Skim through books. Let’s be honest, some books are just awful. You will encounter poorly written books with no real plot, no character development, and really bad dialogue.
Don’t torture yourself by trying to read it from cover to cover. I’ve done that. I wanted to just finish it for the sake of finishing it, but it’s not worth it.
Sure, I’ve paid for them, but that doesn’t mean I’m obligated to read every single page. It’s a waste of time, and I’m more willing to know that I’ve wasted my money than my time. You can always get more money, but you’ll never get more time.
Highlighting and taking notes. Even if it’s a fiction book, I still find something to highlight; maybe a really great description or some dialogue that impressed me. This is especially good if you’re planning to write a book, because you can take inspiration from the good things that you’ve identified.
For a long time, I haven’t dared to underline something in my books because I thought that it was going to ruin them, that they wouldn’t look clean anymore. Now I take pride in having notes taken in my book; underlines, circles, doesn’t matter, because that means I’ve found them useful and they were worth the money. And the ones that I don’t use my pencil on, I usually sell them.
Writing reviews. I might write only a few sentences or I might write a thousand words. It helps me reflect on the book that I just finished. And most of the time, I wait at least a few days after I’ve finished a book, so I don’t rush into writing the review.
It also helps me to keep track of what I’ve read and to know that I’ve taken at least some ideas from each book, which I write down in the review about a scene or character that I’ve found special.
Good luck!
