How to better understand your reading material

In order to better comprehend a text, the reader must take his time. Be sure to understand your material from more than just one angle. Once you've become more familiar with the characters, try to imagine the different opinions and perspectives regarding the story's context.
Now although this might not always be relevant, knowing the author's origins/culture could help the reader better understand their text. After all, it is a critical factor that could most definitely influence an individual's writing. Another important trick is apprehending your story's settings, as well as devices. Make sure you know your literary techniques! They will help you detect everything from metaphors, alliterations, hyperboles ect. All of which play a significant role when it comes to better understanding your reading material.
"Reading, because we control it, is adaptable to our needs and rhytms. We are free to indulge our subjective associative impulse; the term I coin for this is deep reading: The slow and meditative possession of a book. We don't just read words, we dream our lives in their vicinity."
- Sven Birkerts in The Gutenberg Elegies (1994)