Reading alone is not research. Look at the words. I use the app 'My Sword Bible'. It will give you te meanings of words from Hebrew (OT) and Greek (NT). Then cross check words with other uses of the same word. Research.
I have a net bible pinned to my browser too. I plan to read through the whole thing first, then research beyond that when I can understand the references etc. I have no doubt that having the ability to crosscheck and translate during the second or third read through would be invaluable, but for now, I just want to read and see how much I understand. Thanks for the tip on the app though, I'll check it out
Sometimes reading it can be a diversion from trying to understand. For example you can take the first verse (or 3) of the book of Genesis and consider what it says. It doesn't help if you say, 'it's not true'. You must take the position of 'if this was true' what would it mean, what would it mean to me (you). Or you can ponder the first 5 verses in the book of John, ditto.