(*Especially if you still can’t find the time to sit and read for long!)
So maybe you haven’t read a full book in years. Perhaps you thought during lockdown you might get some reading done, but in these challenging times it felt a bit weird hunkering down with a book especially if your family has been spending more time at home.
Or maybe you’re still working. Perhaps school’s also out and you've had to regularly stuff dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets into a troop of small humans and it’s like the Twelve Labours of Hercules just to read a text message. And snatching a few minutes on the loo is not exactly how you imagined reading 1984.
Well today I’m going to share my top 21 ways to help you finish more than 1 book every few months and actually REMEMBER what you’ve read. So you can finally enjoy more books even if you aren’t an avid reader, sit down and read for more than five minutes a day and feel more secure in your own reading habits no matter how regular or sporadic they are.
So How To Read More Often
Must you cut out all fun pastimes like social media, box-sets, TV, comedies, renounce all joys and retreat to a cave? Um, no.
So if you don’t feel like burning all your favourite distractions in a fire, here’s my Pick ‘n Choose list of top reading tips. Soon you’ll be able to finish reading more books without having to give up things like pinning recipes on Pinterest or watching cute dogs being cute on the internet.
Obligatory cute dog photo for... reasons
Photo by Natalie Scott on Unsplash
1. Keep a Short To-Be-Read List
Keep a short TBR list of books that you really want to read. (I have six at the most but any manageable number is fine.) Just don’t make your list so dauntingly long that every time you look at it, you’re filled with dread. This way you don’t get stuck hunting for books to read and end up putting off a new book for weeks or months.
2. Always Keep a Book to Hand
Carry a book wherever you go, in a bag, laptop case, (in the toilet!) or car’s glove compartment. You never know when you might have a few moments spare, either stuck in a queue or even waiting at the dentists. Also download your books onto your phone, Nook or Kindle, so even if you don't think you’ll have any spare time you might be able to read a page or two
3. Read Whenever you have More than Ten minutes of Waiting Time
Again, standing in a long queue? Waiting for an appointment? Snatch this opportunity to read a book or your Kobo instead of mindlessly staring into space, or scrolling Twitter out of sheer boredom.
4. Don’t Sound out Words in your Head
Seriously? Yes! Reading sub-vocally is a habit you may have picked up at school or at home, whilst learning to read out loud. However sounding out words in your head can actually slow down your reading speed. So how to read more efficiently? Simply practice reading without sub-vocalising and you may find your reading speed increases. But whenever you just want to read for fun, you can always switch back to your old method.
5. Don’t Browse Online before Bed
It’s really tempting to browse online before bed, especially if you keep a phone or tablet by your bedside before you go to sleep. So place a book by your bedside instead, then you’re more likely to get in the habit of picking it up and reading before you drift off to sleep.
6. Read for a Set Time Every Day
Even if you set a time to read for as little as 10 minutes a day, you're more likely to succeed than trying to read a book you’ve set aside no time for. And just by reading 30 minutes a day, you may end up finishing well over 1000 books in your whole lifetime.
7. Or Read a Set Amount of Pages a Day
You can aim to read as little as 3 to 20 or more pages in a session and end up finishing more than one average-sized book a month. Another reading tip is to count the number of pages you need to read daily in order to also finish a book in a month. Breaking books into smaller chunks can make finishing complex books easier and research shows that if you set yourself goals then you’re also more likely to complete them.
8. Pick the Kind of Stories you Love Reading
Don’t choose a book because you think it’s something you ought to read. It’s far easier to increase the amount of books you read when you actually love the stories and enjoy them, rather than trudging through a novel because it’s supposed to be good for you... like sugar-free Robitussun.
‘Please don’t make me read the epilogue Harry.’
9. Choose Books in Genres or with Topics that Excite you
It’s easy to give into book snobbery and only read books that are recommended by Top Book Reviewers. But if baking My Hot Sexy Prince’s Valentine Cookies really floats your boat, why not give into chick-fic temptation? You can always read James Joyce’s Ulysses later…
10. Don’t Compare Yourself to other Readers
If you get hung up about the number of books you read, then you’re not alone. However everyone has different lives, responsibilities and reading speeds, so there’s no point in copying someone else’s reading goals. It’s far better to read a book at your own pace and truly absorb it, than skim five books and forget the contents just to reach some stranger’s random goal.
