First and foremost, welcome to The Black Book Blog’s first ever post!
So, I’ve debated long and hard on what the first post should be. And after talking to a couple of people, I’ve realised that a lot of us are dying to get back into reading, but have no idea where to start.
In all honesty, I get it. After education, it can sometimes take years to pick up a book again. We’ve spent hours being forced to read textbooks or articles online, that the very thought of attempting to read something ‘for fun’ makes us want to vomit. I even went through a phase where I hated reading at university.
When I began writing this blog post, I contemplated discussing how beneficial reading is for the mind as apparently, it can also reduce the risk of developing Alzheimers in later life. However, I’m trying to show that, aside from the health benefits, reading can be fun and interesting once you get into a good book.
So here are my top tips for getting back into reading:
1.Pick a book and genre that interests you.
This seems like common sense but you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that pick books because of the hype surrounding it. Read some reviews and decide if that’s something you would enjoy. I normally read reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Although, I do find that some people go into too much detail when reviewing books, so I would say be very careful when reading reviews. Anyways, the whole point is that you want to start reading in your free time and you won’t do that if you hate the plot. So I can’t express enough that I recommend that you do your research before you buy.
2. Pick a mode of reading that works for you.
What I mean by this is decide whether you prefer reading physical copies, electronic copies or by audio. Personally, I have certain authors that I like to read on my kindle and others by hardbacks or paperbacks. Although, this is just one of the many weird things I like to do. I know audiobooks can be quite popular and if you think you’d prefer that, then definitely go for it.
3. Find the time to read.
The most excuses I get from people is ‘I don’t have time to read’. I was even the biggest advocate of this line at one point. However, ‘those that want to do something will make the time to do it’… You have to want to read. The same way you can make the time to listen to music or a podcast, watch Love Island every night at 9pm and play Fifa till the early hours of the morning. You can definitely spare twenty minutes to an hour reading. Even if it’s on your daily commute or just before you go to bed.
4. Read consistently – daily.
Read. Read. Read. And keep reading. I can’t express this enough. Consistency is key. The more you read, the better your attention span will become. You’ll soon find yourself reading for long periods of time. I recommend thirty minutes a day, every day. You can even assign yourself a certain amount of pages a day. I read mostly on the train when I’m making long journeys. The difficulty is making sure that it doesn’t become a chore, which is why picking a book you like is so important. As soon as it becomes a chore, you’ll avoiding reading because you hate it. If that does happen, take a couple days’ break. Refresh your mind and come back to the book later. It’ll help. Trust me
5. Find a suitable environment.
This is actually very important. An environment with minimal distractions where you can just sit and read is so key. It doesn’t matter where it is as long as you’re comfortable. I tend to turn my phone off or at least put it on silent while I’m reading. It helps me to concentrate on the words in front of me
6. Talk to your friends.
Discuss with people around you, especially if you’re all reading the same book. They’ll motivate you and vice versa. It really helps because they can hold you accountable if you fall off reading. Most importantly, they can introduce you to authors that you may not have heard of before. This is also how I learnt about a wide variety of novels.
7. Do not watch the film before you read the book.
This is just my personal preference. I find that the books always go into more detail about the plot whereas the film glosses over a lot of things just to get the main gist across. Sometimes, they even miss out key important bits that actually make the novel what it is. For instance, if I had watched ‘The Hate U Give’ before I read the book, I most definitely wouldn’t have read it. Although, I’ll be talking about this in a later post.
8. Finally, subscribe and follow ‘The Black Book Blog’.
I’ll be sharing weekly posts about different books I’ve read as well as tips and advice about reading etc. The main aim is to provide a platform for black authors and I’ll mostly be talking about books that have black characters and talk about the black experience as well. So, if you’re wondering where to go in terms of looking for a novel to start reading. You’re in the right place.
I can’t wait to show you what we have in store.
Stay tuned.
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