I read 130+ books this year 2020! || tips on how to read more

WoOoOoOHoOoO! I read 130+ books this year! Kudos to myself! I really didn’t expect this. It made me question my sanity and wonder how I got all other stuff done. lol. I do realize that there are tons of other people out there who read 200+…500+ books each year – and hats off to them, really. But reading 130+ books for me is a big deal. I do know that the pandemic was a huge factor, because I had a lot of free time BUT I think there are quite a few general ways which could work for many people. So, if you wish to read more and you are looking for tips, let me provide you with some.

01. READ EVERYDAY 📖

I know everyone has got school, jobs, family, commitments, etc BUT try to read every single day, make it a habit. I personally try to incorporate reading into everything I do. Try to multi-task – read while eating, read when you are travelling or maybe read in between two classes. (yeah! I do that) What I mean is to not read while the class is going on, but read during that short break between two classes. You won’t believe how much reading you can get done in that amount of time.

02. DON'T BE TOO AMBITIOUS 👩‍🎓

Set a reasonable goal. You know your schedule, you know your tenacity – set your goal likewise. Me for instance – I set my goal to 30 books this year. Be realistic.

03. FIND SOMEONE TO ANNOY 👭

Yep! You read that right! It’s fun and kinda encouraging to have someone to share your reading goals with apart from your bloggers family, and even better if you can get that person to read a few books with you. I wasn’t very comfortable with buddy reading at first either – I was used to reading alone. But I realized soon how much fun it is to be able to roast a book, or gush about it with someone. In fact, sometimes when you don’t feel like reading at all, you can just try buddy reading a book that month. It’s slow paced, relaxing and if the friend is real good, it can be stress -free too. I have people I like to annoy too!! Above all I have got Nehal@ Books and Words, and then Tiction@ Fictionally Crazy, Alex Jo@ Mybookworld24 etc among others.

04. USE READING TRACKERS/ GOODREADS 🏃‍♀️

It can get a bit tedious at first, but believe me – it’s immensely satisfying to watch the percentage increase in the no. of pages when you update it after a day’s hard work, and watching your goal decrease by a book everytime you finish one. I personally use goodreads, and I started pretty recently too, but now I really enjoy using it. You can even try journaling if that doesn’t fit to your liking. (ps. I am gonna try it this year. I am keeping it SIMPLE).

05. LISTEN TO BOOKS 🎧

I realized this only recently – but listening to audiobooks is AMAZING!!! It might take a while to get used to but it really helps. You can listen to the book while doing maths (I do that), cleaning, travelling, sitting idly, etc. Sometimes, when I can’t focus, I have noticed that listening to the audiobook at the begining helps you get into it.

06. TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF TECHNOLOGY 💻

Read ebooks. I don’t know why but I feel like ebooks help me read much faster and much more in general. Maybe becuase the visual feel of a book being too big tends to intimidate a lot of people. And this doesn’t mean picking ebooks over physical books and loving them any less – it just means prioritizing your reading goals.

07. FEEL IT 📚

Read more physical books. I know! I know! I just asked you to read ebooks. lol. So, here’s the thing – if you are someone who is addicted to social media or phone, if you are continuosly browsing through whatever – be it your gallery, utube, insta, wordpress (lol), ebooks is not a good idea for you. You will just end up getting distracted.

08. PLAN IT 🛠️

I don’t really make a mothly tbr all the time – in fact never. I am a huge mood reader. But I still think that even if you are a mood reader it is important that you have a list of books handy – because I tend to waste a lot of time deciding my new read. It’s okay if you don’t compleytely follow your tbr – it’s just to give you the basic idea. Because after you spend hours, scrolling through goodreads tbr, looking up books in the internet, other blogs, insta, youtube – you get exhauted and you, my friend are no longer in the mood to read.

09. ONE IT UP ➕

I didn’t start this unitl this year. But yah it’s refreshing to read a few books at a time. For instance, if you are reading a high fantasy or a non-fiction, you need to concentrate A LOT. But you are too tired to do that, and you just want to relax – so a second book sounds like a good choice. (But reading multiple books at a time can be disadvantageous – so you don’t wanna go overboard with that).

10. IT'S OKAY. RELAX.☀️

It’s okay to dnf books. There are hunderds of books in the world, so there is no need for you to waste your time forcing yourself to read a book you are not enjoying or don’t like.

11. LEARN TO HAVE FUN 💃

Read what you enjoy above all. It’s good to mix up genres and try new stuff but it’s important to have fun too; after all isn’t that why we started reading in the first place.

12. SKIM? 🤷‍♀️

I don’t usaully do this, but let’s say you have book that you are not liking that much. You don’t wanna dnf, you can’t dnf, you have to read it, you must read it but you are not enjoying it a lot – so just skim through it, or what’s more popularly known as speed reading. There are many articles and guides on speed-reading on the internet, but it’s best if you figure it out yourself.

14. START SHARING AND CARING 👨‍👨‍👦‍👦

Sometimes sharing and talking about the books that you have read inspires you to read more. That could be in the form of blogging about them – like me, or any social media platform – all have a bookcommunity, or even commenting on other people’s blog posts.

15. GET CRAZY NERDY 🦹‍♀️

Um..so I don’t if this is normal but sometimes when I can’t focus and am not in the mood to read but I want to read I read aloud to myself, I talkalong, I annotate stuff, take notes (which is rare), and above all I act it out to myself lol. It’s really fun. But it works. Don’t do this in public please – I have, and all I can say is it’s not pleasant.

16. GET COMPETITIVE 🚀 

Partcipate in readathons, readalongs, challenges and try and do reading sprints with your “buddy”. Plus, you get to know more people, read at least one more book, get cool recommendations and have fun. It’s a win-win situation!

17. JOIN YOUR PEOPLE 🥂                             

And last but not the least – join a club!! It’s fun to be a part of a club and read just one book with tons of people and have fun while doing it. I, myself host a club – “BOOKS GO BOOM!” alongwith @cherelle over at Goodreads and we have tons of fun! Feel free to join!

“And lastly, I wanted to say that the no. of books that you read don’t really matter as long as you read. No matter how many books you read, you will always be a legit reader. If you share the passion of stories, if you have the addiction to words that weave themselves into something completely magical and nothing short of a miracle – you will always be a story lover. you will always be a reader. you will always be a book lover. always.“

Think I went a little overboard with that? I bet I did. [sighs] Just bear with me. I am a TAD bit dramatic. hehe.🤭🤫

Keep reading guys!

UNTIL NEXT TIME!