I was an adult before I learned an important thing about novels: they don’t have to be read straight through from beginning to end without stopping. Up until my mid-20s, that’s how I read. That’s how I thought everyone read.

I’m not a fast reader, so a 60,000 word novel would take me close to five hours. A longer novel would take, well, longer.

Often I’d start a book in the evening. This was a problem because the final page wouldn’t be reached until one in the morning or later.

I don’t know when or even how I discovered the joy of putting a novel down unfinished and picking it up again later. I just recall what a stunning revelation this was. It was life-changing.

The next step – and again I don’t remember the exact circumstances of this – was the discovery that if I started a second book before finishing the current one, the stories did not jumble in my brain.

This was glorious. One, I didn’t have to drag myself to work, overtired from reading all night. And two, I could have one book going at work, to read during breaks and lunch, and another going at home.

But, wait. There’s more. It turned out that two books at once was not my limit. I could have three, four, or even five books going. Three, though, turned out to be the optimal number. That’s fiction. A non-fiction book could be mixed in as well.

When I got married, I had the good fortune to marry a reader. When our children became readers, we had a saying in our house: “ABAB,” said one letter at a time. It stood for Always Bring A Book.

This was before books were available electronically, so having a physical paperback along made good use of otherwise wasted time. Standing in line for something? Read a few pages. Sitting in a movie theater waiting for the show to start? Read a bit. Got a few minutes before a bus comes? Be glad you ABAB.

Now, of course, ABAB is ABMP – Always Bring My Phone – for I have ebooks and audio books galore on it.

I am not only a reader, but also a writer. For example, I’ve written a weekly What I’ve Learned column now for 19 years.

I am grateful for having learned these two skills at an early age and for how well they have served me in my life.

September 8th is International Literacy Day. In the world, more than 775,000 people age 15 and older cannot read and write. And this number seems to be rising instead of dropping.

There are organizations, such as the World Literacy Foundation, that do a lot of good.

There are also simple, direct ways to help in your own community. This September 8th you could read aloud to someone, invite someone to join a book club (or join one yourself), volunteer at your local library, or write to a family pen pal.

Comments are not available on this story.