Easiest ways you can get into Reading 📚

I read 14 books last month; it was the best month I had for reading.

Image from my Notion Reading Journal

I have been reading ever since I was 12 years old. My first was one of those Geronimo Stilton books. I had a whole collection of them. I also read a lot of Tom Gates and Goosebumps novels (mostly because they were easy to read at that time and were the only ones available in our school library). I still remember showing up to the library at my school, where our teacher used to pick out new Goosebumps novels for me so I could read them before anyone else. She was a great teacher. It was because of her that I used to take library books home all the time (which I think was prohibited because students never gave them back; they sold them off or just forgot about them completely). Going through my library books to find a new edition of the Famous Five book or a random, out-of-place Ruskin bond All of it made me the reader I am.

I am 19 now, and my reading journey has been on and off. I am not going to pretend that I have been reading 100 books every year since then; one year it was 20, and another year I read that many in two months. However, what I have learned in these years is how to get back to reading. I am not an expert at reading; heck, there have been times where I read a book for 50 pages and forgot about it completely. I still do. But because of all these years, I have learned how to start or get back into the habit of reading, and I am here to spill the beans. So if you want to start reading or get back into it with full force, let me give you some tips that worked for me. Use these tips faithfully, and you will fall in love with those dusty shelves and hardcovers you bought.

What kind of movies do you like? ⭐

Quick question. What kind of movies do you like? What genre traps you into watching the whole series or a movie in one go? It will probably be best to start reading in that same genre. Sure, you can pick up books that people say you should read. Pick up nonfiction because it is the only genre that will transform you, right? If there are many suggesting a book, of course there has to be a reason. But for you to make reading second nature and not just a task you do, it’s better to start with a genre you are comfortable with. For me, it was mystery and thriller. I love watching this series, “The Mentalist,” which is about a guy catching a serial killer who killed his wife and daughter. So, in my initial days of reading, I bought books that were in the same genre. I bought a lot of Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes and later switched to more modern thrillers like “The Push” or “The Guest List.” This is where your interest in good literature can develop, but it can only happen if you pick a book in a genre you actually love.

This is how I started

“Read Rigorously Everyday”- This advice is bullshit

Okay, so now that you have a book, make time for you to read it every day. Use that alarm clock as a reminder to pick up that book and start reading. Sit down for an hour every day to read.

All of this sounds super nice. But in my case, it wasn’t practical. As I said, you have to make reading fun and not a task that has to be done. Sure, you want to read every day, but if you don’t, most people will lose their motivation and feel like shit. You are not the problem here. If you don’t want to read at a time you thought you should, then don’t. It’s a better alternative than reading every day, even if you don’t want to and get fed up with reading. Don’t track it like there is a deadline.

“I have to read 10 pages every day so I can finish this book in a month.” 🤓

I have had days where I read 5 pages, the next day I read 20, and then the day after that I finished the goddamn book. If you can only afford a certain time of the day to read, then that’s fine, but don’t put pressure on yourself. It’s a long road; take it easy.

Consume book content. ⭐

The best advice I have for you, and what made me want to read more, was to listen to others rant about how much they loved a book. I watched this thriller recommendation from a YouTuber, and she was the reason I started reading “Lock Every Door” by Riley Sagar, which has been one of the best thrillers I have ever read (thank you, Gabbyreads). Surround yourself with people who love reading the same shit you do. If you can’t, YouTube, TikTok, or even Goodreads can help grow your interests. Not only do you get good book recs, you also surround yourself with content about books, which makes you think about them even more. I remember watching this video where a girl went to one of the biggest libraries in Portland, and that has always been on my bucket list since then. I watch a lot of these (Haley Pham, Jack Edwards, Robin Waldun, Jared Henderson, gabbyreads, Christie Anne Jones, Emmie (The Goat), and a lot of others). The important thing here is to follow everything and find out what others love, but only read what you think you would like.

DNFing a book is okay

Do I even need to say this? You are a distinct individual. Everybody is different. There is a good possibility that you would not like something that a lot of others do. I still remember that I didn’t finish this book called “The Maidens,” which was written by the author of “Silent Patient,” one of the best sellers in its genre. I thought it was boring and predictable. So I DNFed it. I know that in the beginning, it is important to sit down and actually finish a book because you have never done that. But it’s totally different from building up to something good or a book that is slow-paced. There is a book called “We Were Liars,” and I felt that it was paced terribly, but I still loved the book because it builds up to this crazy reveal. I think it’s worth reading; maybe you won’t. That’s the point.

You can take it slow. Start small. Nobody gives a shit ⭐

Also, reading slowly or starting small is nothing to be ashamed of. In my days where I was in a reading block, I used to search on Youtube for “What are some small books I can finish in a day?” to find something that could get me back into reading. It turns out there were a lot. I even bought this coffee table book called “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse,” which had beautiful illustrations with deep messages and was easy to read. Even a kid could have read that. You can even start with Graphic novels or Manga’s if that’s more your style. Then, if you want to, you can make your way into lighter novels to get into the habit of reading more literature. No one will accuse you of reading just 10 pages a day. Find your own pace.

Extracts from “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”

Reading one or two at a time? Four maybe?

Ok, so now you know what you want to read, but how many should you read at a time? Now this is a big question; it usually varies and depends on you. I am comfortable reading one fiction and one nonfiction book at a time. At night, I would read fiction, whereas early in the morning, I would read nonfiction. If you think reading just one book at a time is boring, you can pick another one. It’s not that reading more at a time makes you more of a smartass; it’s just that some people want to read different stories at a time because they are bored with just one. You can take this number as far as you want or make it as small as one. You will never know unless you try.

Write about the book, talk about it, meditate over it. ⭐

Okay, when you read a book, your mind will process everything and throw it in the filing cabinet. The thing is, our brains have a very trashy filing system. When you go looking for something, you find only the obvious stuff, like the main story or the names of the characters. You can often forget what made you like the book in the first place. Some random line that changed your life for like 10 seconds will sit forever on your shelf. To avoid this, writing is the best remedy I found to preserve the soul of the book. Write about what you liked in the book and what major themes it covered, so that when you are in a certain mood, it’s clear what theme you want the book to have. You can create book logs to keep track of your progress as a way of motivating yourself to read a lot of books, or if you can, join a book club. I use Notion (like every human being) to track what I read. You can use Goodreads too; it has a section for you to find out about new books and track what you are reading. All these things can help retain the memory of a book, because what’s the point of reading something if you can’t use some of it?

Kindle, eBooks, Audiobooks, Try everything.

Last but not least, try everything. You might like reading off your phone; you might like reading an eBook; you might even like listening to a book. You can download free eBooks from a million sites (I use Zlibrary). You can even take a subscription for a month or two for free with Amazon Audible, where you can get 2–3 audiobooks for free. It can’t hurt to try new things, right?

Congratulations. You just became an avid book reader; get ready to read 4 hours a day, get your life in order, and become better than everyone else. Also, throw away your phone (you aren’t going to use it anyway). If you think this is what happens, then, my friend, you are mistaken. There will be times when you fall. It’s not a straight road after this; actually, this is where the challenge starts. Everybody can follow these steps; it depends on how well you can maintain them throughout your busy schedule. If you do fall off, remember that it’s fine. You are a human, not a celestial god who has to get everything right. You will be here for a long time, and we don’t live in Fahrenheit 451 (a secret book rec for you, its good), so the books will be here for a long time too. Find your pace and read because you want to. Not because society tells you it’s good for you.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I will be here, reading “Klara and the Sun” and “The Castle.”

My Bookshelf

Currently Reading

Bye readers!!