Become Literate

Do you sigh with envy when you find yourself chatting with a guy who seems to have a quote for every occasion from some book or other? Or maybe that girl attracted people's attention because she was able to talk about everything under the sun, saying, "I read about that once..." These people are literate - they are probably also charming and skilled at conversation, but the basis of much charm and good conversational skills is... being literate, or well-read. Being literate is not just about knowing how to read - it's about knowing what to read, and how to talk about it when the time comes. Want to know their secrets?

Steps

  1. Read. First, read what interests you. Maybe you aren't really into big novels - you find them too unnerving, too much. Instead, why not try magazines at first, or graphic novels? Or pick up a book of short stories - read in small, easy to digest bits at first. But the most important thing you can do is simply commit to reading, even just a little, each day.
  2. Progress to more challenging reading. After a month or two of reading a snippet here or there of this or that, try moving up to things that are a little more challenging. For example, choose a modern classic, like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's, depending on where you live) or one of the Lemony Snicket books. These are not just for children - they are books that have been read and enjoyed by millions of people. If you try one of these and still have trouble committing to the longer length of the read, try Reader's Digest - it offers condensed versions of regular books, along with newsy, chatty articles from lots of different magazines.
  3. Find a book group. Once you've begun reading, you will want to talk over the books you're reading. Lots of people join or form book clubs. It can be simple - call your sister or brother, or a couple of friends. Meet for coffee, and there, agree on a book that you will all read. Meet again a month from that date, and hopefully you will all have finished the book, and can discuss it. Talking over things you've read can really enhance your experience of the book, as you share with friends the feelings the book evoked, or the fun you experienced as the story unfolded. Not only that, but a book club keeps you reading - you know you will be talking about this book in just a few days, so you have a goal in mind as you read.
  4. Set personal goals for reading. Lots of very literate people do what is known as "parallel reading" - or reading several books at the same time. Maybe you will keep one in the bedroom and read for a bit before you sleep each night. Maybe you will keep one in the bathroom and read there for a while, or one in the den, etc. Even if you don't wish to get this crazy, you can still set goals, like, "I want to spend this next year reading classics" or "I will read all of Shakespeare's comedies this year, and next year, maybe I'll tackle the tragedies." Even if you don't achieve the entire goal, you will have still read some of what you set out to read. And that's good. Try setting a time frame within which you want achieve your reading objective.
  5. Choose well-known books. If you enjoy reading offbeat things, that's fine. But if you want to become more literate in the conventional sense, you will want to choose books others have heard of. Ask your librarian to help you. Reading well-known works has two benefits: First, it gives you a common frame of reference for things you may hear from lots of other people, and second, it educates you in ways you may not have thought of. For example: Most people have heard of "To Kill A Mockingbird." At a party, one of your friends might express distaste for racial bigotry. While none of your friends are bigots (hopefully), this friend is the one who publicly took a stand against it. Saying, "You're the new Atticus Finch" is a tremendous compliment to such a person, plus you will seem very literate saying it.
  6. Enjoy reading. Perhaps your taste runs more to science fiction than to classic literature - there's no shame in that. Or maybe you like more romantic fare. There's plenty to be found in literature. Or maybe you will find that you like English poetry, but are not so crazy about American. Whatever. Anything you read makes you a more literate person. It exposes you to new words, and to ideas from people all around the world, and from different times in our history. Whatever you like to read, there will certainly be plenty of reading material. So you aren't a Shakespeare buff, but you know all of Asimov's Laws of Robotics - you're still literate, and you will gain more enjoyment from your choices if you read what you are interested in.

Starter Reading Lists

Here are a couple of reading lists - they're just suggestions to help you begin your adventures:

  • For Classic Literature:
    • A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Paradise Lost by John Milton, Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, My Antonia by Willa Cather, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

  • For Modern Literature:
    • East of Eden by John Steinbeck, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

  • For Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature:
    • Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick, Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

  • For More Romantic Literature:
    • Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Tips

  • For more suggestions on what books to read, ask for suggestions from people with similar interests as you have. If you're feeling brave, try asking for suggestions from people who have different reading tastes; maybe you'll like the book after all.
  • Don't be afraid to look at the Cliff's Notes on books - especially if you've already read them. It's enlightening, and you may learn things you didn't realize while you were actually reading, which may make you like the book more or less once you know them.
  • You can also read ancient classics in their original language. For example, reading Vergil's Aeneid in Latin is a different experience from reading the same text in translation; the meter, clever word usage, and feeling of Vergil's writing is much more effective in the Latin version than in translations.
  • If it is hard to see the text in books, consider listening to an audiobook. Most classics have been recorded into unabridged audiobooks. Audiobooks are also great for people with busy schedules.
  • Feel free to quote from the books you've read - it's what the literati do.
  • If you are from an English speaking country, the vast majority of books you will come across in bookshops will have been originally published in English. However, a very good way to expand your culture is to tackle foreign literature as well! Examples of major non-English writers include Gustave Flaubert, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera, Yasunari Kawabata, Federico Garcia Lorca... Not only is this a great way of becoming literate in a truly eclectic way, it will also earn you a great deal of respect from foreigners, who are seldom used to meeting English-speaking people with an interest in non-English books.

Warnings

  • Once you start reading, it's hard to stop, and it's hard to part with the books you love.
  • After you have been reading regularly for a while you may be tempted to think that you know quite a lot and feel that you can "show off" your newfound knowledge. Behaving in such a manner is a sure way to end up being "put in your place" by someone who has spent a lifetime studying and who will be able to spot a neophyte a mile away. To avoid this one should always bear in mind how much there is to know and allowing oneself to be humble in the face of this knowledge. You can also help prevent embarrassment by acknowledging up front that you are not an expert but that you have formed a partial opinion on a given topic through some exposure to the subject matter. Remember that it is generally better to be smarter than you initially look than to look smarter than you actually are.

Things You'll Need

  • Books
  • A reader's journal (make notes about the things you want to remember)
  • Time and commitment
  • A dictionary

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