> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Reading is (more than) life - URL: https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/reading-is-life/ - Published: 2026-09-22T18:45:23.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-22T19:17:30.000Z - Description: 13 ways to become a better reader - Author: Alicia McKay - Tags: Literature, #wednesday-wisdom I spent countless hours of my childhood curled up with my nose in a book. My earliest and happiest memories are of riding the bus to the Christchurch Central Library and bargaining with my mother to increase my weekly book borrowing limit. Reading remains one of my life's greatest joys. It is a lifelong pastime, an escape, and a porthole to new and different worlds. Practically speaking, the ROI on reading is astonishing. You can access someone's life's work, summed up helpfully in a handy little package, for just $35\. You can enjoy hours of mind-transporting entertainment value from a free library book. You can learn more than you might in a university course in a single book. Books are a small package that pack a huge intellectual and spiritual punch. As well as being the densest form of knowledge transfer, books are often the most intimate experience we can have with a person, culture, or idea. Through books, we enter the inner lives of others. We sit with their thoughts, feelings and inadequacies in a manner difficult to replicate in even our closest relationships. In memoir, for example, people interrogate their most excruciating and formative experiences and present them to us in a coherent, legible form for our understanding. Few of our closest friends or loved ones can do this. Reading is life - or, as famed literary theorist James Wood would say, the nearest thing to it.Except reading is *more* than life - a clearer, sharper, richer version. Experiencing life through books doesn't just offer us respite, it changes how we see the world. Per Wood: > "Literature differs from life in that life is amorphously full of detail, and rarely directs us toward it, whereas literature teaches us to notice. Literature makes us better noticers of life; we get to practice on life itself; which in turn makes us better readers of detail in literature; which in turn makes us better readers of life." Since hitting a reading slump five years ago and intentionally broadening my horizons, I'm now reading more, more consistently, and more widely than ever. Against a busy backdrop of work, kids, and travel, reading brings me immense pleasure and relief - as well as making me a better writer. I urge everybody to read, if they can and want to. My little sister, who is raising five young children, has recently picked books back up and it is keeping her sane. If she can find time to read, I reckon anyone can. --- ## My 13 rules for reading In this week's Wednesday Wisdom, I share some of my personal reading guidelines. Pick what resonates with you (and let me know how you go). ### 1- Avoid the algorithm In an algorithmic information environment, our interests and knowledge are curated for us, presented in whichever form is likely to hook and provoke us based on a complex triangulation of our demographic and psychographic traits and previous clicking behaviours. We should be wary of this preselection. Posts and videos may be more easily digestible than long-form reading, and news might offer a brief, simplistic window into current events, but neither will connect us to important context, themes, or realisations as a book can. You'll get more from a self-directed Google search or Wikipedia scroll than whatever appears on your feed. Don't waste time curating your eyeball drugs. Read books instead. ### 2- Re-read I am a faithful subscriber to Readwise.io, a service which tracks and organises highlighted passages from books I've read on my Kindle. Every fortnight, Readwise sends me a themed selection of passages to review, and they're great prompts. Here's one I underlined in 2018 from Skin in the Game by Nicholas Taleb: *"...learning is rooted in repetition and convexity, meaning that the reading of a single text twice is more profitable than reading two different things once, provided of course that said text has some depth of content."* I make a habit of going over underlined passages and bottom-folded pages in any book I read, and making notes in my reading log (online edition [here)](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/reading-log) but I'd like to make a more intentional habit of re-reading my favourite books. In a first read of any good book, I'm swept away by the content. Reading again with a different eye - for critique, learning, connection, or interrogation of structure and technique - is a powerful practice. ### 3- Active reading Further to the above. Actively reading - reading like a writer, a student, or a critic - is different to passive consumption. Keep a notepad next to you. Scribble in the margins. Underline passages that mean something or hit hard. Ask questions - why do I like this? Why did they choose that story or example? What feels great, or off, about this? Delight in well-chosen words and phrases, and jot them down. Fold pages. Add exclamation marks. Stick post-it flags in. Treat the book like a robust friend, not a delicate repository. ### 4- Reading rituals Reading is a marvellously flexible activity. It's something you can do in the gaps instead of reaching for your phone - on the train, in a line, waiting for an appointment - but it's also a sensational activity to go deep and get lost in. Reading transports you into a different setting, perspective, or way of thinking. So don't expect that simply having a book nearby will be enough to put you in the reading zone. Designate a chair, beanbag, or outdoor reading spot. Add a special little lamp or side table. Leave your phone in another room. Make a cup of tea. Get cosy with a blanket and enjoy