How to Read More
I am reading more than ever with these strategies.
When I was a child, my mother used to take us to the library every single week. My sister and I would check out these huge piles of books, and this was a tradition all the way up until high school. I went to a public/free specialized arts high school where I had been successfully admitted into their competitive literary arts program. My classmates and I would consist of a future National Student Poet, Youngarts winner, Scholastic winners, and award-winning for national competitions, but, for the first time in my life, everything consisted of reading and writing constantly. I fell behind quickly because I no longer was reading for fun—it was a chore. At the same time, I struggled in my normal English classes, and was the only literary kid to not join the English Honor Society.
It took me six years to regain my love of reading. I was a sophomore in college very disillusioned with my major, so I found that reading was a form of escapism that reminded me of my love and appreciation for a world I probably won’t be able to see all of. It reminds me of the artistic powers of humanity as a whole, which can be comforting and affirming in some of our most dire times. So try to read more! It’s worth it. Here are some of the tips that led me to reading as much as I do despite being a graduate student who works almost full time.
Turn that phone off.
We’re all guilty nowadays of reaching for our cellphone and mindlessly scrolling through TikTok or Instagram. Every week, when you get your weekly screen report, what is it? On my phone, it’s a total of two hours per week. I hate social media and don’t spend a lot of time on my Instagram account, nor do I actually read anything on Twitter. I used to, though. My secret to getting all of this off my mind is to simply turn my phone off. These apps are meant to be addicting, and so are the interfaces on, for example, an iPhone.
Instead of comparing my life to someone else’s on Instagram, I now fill in the gaps and read. Whenever I woke up, I used to immediately reach for my phone and scroll through Instagram, then Reddit, and finally watch some YouTube videos until 10 am. I would wake up at eight, for reference, and I typically start my work at 11 am. Now I’ve replaced that first hour of mindless scrolling with reading time, which has led me to almost finish a book by the time I get up for breakfast at nine thirty. Then, at night, if I can’t fall asleep, instead of reaching for my phone to entertain me I finish off the book I started in the morning.
Download audiobooks for commuting.
My commute consists of driving for thirty minutes to campus, parking in a garage, then walking all the way to class or work. Imagine how much of an audiobook you can get through in this span of time instead of listening to music. Some people may prefer to listen to music, but if you’re on the fence, think about how much you can learn in just the thirty minutes it took you to get from Point A to Point B. I take a class with a blind person who wants to do his PhD in history, which requires quite a bit of reading. He told us on the first day that he listens to books on 4x speed—just as you get faster at reading by reading more books, you become more efficient in listening by listening to more books.
Something I also do while going through my homework is listening to the same audiobook I was working on in the car. Some people like podcasts, but I like to fill silence with the written word. If I can’t be physically be reading, then why not do it through an alternative method?
Learn when to stop & don’t put pressure.
I think a big part of book reading on social media is having an excessive amount of pressure. There is this pressure to constantly be consuming, to buy more books, to have something meaningful to say about everything you’ve ever read. When you put a pressure of a Goodreads challenge, for example, and say that you want to read 200 books by the end of the year, you may be limiting yourself in ways that you don’t even realize. This is not a healthy way to consume, so it’s time to learn what works for you.
Read everything. Discover what you like the most and then start to branch out. If you do not like a book you are currently reading, then why are you continuing to read it? There’s also an element that I ask a lot of people my age and older: what did you think about this book really? So often we go online and base our opinions around other people’s reviews, constantly looking for what is quote on quote the best through the means of other people. Stop doing that. Find books based on the summary or book jacket, form your own opinions, then join the conversation with your own opinion.
That will make reading easier for you in the long run, as you’re not relying on someone else’s pipeline to help you make decisions. There’s also choice paralysis when you expose yourself to so many differing options and opinions, which may not get you anywhere except where you’re currently at. Learn how to enjoy the process.
Use your local library or online resources.
I love my local library system. They give us Libby, so I check out audiobooks for free via there, and I can also check out books via OverDrive. I also get Kanopy for free, which is incredibly helpful for someone who works in film and television journalism. Anyways, your local library is a treasure trove usually for books you may not have ever heard about. I constantly comb through the new section of the library to find random authors I’ve never heard of before, and I have my library place orders for books I want that might fit their needs overall. This has helped a lot in the poetry department, since I don’t like to buy my own poetry books due to space constraints and a desire for minimalism.
Tapping into your resources, too, is hold you build a physical connection and safe space in the act of reading. Whenever I go to the library, I never leave empty-handed because of how you can spend hours and find stacks upon stacks of books whose premise strikes your fancy. Before I had my own car, my family knew that when I wanted to go to the library, we would spend almost an hour in there. And, as I mentioned before, the more you read books, you’ll become more efficient (and a better human).
