How Amazing Writers Read Books, and Get the Most Out of Them

For starters: never revere any book

The trick I learned about reading from the Nobel-winning writer Alice Munro. (Image source.)

Don’t be dutiful with the books you read.

Here’s why: At the moment, in the margins of my day and when I have the time, I’m reading William Manchester’s biography of Douglas MacArthur. It’s lonnnnnnngggg, 811 pages in hardback, over 30 hours on my Audible app. Am I listening intently to every word?

Pfft. No.

Books contain life-changing wisdom and often a lot of crap. Useless asides. Boring sub-plots. I say skip over that. Space out a bit.

I think too many people suffer through books because they’ve been taught they should. They’ve learned books are to be revered. So they faithfully read every word of some great but verbose classic and when they finish the thing, exhausted, they don’t want to pick up another. Why would they? That classic sucked for long stretches and Netflix is so much more entertaining.

Out of duty to one book people often refuse to pick up a second and better one. I think this is why leisure reading among American adults has reached an all-time low.

There’s a way to change that, and it’ll make you a more-informed person and a better writer: Focus only on what you like in any book. Books should never be worshipped. They should always be…