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How can I read more?
It’s a question I heard more than once during my recent spring “mini-tour” to promote The Restoration of Celia Fairchild.
The general busy-ness of life and adulting has always been an obstacle for people trying to figure out how to read more. But I think that the problem became more pervasive in the last couple of years. Many of us were so distracted by world events and worry that focusing on reading became a real challenge.
Solutions to the problem may vary. But I picked up some hints while visiting with bookstores during my recent travels, including Sundog Books in Seaside, Florida, a delightful shop with a cozy, homey vibe and a huge inventory.
While checking out their online store prior to my visit, I found an informative and absolutely spot-on article titled How to Read More. I asked the people at Sundog Books for permission to share it here on my blog and they kindly agreed.
If you only have time to read one thing today, read this article! It’s chock full of practical and easy-to-implement ideas that will help you read more and enjoy it.
In the meantime, check out some of my past reading lists if you’re looking for inspiration on your next read!
How To Read More
If you love reading, but for some reason, you read less and less, know that everything is fine. It happens.
Our lives today have so many things that distract us – how can we not put books away when all these movies, TV shows, YouTube videos, social networks and endless surfing in online stores are around…
Yes, it’s really hard to resist, but you certainly can!
In this article, we want to share with you some tips to read more often and more successfully. These are some notes and some practices that we have collected for our SunDog Books readers club. And maybe it will bring more books into your life!
Why do We Want/Need Ways to Learn How to Read More?
To start reading more, you have to understand why you need it. And you will be surprised, but your goals can be quite varied.
For Work:
If you read a lot on duty, then you definitely need to speed up the process. The logic here is simple: read faster → work faster → more time for books for yourself.
For Education
You need this for your educational career or sometimes you just want to read to learn. And, with all the new alternative ways to gain knowledge (podcasts, online courses and videos), the book still does an excellent job of this task too.
For Self Development
All exercises for increasing speed, one way or another, improve cognition and memory.
For Fun
Because good books always = fun!
Book lovers have an additional special goal for reading more often. If you love literature, you will understand what we mean: you want to catch everything – to follow modern literature, and not forget about the classics, look into non-fiction and children’s publications. And there’s so much you want to reread! The goals are ambitious, but attainable if you read a lot.
And so – How to read more:
We will tell you about the methods that we use ourselves. Perhaps some will suit you as well.
15 Minutes a Day
You’ve probably already heard this rule: if you want to start a healthy habit, devote fifteen minutes a day to it. Once upon a time, we all read irregularly, in jumps and starts. Sometimes we cannot open a book we have begun weeks ago. Therefore, you should decide to create a rule: devote at least fifteen minutes a day to reading. Try reading before bed, or maybe during lunchtime, or even when you are having your morning coffee.
You will see progress immediately. You will notice that almost always your fifteen minutes will grow into half an hour or more. But the most remarkable thing is that in three weeks your hands themselves will be looking for a book.
50 First Pages
This method advises – If the book hasn’t hooked you from the first 50 pages, put it aside! Life is too short to read uninteresting books.
It is necessary to change the approach to books. At first, it will be hard for you to stop and put the book down. Even if we put the book away, it will seem to reproach us from the shelf, mocking us as quitters. But in the end, we should come to one simple thought: if it doesn’t hook your attention, you should not force yourself to read it.
Fifty pages is not a bad test. Not the most objective, but definitely effective. It helps to determine whether it interests you or not, and whether to spend time on things that do not excite you.
Reader’s Diary
This should be used to improve the quality of reading – to make it more conscious. For starters, it can be a simple notebook with headings:
- Author
- Year of publication
- Main characters
- Scene
- Plot
- Theme
- Quotes
And, yes, a reader’s diary is not a thing about quantity, but about quality. But, it can also motivate. When you open your diary and start looking at quotes (especially quotes), you immediately really want to read.
Maybe a Book Bet?
Several people can participate. Members of the betting group can come from friends, family, and also your colleagues. And of course, you can set your own rules for participation, but we’ll give you a simple example:
Everyone in the group should read and review a book over the course of a month with weekly updates. Anyone who does not finish a review buys the book for all other participants for the next month.
Speed Reading
Another effective way to increase the amount you read is speed reading. The logic here is simple – the faster you read, the more books you can enjoy.
*There are many online courses on speed reading, and you can also study on your own using instructional books. But, it is worth noting that this is a serious learning process that will require some effort on your part.
Outcome: How to Read More
Reading every day is quite attainable, the main thing is to try to make it a habit.
Sometimes, instead of heading for Facebook, try opening a book and soon you won’t even remember why you needed to wander around social media.
And also – don’t forget about audiobooks. They are a cool way to take the load off your eyes sometimes and just immerse yourself in the story. Some books are really strong in voice acting.
