiscus to turn purple??I will not tell you but I will advise that you get the book to read for yourself.

If the title and cover do not pique your interest, read the book’s blurb. Blurb is a short summary of a book. It usually appears on the back cover of the book. The blurb will introduce you to what will be talked about in the book. Sometimes, people read the blurb and they are still not enthused about a book. Do not give up here. I would say that read the first and second pages. This gives you an idea of the writer's language and it can help you to decide whether to continue reading or select a new book.?

Apart from these, one other thing you can do is to read about the author. This is what I do always. When I hear of a book, the first thing I do is to find the author’s name and read about his or her works. This will help you know the author’s ideas and perspectives that will likely influence his or her books.

Let me say that reading from different genres is very important. Your reading should not be focused on just one genre. There are so many of us who do not read anything aside from fiction. Others also read only books that talk about leadership because they want to be awesome leaders. This is very admirable. However, to get the most out of your reading journey, read from diverse genres. For?instance, reading fiction helps one to be imaginative and creative while reading non-fiction enables one to learn from real-life events. One starts to appreciate all these different genres. Our reading should also not be limited to only books. I must say, LinkedIn is a platform one can easily use to develop his or her reading skills. There is so much valuable content being dished out by people from different industries every day. Diverse topics are talked about in various contexts. Aside from the lessons we learn, we also have so much vocabulary at our disposal. I cannot forget to mention blogs. We can also read blog posts.?It is an undeniable fact that the internet has made reading more exciting and engaging.

Reading does not need to be too mechanistic. We can always find ways to make it more pleasurable. You can join a book club where you can have a discussion on books you have read. This is what I do most often. When a friend suggests a book to me, after reading it, we share our views on the book. Just this week, after reading Slave Girl, a book suggested by a friend, I sent him a message about how I felt about the message the author was communicating. This conversation lasted for about an hour and I enjoyed the insights my friend brought up. Even though the discussion involved just two people, it was very revealing. Sometimes, we think that our book clubs should have so many people. Yes, we have book clubs with quite a lot of members. However, if you can start with just a friend, that is also great.?

Let us take baby steps in our reading journey and with time we would not be able to go for days, weeks, months and even years without reading.?

Till I come your way again next week, read a book and let us talk about your experience.

Your tour guide,

Angela.