How To Find Time To Read More Books In 2020
The best way to get young people to invest their time in reading is being willing to invest time in it ourselves.
At the beginning of every year, I reevaluate my reading habits. I love to read but sometimes I find that reading gets put on the back burner more often while other activities take priority. Sometimes these activities, especially family-related and work-related, NEED to take priority, but I find there are still ways to find more time to read. How do YOU make more time to read? Answer my survey here. I’ll post results in this blog.
This year, I’ve signed up for Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge. I’m starting out with a goal of 100 books. This includes picture books, so I’m actually aiming for MORE than 100. In addition to being realistic, however, I also don’t want to be tempted to speed-read. With picture books, for example, I want to start going through new and not-so-new picture books and read them more thoughtfully, both for enjoyment but also more analytically (how the text and illustrations interact, etc).
Anyway….I’ve updated my post below in case one or more tips might help others. You might also want to check out what parents suggested in my “Finding Time To Write (Even If You Have Kids)” survey.
1. I have multiple print books on the go, and keep them around the house. I usually have print books that I’m in the midst of reading in our bedroom, my office, living room, dining room, etc. Print books have the advantage over ebooks here in that just SEEING them reminds me to read them.
2. I read books on my iPhone. Yes, the screen is small but I enlarge the text to make reading comfortable. This is super-handy for reading when I may only have a few minutes, like when I’m in a line-up or waiting for someone. Or when I’m in a super-crowded subway train and am holding onto a support pole with one hand….but I can easily reach into my purse, pull out my iPhone and flip through pages with my other hand.
3. I read books on my iPad. I have an iPad Pro and find it a bit too heavy to hold for reading unless it’s propped up somehow, but I find that using a pillow or my knees works fine. I prefer print books for the esthetic experience (turning print pages, feel of of a physical book etc.) but I do find that the backlit screen on my iPad enables me to read even in places with dim lighting. Some are ebooks I’ve bought, some are borrowed from the Toronto Public Library.
4. I read books on my Kindle. Because the Kindle is lightweight and loaded up with a lot of my ebooks, I can avoid angsting over what book to take on out-of-town trips (“I’m 3/4 of way through this book so if I finish it on the plane, what do I read next? Should I bring an extra just in case? But I’m trying to travel with just carry-on augh” etc.), I just take my Kindle and I have access to many books-on-the-go.
5. I listen to audiobooks. I remember avoiding audiobooks in the beginning because I never considered it REAL reading, plus I didn’t think I could really enjoy a book by just listening to it. Then my husband played an audiobook (I can’t remember the title…something about divers and scavenging in deep waters) on a long car trip and I was surprised to find it an immersive reading experience. The narration is important, though — a bad narrator will totally turn me off a book, so I make it a habit of always listening to a sample first. I have an Audible subscription but I also borrow audiobooks from the Toronto Public Library. Whenever I’m at certain stages in book illustration, I listening to audiobooks as I draw.
SUMMARY:
As long as the story is good, I am willing to read it in any format. I do make a point of buying books from indie bookstores but I have found that my appetite for reading makes it impractical (from a budget standpoint) to buy all my reading material. The Toronto Public Library is a wonderful resource, with print and ebook and audiobooks available.
Also, I squeeze in reading whenever I can. While I’d love to save my reading stints for when I have an entire afternoon to curl up on the couch with a good book, reality is that if I always waited for The Perfect Reading Day, I wouldn’t be reading nearly as many books as I do now. Before my recent eye surgery, I also found it a challenge to read a regular print book.
And as summer approaches, consider participating in Donalyn Miller’s #BookADay Challenge!
SURVEY:
How do YOU make time to read? Answer my 3-question poll here.
OTHER RESOURCES ON HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR READING TIME:
11 Ways Busy People Make Time To Read – by Eva Lantsoght on Lifehack.org
The Best Way To Find More TIme To Read – on FS Farnam Street’s blog
How To Read Even More In 2019 by Strand bookstore
5 Ways To Find More Time To Read – by Kristin Wong on Mentalfloss.com
25 Expert Tips To Reading WAY More Books This Year – by John Rampton on Inc.com