Okey I will admit it, my reading have been suffering for a while but I have started reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin. It goes slow but I am getting there. Time is not something I have a lot of because of my studies but I have almost gotten half way thorugh now :D

What I love about Martin's books is the language he uses. It is old fashioned and describing. He really catches the feeling of his characters the distress of Sansa when she is cought by the Hound being up late at night. You cna really feel what the characters are feeling when you read since it is so greatly written. 

I have watched the series before reading the books and I don't think it matters that much since the books are much more detailed and the series is quite similar to the books this far at least. I belive that you should read the books also since it is an experiece in it self. When I read I picture the characters in my mind and I have a miniseries of my own in my head. The theatre of imagination in one way, I believe it is important to read and develop your own imagination and thinking outside the box in one way. To develop your understanding of a novel you need to analysie it in some way not just read it and then move on to the next book. Take a few minutes thinking about what was good with this novel and what did you actually like? It is also important to think about what you didn't like with the novel and really think about it, try to explain for yourself why you did or didn't like a particular novel. 

Thinking about these questions can help you develop your reading skills and understand novels on a completly different level. Well to really develop your reading you probably need to think about a few other things as well but starting with what you like and don't like is a good start. Then you can move on to the setting, characters and so forth and eventually get to the theme of the novels you read. 

During my practice at the school, the students started to listen to Dracula, a re-written version that suited their level of English and not the original novel. But anyway after listening to each chapter the students were supposed to answer a few questions, what they liked and didn't like, what the chapter was about, what puzzled them, summarising the chapter, think about difficult words and so forth. Most of the students only wrote yes/no answers and didn't think about why, getting them to answer the questions why was difficult and demanding but I hope they will get it eventually why it is important to think about what you read and analyse it.