To pick a book for a book report, work backwards from the assignment sheet: note every rule, find two or three books that satisfy them and that you genuinely want to read, then test each candidate for readability before you commit. Done in that order it takes about 20 minutes, and it saves the two … Read more
To take notes while reading a novel, set one purpose before you start, mark only the moments where a character changes or the plot turns, keep a cast list with page numbers as you go, and write three to five lines of your own reaction at the end of each chapter. The whole system takes … Read more
You get lost in Shakespeare for three separate reasons: the syntax is Early Modern English rather than modern English, most of the play is written in unrhymed verse with lines that break in the wrong places, and nobody describes the scenery because the actors had to imagine it. Fix those in order and the play … Read more