Guest Post: 5 Tricks to Remember What You Read

Hello Fellow Readers! Today we have a guest post from Brenda at the Daily Mayo. As a book lover, she has some ideas about how to better remember what you read while you read it! Take it away Brenda.

If you’re reading this blog, you probably love books- a lot. So do I! I probably read nearly 100 books a year for my blog, Daily Mayo (and just for fun). Reading so many books and remembering what each one is all about can be a challenge. Today, I’m sharing 5 tips that I use to keep track of what I read- whether it is fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, or whatever!

Read in a Quiet Place

This is the most important tip for remembering what you read. If you are distracted by other people, sounds, and activities, then you will not be able to give your reading the full attention that you need to really absorb the information. You may be able to get away with this when reading just for fun, but for school reading or something you really want to remember- you will have a much easier time if you read in a quiet place.

Always Read First and Last (And Dialogue)

When I was in high school, I took a speed reading course. One of the main tips the teacher stated was that the most important information in a paragraph is usually contained in the first and last sentence. The same thing is true for fiction as well. Usually the first chapters and the last chapters contain a lot of the information you need to get the gist of the story. In a story, the dialogue often contains the important plot elements that move the story along.

If you pay more attention to these parts of the story, you are more likely to remember what is going on.

Summarize

It helps to remember what you read if you can summarize the chapter. Imagine that you are going to be quizzed about the book, or that you have to teach someone what you just read without looking at the book. This will help you look for key points that you can use later to remember what the book was about.

Write Down Important Points

This is something I always do for book reviews. If there was a passage in the book that I particularly liked, I write it down; or if there are any important plot points that I want to be sure and remember.

For textbooks the same rules apply. Of course, they usually help you by bolding information that will be on a test!

Read it Out Loud

If you are an auditory learner (and sometimes even if you aren’t), reading something out loud makes it easier to remember what you read. You may feel a little silly doing it, but hearing something often helps it stick firmly in your brain. I find reading out loud particularly helpful when I am tired.

Those are the tips that I use to keep track of what I read. And as Marcel Proust would say, “remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were,” so don’t forget that!

What tricks do you use for remembering what you read?

Bio: My name is Brenda and I am a bookaholic. I devote most of my free time to reading books, reviewing books, talking about books, and thinking about books! Follow along in my reading adventures on Daily Mayo, and connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+!