An Unpretentious Way to Read “More” Books

The amount that I read is a running joke in my household, whether it is being asked “so did you finish it yet?” right when I start a book, or me reporting my running tally just to annoy those around me.

I am an incredibly fast reader, and that a big part of how I finish so many books, but I honestly think that a lot of my ability to get through so many books is that I structure my life in a such as way that I can manage it. I’m not reading every second, and I still go to work, watch a ton of TV, sleep, make food and get out for hikes. In all that however, I find plenty of time to read, and so can you!

I find this especially important now when there is so much pressure being put on us to read these important and serious books about race, racism and social justice. By all means read these as you are able, but remember, you don’t pick up and run a marathon without running every day, and reading is a lot like that. I have 6 ways to build reading into your own life below!

1.) Don’t finish everything you read.

I’m going to repeat this because this is key. Don’t finish everything you read. Yes, I know you started it, and it was on the NYT bestseller list, and your book-club is reading it, and everyone loves it, and you have to get it back to the library, and you are not a quitter, and you would just feel so guilty. I don’t care. If you you just not into it, put it down.

Whenever I talk to people who struggle to read more books, I feel like this is the most common thing I hear. If you spend most of your reading hours struggling to finish books you dislike, OF COURSE you are not going to like reading. You need to try a lot of books to discover what your personal tastes are, but if you make yourself finish everything you start, it is going to take a lot longer to figure out what you DO like.

My favorite rule of thumb comes from the incredible Nancy Pearl, a Seattle author and librarian who is so cool she has a bobble-head. She says you should give every book 100 pages. If it isn’t grabbing you, you put it down. You can always come back to it later, but there are too many good books out there.

She adds to this that as you get older, you have less time for bad books, so for everyone over 50, you subtract your age from 100 and that is your page limit. If you are 100, Pearl says, you get to truly judge a book by its cover.

But seriously guys, just put the bad books down, and don’t sweat it. Reading is supposed to be fun.

2.) Figure out what you like

This is connected to the tip above. People get stuck on what they were supposed to read in high school or the books everyone is talking about, and they forget that they get to decide what THEY like.

Put the guilt aside, and try everything. When you find something you like, follow that rabbit hole as far as you can, and don’t apologize for it. Pay attention to who recommended the books you love, and tune into those sources when looking for your next book.

If you are like one of my friends, you may discover that animal shape-shifter romances and Brené Brown are your books of choice. If you are like me, you will discover that you have zero patience for books like The Alice Network and The Nightingale, despite the fact that EVERYONE loves them.

In our house, I enjoy pretty much everything, and my better half reads almost exclusively nonfiction related to nature and fiction with neat and happy endings, but we both enjoy what we are reading and that is what counts.

3.) Get into a routine.

Figure out what time works best for you and set aside 15 minutes to open a book every day. In our house, one of us reads a book over a cup of coffee at some ungodly hour of the morning, and one of us usually reads until they can’t focus on the words right before going to sleep. I’ll let you guess which one I am.

But essentially, figure out what works for you – read a book while eating lunch, over coffee in the morning, listen to an audio-book while cooking or cleaning, but build it into your day.

3.) Try different reading formats.

Audio-books are reading too. Be snobby if you like, but first figure out what works for you. Try reading physical books, on your phone, on a kindle, on your computer, listening to books on audio.

Sorry to any purists out there, but in the end, it doesn’t matter how you absorb the book. A good portion of my “reading” life takes place in the car on my commute to and from work, and I make sure I pick books I absorb better on audio (which for me are mysteries and non-fiction).

4.) Read one book per medium at a time.

The easiest way for me to lose track of reading is to have too many books on the go at any one time. I usually have an audio-book for commutes, a physical book, and sometimes a phone/kindle book if that is the only format I can get it in.

I know I said you need to put books down if you don’t like them, but once you commit, don’t start another book until you decide to finish it or forget about it.

The thing that always kills me is my library holds list – when a book comes up for checkout, that is the one time I am allowed to start one before I’m done!

5.) Keep a list.

I like to have a list and/or pile of books I want to read next easily accessible. That way, when I hit the slow part in a book, but I am too far in to put it down, I can look at the stack and get excited for what comes next, which motivates me to keep reading.

I do this personally in two ways – first, I keep a Goodreads account. If you don’t already have one and you are a list or goal oriented person, this is the website for you. You can track what books you have read, want to read, set yearly reading goals and get personalized recommendations, and you can compete with your friends to see who can read the most (so maybe the last part is just me….)

But my favorite list is the one by my bedside, where I stack books in the order I plan on reading them next. It is decorative, and a great visual reminder of the books I am excited about getting to next.

As an omnivorous reader who loves multiple genres, it also helps because when I stagger what I am reading and vary the type of book, I enjoy myself more.

6.) Make it fun.

The bottom line is that recreational reading should be fun, and if it isn’t, you either need to change something or go do something else until it is fun again. As I write this, I have’t finished a book for over a week because I got distracted, and just felt like doing other things. These lulls are normal and I know I will be back at it again soon.

You should absolutely read those anti-racist books and you should also read books that challenge you and are not necessarily “pleasurable”, but you need to give yourself a break every now and then. Go read Me and White Supremacy, Stamped From the Beginning or White Fragility, but then give yourself a treat and read something light and fluffy, or read a “fun” book by an author of color – I linked to a few lists highlighting great sci-fi, fantasy, romance and mysteries written by authors of color a few weeks ago.

If you have any other tips for expanding and enjoying your reading life more, please share!

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