Reading books is not only a favourite pastime for me but many things more than that. I enjoy reading books that help me relax. I read books that let me rest my tiring mind and enjoy the hours of leisure. I try to read books that let me know things I don’t know otherwise. I read fiction, non-fiction, poetry, reference, casual, academic and books in all the possible genres. Nevertheless, I do categorise my reading practice based on time, need and mood. This is what I call being a good reader or a responsible reader or rather an aware reader who knows what to read and also when to read. This is purely personal and I don’t want to judge others for this. You can read whatever you want. However, here are my suggestions for readers who read more than 20 books a year. 

1. What kind of a reader are you? First of all, you need to identify your reading role. Are you an academic reader? Are you a casual reader? Are you an avid fiction reader? Are you a reader who can read anything thrown at him or her? This identification will help you in many things in the future. You will not get books that are not ideal for you. So, first of all, define your role and specify your avatar. 
2. Make reading lists that you make in advance short, if not shorter. This will give you space to add books as they are released, become famous or suddenly pop up from nowhere – awards or controversy, endorsements by some leading personalities or something else. Keeping your reading list short will give you some extra space to accommodate books that you did not decide on first. 
3. Prioritise your essential or required readings to ensure that you are not left behind where you are needed the most. Many people engage themselves in reading books that are not dearly essential to them and thus lag behind when they are called. If you are required to read books for your examinations, reviews, discussions or just being ready for any other opportunity, finish those books first. Rest can wait for good. Make this a dear habit and you will find things moving in great order for yourself.
4. Make reading reviews a habit before you buy or borrow books to read. This will ensure that you don’t get books that you might not like reading and thus lose important time that you could utilise somewhere else. This is a wise thing to do and as essential as knowing the experience of other users before buying an updated Macbook or Surface PC. 
5. At times, it is good to shuffle the genres so that you get out of your comfort zone if you have any. Reading books is a useful thing to do unless you decide to make it a boring job by reading books that you are familiar with or have read something similar in the past. It makes you out of reading practice sooner or later. So, at times, ensure that you are changing the genre switch for good. 
6. Bonus: When there is too much noise on one side, make your own judgement by reading the first few chapters. All needed to be said in bold letters because I have seen many times that when a book gets too much praise or too much hate, the truth rests somewhere in between. So, when it comes to deciding on controversial or bestselling titles, you need to make sure that you get first-hand experience before you make your own judgement about such books.  

These tips should work for a reader interested in reading literature in any language. Hindi literature or English literature or literature in any language in the world. 

Thanks for reading this article. I hope some or all of these suggestions will help you reach your reading goals. All the best!

By L Jha for Books to Read