How To Read Literature Effectively

       " A little Learning is a Dangerous Thing
                        Drink Deep
           Or Taste Not The Prierian Spring"
                                                            Alexander Pope



If you're reading this, then it's not too late.
Nigerians naturally are not good "readers" and worse still they don't like reading, the few who do read regularly do so  for academic qualifications i.e they read to regurgitate, not to learn, to understand or integrate and frankly this is disturbing........ there are loads of educated people but few literate ones.
 The ability to read for the sake of it (maybe to derive pleasure, or to impart knowledge) is frankly almost extinct in our country.
Now the minority who think they read, don't read literature well, they skim over a literary article, pick a word which they feel best summarises the article and make comments based on this half-baked knowledge.... for example, I had written  a short  article to describe how I play with the Incredibly hot man in my life, the fun and happiness I get doing this and then I went to describe in detail the mock fight we always do in mockery of wrestling and Chinese karate....... well when Nigerians saw fight in the post, guess what they thought??? that I had written about having a fight with my incredibly hot man and my inbox was flooded by unsolicited advice....
 Next time, you read a work of literature.....:
*1*. Don't skim over it in a rush, if you're in a hurry don't read it at all, it is hazardous to have a little knowledge
*2*. Understand that it's literature which means it is not always what you think it is.....most literary works has an indepth, hidden meaning other than what you can easily surmise.
*3*. A writer's background, lifestyle and idiosyncracies often than not affects their work, so before u quickly interprete a literary work try and understand a bit about the writer.
*4*. Read thoroughly with a view to be enlightened, not to critique , that way if there is indeed something to criticise and an error to point out, it will be done in a way that the writer will benefit from and apply.
Finally, Reading is one of the best ways to get enlightenment, when I say reading I don't mean french fiction (mills and boons,silhouette),thrash magazines or fashion magazines, I mean instead wholesome books by bonafide writers.
*5*. Understand the writer doesn't know you or care if you're been vindictive or not....
        As Wole Soyinka once said, most literary works are for the literal elite, so if perchance you don't understand then that literature is way over your head..... just move on to the next or have someone explain it to you