I have a set time to read - right before bed every night. So I get 50-100 pages just from that. Otherwise I read when I have time in the day and sometimes that's nothing. I second taking a book everywhere - in the car, in the waiting room, at work, etc. But caution everyone against reading just for the bragging rights. Read to understand. Read to expand your horizons. Read for a better life.
I rebel against #10 in the context that I'm one of the very few no-NDF's among my friends and acquaintances who consider themselves readers. I feel I'd be the poorer if I ditched a book in a boring spot as that is often more a function of my state of being than the book itself.
As for reading tips, my #11 is seek out/cultivate fellow readers online and IRL.
Agree! I will DNF if a book is outright bad, but if it's just slow or not speaking to me personally, I am often glad that I plodded on and let it finish what it was trying to say.
I read a lot, always have. I switch formats, have books everywhere. I read while brushing my teeth, drying my hair, I have an upstairs book, a downstairs book, a car book, etc. I read on kindle and hard copies, from libraries and NetGalley (free ARCS for review). Sometimes it's a little unhealthy. Last year I decided to track how much I read, and it was 195--almost an embarrassing number. Is it possible that I have a life, meaningful work, friends? I really do. A lot of these books are quite short, although some are long. I also struggle with a chronic illness so I take naps 3 or 4 days a week, and I read and doze and get through a couple books a week right there. But basically, I race through books and I read like I breathe. My goal here is to affirm your tips, not natter on about embarrassing personal habits, although it might be hard to tell.
Very helpful -- and perhaps the most useful to me are 1) advice to abandon un-useful books -- I'm doing that with wild abandon as I age and 2) your "permission" to read something fun. Next on my list for fun (and also some backup historical detail for one of my novels that I'm revising and re-releasing) is Robert Harris's Pompeii. Like you, I read several books at a time. The one I'm marking up the most is your new book! The margins are full! On simultaneous readings: I'm making my way through Churchill, Solzhenitsyn,(2nd time of the abridged Gulag), a Stephen King, a book on The Divine Liturgy (2nd time on this one too), a life of the Theotokos (massive volume), two poetry books (Tanya Runyan and The Gospel in Gerard Manley Hopkins), and TBR soon, several oldies: The Great Divorce, Escape from Reason and The Harrowing of Hell.
I think you've identified one of the best strategies: always have a book with you. Don't find yourself in a waiting room, or on a bus, or sitting in the car waiting for your kids to emerge from something or other without a book at hand. Don't always pull out your phone--have a book.
All excellent recommendations. These are pretty much the same steps I took to double my reading numbers. Learning to abandon books was a hard one for me but once I realized I could do it without any regret it has helped me immensely.
Great advice here. I read 64 books last year. All paper books. I try to set myself a target of 50 pages a day approximately over the course of the week.
Great ideas. I have learned there are years I have to actually revise my reading goals downward (like this year), because I know what is coming, I know what my work is going to require of me, etc. But I would rather do that and be pleasantly surprised if I am somehow able to read more than I expect. But I agree with you wholeheartedly: setting a reading goal alone just about ensures that I will read more than if I do not set a goal.
I wrote some tips in this blog post after 2019, the year I read 232 books (I haven't managed to repeat that, but that has a lot to do with my kids getting older and reading fewer picture books with them): https://beingincommunity.com/how-i-read-230-books-in-2019/
This is a great list, I do almost all of these except I don't set goals (it takes the joy out of it for me), and I don't read more than one book at a time because the context-switching makes it hard for me to remember what I've just read.
For me, reading has become a default habit: it's what I do every night when my baby is asleep but before it's time for me to sleep. It's how I read 46 books last year while taking care of an 18-month-old. If you enjoy something enough, it doesn't take much effort to do it.
I don’t know how many books I read last year because the years blend together. I often abandon a book because oh that one looks more interesting. I just started Demons by Dostoyevsky. So far I’m surprised how easy it is to follow. I just finished the CS Lewis/Tolkien and WW 1 book on your suggestion.
