Some caveats:

1) I don’t read that much. Not counting any books related directly to my work, I read between 30 and 35 books last year. That’s a fine number, but nowhere near the book-diet of some people I know. Maybe specifically because of this I might be a better example for some people, as my numbers are achievable.

2) This should not be competitive. Read as many books as you are comfortable with. Don’t read when it stops being fun or interesting or you have better things to do. Also, if you are competitive about this, that will change your habits in a negative way, because you will choose books based on what you can read fast rather than what would be interesting and you will start to read fast rather than digesting what you are reading.

3) I read a lot of non-fiction. I like to read things that will inspire my thinking in some way. This does come with some benefits regarding pacing your reading.

Okay, why this topic? No one has specifically asked me about this, but I have seen this question asked of other people, so I thought I would give my two cents worth as I do have my own methods here. Importantly, not counting anything work-related, again, I only read during the summer and I always have a slow start, because I have to relearn the routine every year. Based on what I’ve heard from people, this is a very personal thing, so what works for me might not work for you at all. However, reading is always worth it. Just do it. It’s fun and you might accidentally learn something.

As I said above, I read around 30-35 books last year, which is close to one book every two days. However, last year was an outlier. Usually I read about half that or roughly two books a week. I am a teacher, so I have an eight week summer holiday, which gives me plenty of time for reading.

I like to read outside. I take a walk daily and just go somewhere to sit and read. This works for me, because I don’t have any distractions. Well, there’s people who will sometimes come and talk to you (sometimes opening with questions about the book you’re reading), but I can’t be distracted by all the other things that generally demand your attention, like my ~5000 movies on DVD around me or games or the fridge. So, different distractions. The actual problem with this method is the weather. Since I’m so used to reading outside, if it’s a rainy summer, my reading becomes sketchy when I don’t get into the routine necessary.

I always start the reading with something that has clear milestones. As I read a lot of non-fiction, those usually have pretty clear parts Take for example Witchcraft – A History in 13 Trials. Okay, that’s easy. There’s an introduction and after that there’s thirteen parts to the book. So, when I restart my reading habit (and this is roughly the time I do it every year, but this year it has been quite cold), I can set myself clear goals. So, including the introduction, there’s 14 parts, so if I read two on the first day, three on the second, four on the third and five on the fifth, I have read the whole book. This gives me a reasonable goal for every day and a bit of a ramp. Then, later, when I’ve found my groove, I can forget about these goals.

During the summer, I always have a book with me. I hate reading off small screens, so I just have a book or, if I’m about to finish one, two books with me. This gives me the opportunity to use those moments I would otherwise use to doomscroll for reading a book on how we are totally fucked, so basically the same thing, but with a more professionalism. Or you can just read something that doesn’t make you feel that existential horror, but that’s up to you. This habit does have an effect on my book buying habits. I buy more softcovers and I try to keep the size of the books pretty manageable. I mean, it took me years to read Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, because it is a brick of a book, and for the same reason Moscow 1937 has been waiting for me to pick it up from the bookshelf for ages.

Now, some people advocate for not buying books, if you are not going to read them right away. Since I live in a city with one single bookstore, which obviously focuses on popular options, I do buy books whenever I get the chance, or I’ll order a bunch at a time. This is expensive over time, but I also have a full bookshelf of books waiting to be read. My last years numbers made a small dent on it, but there’s still close to a hundred books there. Maybe I’ll get through them some day, but I can’t be sure. For many, I would suggest a library. We do have a pretty good one here, but my reading habit is quite weird and it doesn’t tend to work on schedules very well, so there are risks to borrowing.

I tend to have multiple books I’m reading at the same time. I don’t read them at the same pace, but rather what happens is that I find a book that’s very interesting, but also kind of heavy or hard to read, so I don’t try to force it. Instead I’ll read something else when I can’t focus on something specific. These books tend to be very academic or somewhat poorly written. Sometimes I just read bad books, because they talk about a topic I want to learn about, but can’t find anything better (and not all writers are good at their jobs).

I tend to have interesting books lying around the apartment. This keeps me getting back to reading, when I ache to read something that’s just there. Like right now, there’s a pile of books on my left side on a beanbag chair (for some reason). On top of the pile is Feeding the Monster by Anna Bogutskaya, an author who’s previous book, Unlikeable Female Characters, I found to be very good, so I’m looking forward to reading this new one as well.

And if you somehow reached the end of this, that’s over a thousand words, which is equal to three or four pages on a printed book, so you are already well on your way.