11. Mix Books of Different Difficulty Levels
A text with complex ideas may take longer to finish than another book of similar length, because it needs a slower reading pace or you'll miss important details. So to stop getting bogged down by reading book after complex book, try to mix up more difficult texts with a few less taxing reads.
12. Read More than 1 Type of Book at a Time
You can choose a fiction and a non-fiction book to read in separate sessions. E.g. Sometimes I like to read speculative fiction whilst also reading a romance. Or you can pair a long book with a novella. Mixing things up will not only help you read more, but if you’re not in the mood to read one book you can always turn to another fun alternative in the meantime.
13. Switch Genres Between Books
Pick out different genres you really enjoy and switch between them to avoid genre burnout. Sometimes the best way to cure reluctance to read is by choosing a different genre for your next book to refresh the reading palette. i.e. romance to sci-fi or urban fantasy to literary. So that when you finish one book, you’re eager to start the next and have no excuses to avoid getting your next read.
14. Swap Passive or Aimless Activities for a Book
Whenever you find yourself watching Youtube playlists just to kill time, read a book instead. You’ll be surprised how much reading you can get done in place of aimless browsing, especially if like me you have a nightly social media habit. Not only will you fall asleep easier (as you won’t be gawking at a screen before bed) but if you check forums several times a day, you can cut down to one viewing and use that free time to read instead.
15. Start a Mini-Book Club
Start a book club with friends or family so you can use peer-pressure to motivate you to read. Having to chat about what you’ve read, suggest new reads and even swap books is also a great way to socialise and spur you on to read more often. And if your friends or family aren’t fellow bookworms, then you can join the scores of bookclubs and forums online.
16. Mix Short Reads with Longer Books
Mixing shorter books with longer texts can balance out your reading, so that you don’t feel constantly bogged down reading one doorstopper after another. As a bonus when you begin to finish more books you feel like you’re making more progress.
17. Read on a Break
Lunch breaks, tea or coffee breaks or even during ad breaks are ideal times to catch up on your reading. In the beginning it won’t seem like very much time, but soon every little bit of reading you can fit into your day will eventually start to add up.
Do double duty to read more books.
Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash
18. Do the Double Duty Technique
Grab a few minutes reading here and there by listening to audiobooks in the shower, while you brush your teeth at night, exercise, clean the house, drive, while you’re cooking or even as you sit down to breakfast. Washing the dishes? Instead of gazing dreamily at the wall or window, just lay your phone or tablet on the counter and slip into fantastical worlds while you scrub dishes.
19. Catch up on your Reading at Weekends
You’d love to sit down and read during the weekend, but family, study or even work commitments crop up, so how do you stop this from eating into your reading time? By planning reading into your weekend: e.g. do nothing else but read for 25 minutes or one chapter on a Sunday afternoon. That way you’ll be able to get through that latest blockbuster and still get pressing tasks done.
20. Kill Time on your Commute with a Book
If you have to travel to work, kill time by reading on bus journeys or on the train. It might only be for thirty minutes or so but every reading session still adds to your page count, so always keep a book in your bag just in case. Note: If you drive to work, listening to audiobooks or reading in a parked car is the perfect escape from Cubicle Nation.
21. Just Go Outside… in the Sunshine
Whenever things get a bit mad at home or it’s lunchtime at work and there’s a park nearby, why not grab your book or e-reader and read alfresco instead. I used to work in a fairly urban town but still escaped to the local park to read. And despite being begged for chips by rather hench-looking grey squirrels, I still managed to snatch fifteen minutes of You’re A Bad Man Mr Gum before I returned to the chain gan-. I mean desk, desk, desk, desk.
‘Oi bookworm, give us a chip!'
Photo by Rodrigo Rodriguez on Unsplash
Bonus tip: Read before you Sleep or Just After you Rise
Taking a few minutes to read just as you’re winding down or waking up in bed is the ideal time to get some reading done, especially if you are an early riser or have a tough time getting off to sleep. You have fewer distractions to deal with in the small hours and more time to really dive into that book that’s been calling to you for ages.
So that’s my tried-and-tested list of 21 top tips on how to read more books. I’ll be adding even more reading tips, freebies and other goodies later on to help you tick more books off your reading list, so stay tuned.
But in the meantime what has worked best for you when it comes to reading more books? Making it a part of your schedule? Squeezing books between appointments, reading under the covers before you go to bed?
Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to share your tips and ideas with others.