These suggestions are very helpful. The idea of writing reviews on Amazon has stalled me, but want to start doing that again.
Oh and being more selective about TV has been a goal. Thank you for this.
I generally get through 30-35 books per year. I listen to audiobooks on long drives and while I’m exercising (better than watching TV or listening to the gym’s music choices). However, I also try to read one “door stopper” each year, which generally has the page equivalent of three 100-page books. Some stories/biographies/subjects need the depth 1000+ pages provides.
And, yes, I always have a book with me, a habit since grade school.
Like several other commenters, I do not abandon a book simply because I find it boring. I plowed through Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, and John Stuart Mill just in the last year - they didn't thrill me, but neither am I sorry I read them. If I find a book boring, I challenge myself to read a certain amount each time I pick it up - two pages, a chapter, to a natural break, etc. - until I finally finish it.
I stop reading a book that is:
1) Poorly written - unless it is a rare eyewitness account of an historical event or epoch, since not every such eyewitness will necessarily be a good writer. I do not even attempt to read the B to D list fiction that crowds the shelves retail: paperback romances, celebrity memoirs, copy&paste mysteries, bloated fantasy with ridiculous titles - it saves a lot of time and money not to start reading poor writing in the first place.
2) The content of a novel suggests the writer has a twisted mind. I do not flinch at graphic descriptions of mature content, but if said descriptions are salacious and gratuitous, they say more about the character of the writer than add anything to the book's narrative. I do not often abandon a book for this reason - I can only think of a handful of examples where the sense of foulness was so extreme that I walked away.
I like to have 3 books going at any given time, 2 fiction and 1 nonfiction, with very different moods/vibes/styles from one another. That way I will always be in the mood to read at least one of them.
I have a set time to read - right before bed every night. So I get 50-100 pages just from that. Otherwise I read when I have time in the day and sometimes that's nothing. I second taking a book everywhere - in the car, in the waiting room, at work, etc. But caution everyone against reading just for the bragging rights. Read to understand. Read to expand your horizons. Read for a better life.
I rebel against #10 in the context that I'm one of the very few no-NDF's among my friends and acquaintances who consider themselves readers. I feel I'd be the poorer if I ditched a book in a boring spot as that is often more a function of my state of being than the book itself.
As for reading tips, my #11 is seek out/cultivate fellow readers online and IRL.
Agree! I will DNF if a book is outright bad, but if it's just slow or not speaking to me personally, I am often glad that I plodded on and let it finish what it was trying to say.
Plodding is so underrated. But it’s the space where 90% of what I’ve accomplished happened.
I read a lot, always have. I switch formats, have books everywhere. I read while brushing my teeth, drying my hair, I have an upstairs book, a downstairs book, a car book, etc. I read on kindle and hard copies, from libraries and NetGalley (free ARCS for review). Sometimes it's a little unhealthy. Last year I decided to track how much I read, and it was 195--almost an embarrassing number. Is it possible that I have a life, meaningful work, friends? I really do. A lot of these books are quite short, although some are long. I also struggle with a chronic illness so I take naps 3 or 4 days a week, and I read and doze and get through a couple books a week right there. But basically, I race through books and I read like I breathe. My goal here is to affirm your tips, not natter on about embarrassing personal habits, although it might be hard to tell.
Very helpful -- and perhaps the most useful to me are 1) advice to abandon un-useful books -- I'm doing that with wild abandon as I age and 2) your "permission" to read something fun. Next on my list for fun (and also some backup historical detail for one of my novels that I'm revising and re-releasing) is Robert Harris's Pompeii. Like you, I read several books at a time. The one I'm marking up the most is your new book! The margins are full! On simultaneous readings: I'm making my way through Churchill, Solzhenitsyn,(2nd time of the abridged Gulag), a Stephen King, a book on The Divine Liturgy (2nd time on this one too), a life of the Theotokos (massive volume), two poetry books (Tanya Runyan and The Gospel in Gerard Manley Hopkins), and TBR soon, several oldies: The Great Divorce, Escape from Reason and The Harrowing of Hell.
