Word by word...

“We all begin to read as close readers. Even before we learn to read, the process of being read aloud to, and of listening, is one in which we are taking in one word after another, one phrase at a time, in which we are paying attention to whatever each word or phrase is transmitting. Word by word is how we learn to hear and then read, which seems only fitting, because it is how the books were are reading were written in the first place.

“The more we read, the foster we can perform that magic trick of seeing how the letters have been combined into words that have meaning. The more we read, the more we comprehend, the more likely we are to discover new ways to read, each one tailored to the reason why we are reading a particular book.

“At first, the thrill of our own brand-new expertise is all we ask or expect from Dick and Jane. But soon we being to ask what else those marks on the page can give us. We begin to want information, entertainment, invention, even truth and beauty. We concentrate, we skim, we skip words, put down the book and daydream, start over, reread. We finish a book and return to it years later to see what we might have missed, or the ways in which time and age have affected our understanding.”

- Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose