I firmly believe that books grow our minds and emotions in ways that you would never achieve through another medium. They allow us to experience things that it may not be possible for us to experience, travel to places that do not even exist, make choices we will never have the opportunity to make, and meet people that we will never come across in our lifetime. These experiences pave the way to a wisdom and social understanding that is very rare in modern culture. However, you may be unsure that you are getting so many life-altering benefits from your own personal reading.
The Theme
Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.
Dave Eggers, American Writer and Editor
Books can highlight compelling truths, even if you disagree with the author. There is always a message behind the story. If the message is wrong, the most suspense-filled story with engaging language will not be able to cover that up. Either way, you will learn something from it.
One of the biggest mistakes one can make while reading is to ignore the message behind the story. Not only does it make your reading pointless and trivial, but it removes much of the glory from the story. You are wasting your time with empty symbols spelled out on the page. Identifying the message is important to understanding what the author is trying to tell us. We often translate the message subconsciously but sometimes gloss over it completely. Ask yourself what the author is trying to communicate, what the themes of the story seem to be, what kind of decisions get made, and what the ending points to.
If I read the Harry Potter series without a single thought towards the theme of the series, I may enjoy it for a time, but I will not get very much out of it long-term. It is a book about British wizards. Me, being neither British nor living in a world that has magic, can take absolutely nothing away from the time and money I put into reading the series. However, if I see the theme of prejudice and corruption destroying a system made for good, or notice the common thread of a boy staying true to himself despite others’ expectations or threats, I can learn much much more from the series.
The Choices
“Books are a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.”
Toni Morrison, American Novelist and Editor
One of the unique things that reading exposes us to is immersing us completely in someone else’s perspective for an extended period. The character may be completely different from us in age, culture, gender, or life experience. This is a great way to stretch our minds and increase our social understanding. One of the biggest things we have to pay attention to to get full benefit from this is the decisions and choices the characters make.
Often the characters in the books we read experience situations that are either impossible for us to end up in or highly unlikely. Sometimes they can be in situations eerily similar to ours. No matter what, there is a good chance that at some time or another, they are going to make a choice that we would not have made. We get to see the clear reasoning behind their choice and are often incapable of doing anything but sympathizing with them. However, we get to see the clear consequences of their decision and can see where we would disagree with them or perhaps take what they think even a step further.
I can be enthralled with the love triangle between Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe. It is entertaining, suspenseful, and downright ironic at times. However, if I do not spend any time contemplating whether Sophie should have chosen Keefe or not, then I am merely consuming gossip. It is when I think through the pros and cons of Sophie’s decision, the values that Sophie represents with her decision, and what I would have done in her place that I truly realize the depth of her decision.
The Ending
“A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don’t know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn’t be worth reading.”
Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian Author
Books typically follow a pattern in which a problem builds throughout the story until it reaches a climax. A resolution follows this. Resolutions can come in all shapes and forms. There are happy endings, sad endings, incomplete endings, quick endings, and suspenseful endings. Often the ending is trying to make a point or emphasize something. It takes a story full of other people’s choices or circumstances and explains what it believes the consequences would be for that scenario.
Asking ourselves questions such as: “Is the ending realistic?” “What point is the author trying to make?” “Does this support the principles I follow?” “Does this match the patterns I have experienced in my own life?” All add meaning to the story and help us catch the author’s opinions and wisdom.
Taking the ending of Murder on the Orient Express, we can simply see it as a thrilling twist to an engaging mystery. But if we read into the fact that the detective lets the self-imposed, twelve-person jury go as a suggestion that sometimes justice has to be taken into the hands of civilians when the law fails, there is a lot more to think about. We can learn about ourselves as we witness where we agree and disagree with the author. This can even fuel our decisions and opinions on future experiences we will have.
Books have the power to change our minds and hearts if we let them. Learning how to read a book no matter what the author believes in or supports and still gather truth from it is a skill. But it is so worth it. Wasted reading on things that you will not even remember long-term is a crime. While I gave just a few ways of getting to the deeper message of the author, I hope that they give you some inspiration for your next read.