If your purpose is to understand the novel for a class, as background to another novel, general information, or whatever, then the PhotoReading whole mind system is superb. zip zip
If your purpose is enjoyment, you will find yourself enjoying more books more.
First, you won't waste your time on books you don't like. I PhotoRead all novels in the bookstore or library. I immediately get a sense from which I can determine whether or not I will like the book. I am seldom wrong. There are times I went on to read the book even though I got the sense I didn't like the book. These are usually for books recommended by someone or books that I think I should like.
Second, when you go back to read the book, the first thing you won't notice is that you are going two, three, four times faster than normal, and it doesn't feel like you are reading faster at all. It feels like you are going just as slowly as ever, because you are enjoying the book as much, if not more than ever.
Plus, if it is a murder mystery, you have the sense you can solve it in the next chapter, page, paragraph--because a part of you has been there before. The stories are richer, characters' fuller, and if the author says "he walked into the room and it had a feeling of familiarity about it," you too will have that feeling because, again, a part of you has been there before.
I was on a beach holiday once where I enjoyed a novel each afternoon under a grass umbrella on the beach. I read five great novels in five afternoons, while this other guy who was often at the next umbrella worked on one book all week. He said to me, "I don't know why you would want to go through books so fast. Wouldn't you prefer to make the enjoyment of the novel last all week."
I said, "With all of the great books out there, why?"
That said, there are still books that I re-read paragraphs and chapters simply because I enjoyed the way the author put something so much. Or, because I feel reflective, or I want to comtemplate my thoughts or the author's thoughts.
Here are three good examples:
Michael Cunningham's The Hours." I loved the way he wrote the story. (None of his other books measured up, however, and Virigina Wolff and I are not one, but boy did I enjoy "The Hours" as well as the hours reading the book and thinking about the characters, imagining their lives, and dissecting how he put the story together.)
Kathleen Norris's "Dakota." She writes with a simple magnficence, with elegance and eloquence, and I am with her every step of the way. I resonate with her style, her choice of words, her imagery. While I'm not a fan of her poetry, I've enjoyed all of her other books, and I often revisit them. I'd love to have dinner with her--I get the feeling we could talk for hours.
"Under the Tuscan Sun." While the book is not as well written as I would have like, she captured my imagination and transported me to Tuscany. I'd love to have dinner with her--at her villa. I'll bring the wine.
I just realized that the rest of the post has been about novels, however, only one of my three examples are about novels. But as poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote "Oh, well, what the hell."
(By the way, if anyone knows where I can find a copy of that poem, I would appreciate it. There is a great story about the poem that I will share when I have it. The story goes with the poem, and vice versa.)
