Bibliophile’s Guide for Beginners

It was not that long when I was introduced to the realm of autobiographies, fiction, and stories. Growing up in a small town I was not privileged enough to be exposed to books outside my school syllabus. I started reading eight years back when I was in my twelfth standard since then I have read more than 100 novels. A lot of people ask me how I do my reading, how I find my interest, where do I get the books, or how I manage the time. A lot of people face all these problems to get started with. It’s never too late to start reading, if not yesterday then today. So here are five tricks and tips for beginners along with a few book recommendations that will help you be an avid reader.

Don’t be afraid to borrow 

Buying books can be out of budget bustle for many of us. But, believe me, you don’t have to spend a penny on buying books. I have not bought more than five books my entire reading life when I do I gift it to my friends. You can scrounge books from your friends or someone you know who reads. Sometimes borrowing from strangers may earn you some friends as well. I borrowed China haraye ko manche by hari bagsa Acharya from a co-passenger on my bus, now we are good friends. You can be a member of libraries near you, some suggestions will be Kathmandu upatyaka sarbajanik pustakalaya at bhirkuti mandab, mind-body library at thapathali. Library memberships are cheaper than you think, go try it. Book apps can be your best friends if you can read e-books, Any books app is the best app if you want to read, any book, any where, any time, without the internet.

Get started with a simpler one 

For a beginner  initial books determines the faith in reading, if they will be an avid reader or reading books will just be a stressful task.  If you are a beginner find your genera, find what fascinates you as a reader. I am more inclined toward fiction, you may be interested in autobiographies or sci-fi. So, find your home.  Don’t start with classic novels like War and peace or pride and prejudice. Begin with a simple book with simpler writing to get hang of it. Harry Potter series, Twilight series, hunger games series, lord of ring series can be fascinating to all the age groups. It grips you with the plot and keeps those pages turning. 

 

Don’t be afraid to pencil the vocab 

The only reason I started reading books was to improve my English. I have come a long way since then. It’s hard for many of us to get acquaint with vocab and understand what the word truly means. If you don’t understand the word don’t skip it, use a mobile dictionary and jot down the gist. It makes your reading much simpler in the coming days. Books with meeker writing can help you with that. Read books by Indian writers like Chetan Bhagat and Durjoydutta. Try the notebook by Nicolas sparks, Fault in our stars by John Green, for one more day by Mitch Albom, Darker Shade of magic trilogy by Victoria Schwabs, Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowells. These writers are comparatively gentler with their writing which aids the readers to fathom the story. 

 

Audio books are boon

People usually avoid reading because they cannot manage time. If you don’t have time to read it, listen to it. Audiobooks can be listened anywhere anytime either you are cooking or walking or stuck in traffic audio books can just save your time. ShrutiSambheg can be a good listening portal for Nepali books. Try Sumnima by B.P. koirala, Setodharti by Amar Neupane, pagalbasti by sarubhakta, pallogharkojhyal by Govinda bahadur Ghothale. For books on other languages try audio book portals like learn out loud and Audio book slab. You tube can be a great source for classics.

Do not hesitate to get recommendations

Whenever I start a new book, I base it on recommendation, popularity, and theme. As an immature reader, I use to read whatever I had a hand on. Which led me to leave a lot of books in the middle because they were super boring or were not according to my genera. So, it is better to get recommendations of good books, from friends who have read it. You also can visit good reads, BBC top 100, or other similar book ranking authorities to pick the best among the best. 

I am ending the blog with a few of my favourite readings to date. I hope these tips were helpful and you will grow loving the book world. My recommendations:   ‘Kafka on the Shore’ by Haruki Murakami, ‘The five people you met in heaven’ by Mitch Albom, ‘Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho, ‘One hundred year of solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ‘A Tale of two cities’ by Charles Dickens, ‘Little women’ by Lousia may Alcott, ‘Thousand splendid suns’ by Khalid Hosseini, ‘Da vinci Code’ by Dan Brown, ‘Karnali Blues’ by Buddhisagar and my all-time favourite ‘to kill a mocking bird’ by Harper Lee.

Happy Readings!!!