I think you've identified one of the best strategies: always have a book with you. Don't find yourself in a waiting room, or on a bus, or sitting in the car waiting for your kids to emerge from something or other without a book at hand. Don't always pull out your phone--have a book.
All excellent recommendations. These are pretty much the same steps I took to double my reading numbers. Learning to abandon books was a hard one for me but once I realized I could do it without any regret it has helped me immensely.
It turns out there are no police waiting to arrest you when you do it!
Great advice here. I read 64 books last year. All paper books. I try to set myself a target of 50 pages a day approximately over the course of the week.
Great ideas. I have learned there are years I have to actually revise my reading goals downward (like this year), because I know what is coming, I know what my work is going to require of me, etc. But I would rather do that and be pleasantly surprised if I am somehow able to read more than I expect. But I agree with you wholeheartedly: setting a reading goal alone just about ensures that I will read more than if I do not set a goal.
I wrote some tips in this blog post after 2019, the year I read 232 books (I haven't managed to repeat that, but that has a lot to do with my kids getting older and reading fewer picture books with them): https://beingincommunity.com/how-i-read-230-books-in-2019/
Also, slightly tangentially, I wrote this piece about starting a reading habit after having fallen off: https://beingincommunity.com/building-or-rebuilding-a-reading-habit-and-finding-time-to-read/
This is a great list, I do almost all of these except I don't set goals (it takes the joy out of it for me), and I don't read more than one book at a time because the context-switching makes it hard for me to remember what I've just read.
For me, reading has become a default habit: it's what I do every night when my baby is asleep but before it's time for me to sleep. It's how I read 46 books last year while taking care of an 18-month-old. If you enjoy something enough, it doesn't take much effort to do it.
I don’t know how many books I read last year because the years blend together. I often abandon a book because oh that one looks more interesting. I just started Demons by Dostoyevsky. So far I’m surprised how easy it is to follow. I just finished the CS Lewis/Tolkien and WW 1 book on your suggestion.
These suggestions are very helpful. The idea of writing reviews on Amazon has stalled me, but want to start doing that again.
Oh and being more selective about TV has been a goal. Thank you for this.
Marking up books has helped me remember them too.
I generally get through 30-35 books per year. I listen to audiobooks on long drives and while I’m exercising (better than watching TV or listening to the gym’s music choices). However, I also try to read one “door stopper” each year, which generally has the page equivalent of three 100-page books. Some stories/biographies/subjects need the depth 1000+ pages provides.
And, yes, I always have a book with me, a habit since grade school.
Like several other commenters, I do not abandon a book simply because I find it boring. I plowed through Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, and John Stuart Mill just in the last year - they didn't thrill me, but neither am I sorry I read them. If I find a book boring, I challenge myself to read a certain amount each time I pick it up - two pages, a chapter, to a natural break, etc. - until I finally finish it.
I stop reading a book that is:
1) Poorly written - unless it is a rare eyewitness account of an historical event or epoch, since not every such eyewitness will necessarily be a good writer. I do not even attempt to read the B to D list fiction that crowds the shelves retail: paperback romances, celebrity memoirs, copy&paste mysteries, bloated fantasy with ridiculous titles - it saves a lot of time and money not to start reading poor writing in the first place.
2) The content of a novel suggests the writer has a twisted mind. I do not flinch at graphic descriptions of mature content, but if said descriptions are salacious and gratuitous, they say more about the character of the writer than add anything to the book's narrative. I do not often abandon a book for this reason - I can only think of a handful of examples where the sense of foulness was so extreme that I walked away.
I’d been toying with this topic because I have books in progress stashed everywhere.
I like to have 3 books going at any given time, 2 fiction and 1 nonfiction, with very different moods/vibes/styles from one another. That way I will always be in the mood to read at least one of them.
This is the way.