Reading advice
A friend asked for a list of books to recommend to university students. They had been invited to address the students. I have thought long and hard about it but the best I could do was the following. It is tough recommending a list of books to read. I usually structure it acc to every individuals interests.
- Read anything that you like. Go into a bookstore or a library, browse, flip, and pick up any book that you like. Don’t fall prey to the mantra that this is a classic or this is the buzz or this is the genre you must read. Read, read, read. Read eclectically. Read voraciously.
- Learn to challenge yourself. Rewire your brains. The brain grows till the age of 25, after which it is the constant rewiring that keeps it alive and keeps the individual young. Read. Read in the language that you are most comfortable in but for the purposes of profession and education, you may need to engage with English too.
- Listen to audio books if you must, but do it sparingly. Devote a few minutes of about 15-20 min (for starters) every day to reading. It does not matter if you find it tough to understand at first. Or you are stuck on a line. Or even on the first page. It will get easier with time. Learn to read words, string them together in a sentence, develop the idea in a paragraph, take it to the next paragraph, remember the thought/emotion conveyed over into the next page and more and more. Learn to connect dots throughout the text. Whether mentioned explicitly or in the subtext. Immerse yourself.
- Expand your vocabulary from the basic 800 words that will enable you to get by thinking you know a language. But, you do not. Learn to read, write, and express yourself in a manner that will teach you to read/ communicate in a nuanced manner.
- Every profession, even engineers and doctors, rely on their writing and reading skills. On an average, every professional spends 50-60% of their time reading and writing, particularly if they wish to be good professionals. Some, such as journalists, may devote up to 80% of their time on reading and writing. But this is something that cannot be ignored.
- Look up words you don’t understand. Look up words you think you know but don’t really. It helps to keep a notebook of new words.
Books to read: - Anthologies of short stories — best way to introduce yourself to a vast array of writers, writing styles, periods of literature and perhaps some even in translation. As you become a more confident reader, read longer stories and branch into reading novels. These could be commercial fiction to literary fiction. Try. Don’t say no.
- Longreads in journalism — excellent stories being published online now. Look at the website aggregator “Longreads”. Otherwise, The Guardian, Caravan, The NYT, The New Yorker etc.
- Fiction and non-fiction of any kind. History, biographies, thrillers, short stories, novels, historical fiction, travelogues, comic fiction. commercial fiction, espionage, legal dramas etc.
9 Oct 2025
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