My Reading Toolkit

If you think reading is a passive endeavor, boy-howdy, are you WRONG. Passive reading looks like skimming without comprehension, ignoring words you don’t know, doing no outside research, and never using pretty highlighters. How lame.

Here are a few of my non-negotiable reading tools for tackling a new text:

1. A good hard copy
Preferably a soft-back Penguin Classic, if one exists. Oxford World Classics are also solid, though often pricier. Either way, grab a nice, manageable edition of whatever you’re diving into. Holding a real book just feels different, and it’s much easier to annotate than a screen. (I am not an audiobook or ebook hater; I just like this method for studying.)

2. A companion course or podcast
I just finished Aristotle’s Poetics, and pairing it with The Literary Life Podcast made the introduction basically optional. It was packed with helpful context, and I felt ready to tackle Aristotle without getting lost in the weeds. Bonus: you can usually find these kinds of resources online for free.

3. A journal, highlighters, and a pencil (aka your reading toolkit)
I keep a journal to jot down notes from whatever class or podcast I’m following. I love seeing that I’ve done my “pre-reading homework” before opening a new book. I also keep a pencil and some fun highlighters handy to mark interesting quotes, define tricky words, and take notes directly in the text. (I even have an Instagram post breaking down my annotation process if you’re curious.)

If you want to get the most out of the literature you read, arm yourself with a reading toolbelt! These are the tools that work for me. You might prefer different ones, and that’s totally fine. Just promise me one thing: don’t be a passive reader!