an increasingly rare opportunity to be "off' and out of the rhythms and distractions of the external world. Treat this gift to yourself and your inner life with the reverence it deserves. ### 5- Diversify It's easy to get in a reading rut, and many of you probably default to a similar kind of book each time - easy-reading chick lit, work-related management books, etc. Try mixing it up. If you notice you're reading too much of the same thing, meander to a different section of the library or bookstore, or ask around for [a recommendation](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/reading-log/). Fiction is critical here, especially in different settings and eras to our own. History wasn't a series of wars, drama and royalty, though that's how it might look if you only read non-fiction or watch TV shows. Fiction is how we understand the daily and private lives of ordinary people across time, space and location. So challenge your reading portfolio into unchartered frontiers. But... ### 6- Give up on books There are too many wonderful books waiting to be read for you to waste time on something you don't enjoy. It's OK not to finish a book. Where I can, I apply the "first chapter test" in a library or bookstore before I commit, which helps cut down on the duds. But duds still slip through. With that in mind, I never force myself to finish something I don't like. The opportunity cost is simply too high. ### 7- Share If you love a book, tell people. Even better, lend or give them a copy. Books make wonderful gifts, especially when you've thought carefully about why someone might love your particular recommendation. Sharing books is good karma, even if they never come back to you. ### 8- Engage with the author One of the best things about this content-heavy era is that few authors get to bury themselves away at their writing desks and ignore the world anymore. Instead, they appear on podcasts, speak at festivals, and write blogs and newsletters. Many teach, or run masterclasses or workshops. This is probably bad for authors, overall, but it is excellent for readers! I love to listen to interviews with the author of a book I've recently finished. Hearing them talk about their perspective and process adds such richness to the reading experience, and helps me understand them and their work better. ### 9- Expand your horizons Further to the note on reading ruts: push your boundaries on what you think you will 'like'. Read about experiences quite unlike yours - different periods of history, different cultures, different classes, different areas of expertise, and so on. And don't stop there! If a book introduces you to new ideas or thinking, follow up on interesting nuggets. I'm forever chasing down little rabbit holes because of a book I've read. How long did the Sri Lankan civil war last? (Prompted by The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka). How do Muslims following Shariah law buy houses if they can't borrow money? (Prompted by Skin In The Game by Nicholas Taleb) What happened in the Thatcher era when factories shut down? (Prompted by Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart). Books pose so many interesting questions I never knew I had - and that doesn't have to stop when you've finished turning the pages. ### 10- Maintain skepticism Don't believe everything you read - even, or perhaps especially, in non-fiction books. Be particularly suspicious of people writing professional development books. These people are selling you something, and often aren't professional writers, which can lead to woeful sourcing and attribution. Treat anecdotes, statistics, quotes, and research with care. Follow up footnotes. Read source material. See discomfirming news and evidence. Or even better... ### 11- Consume critique While book review sections might be folding, there is a lively world of critique out there. One of my favourite podcasts is *If Books Could Kill*, where pop-science and 'airport books' get fact-checked and critiqued. The earlier seasons of *Backlisted* are fabulous too. I've recently been recommended Michael Silverblatt's *Bookworm,* which I'm about to check out. You can dig into reviews on websites like GoodReads and scroll through Reddit too - but I will only ever do this *after* I've read the book, so I can form my own views first. ### 12- Support local I love visiting a new place and learning about the authors and genres that come from there. I pop into second-hand and independent bookstores and chat to proprietors about their thoughts and recommendations (note: book people *love* talking about their favourite books!) I've found some of my favourite books this way - in fact, I picked up A Visit From The Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan at the San Francisco airport! The same applies to your own hood. Hang out at your local library. Go to book launches and author talks at your local bookstore. Read local literature. Go to writers festivals. There is such a lively world of book-life out there. ### 13- Don't doubt yourself A final note, but one I think is very important, after years of trying to churn through books that sucked and assuming I was the problem: you're never too stupid for a book. You might need something more - more focus and energy, more knowledge, or more context (how exciting, a new rabbit hole!) - but you're not the problem. If you've focused, and you're up to speed on the context, and you still don't get it, then the book wasn't your jam, or the author wasn't clear enough. That's cool. It's not for you. Go find something else that is. Or, as my favourite mug from my favourite bookstore wisely suggests: When in doubt, read. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f6/ea/f6eacf9c-bf08-4a3e-b200-2a209bebe3ad/content/images/2026/09/IMG_9263.jpg) Hope you enjoyed this little reading sojourn. I'd love to hear your reading tips and tricks. Til next week, AM