I don’t plan on ever reading a book twice.
There are just too many good books to read and too many books on my to-read list.
I ended 2020 with more than 60 books read.
On Instagram, on my blog, and on my podcast, I share what I’m reading.
People always ask me how I can read so much.
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At the end of the day, it’s all about time management.
I’m pretty good at managing my time, but I will also add that my husband stays at home and takes care of the kids so that takes some off my plate.
If you don’t have a stay at home husband, you can still read a lot of books!
He only started staying home in August of 2020 and by then I was finishing one book a week, so #noexcuses.
I have a lot more I want to get to, and I’m sure you do too, so I’m sharing how I’m able to read so many books.
7 Tips to Read More Books
1. Join GoodReads
I don’t know how I was so late to the GoodReads game, but I was.
I joined in 2019 and spent quite a bit of time adding all the books I’ve already read to my account.
Then, I found friends and added them to see what they were reading.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ME ON GOODREADS
The best part is building your to-read list, or “want to read” list as it’s called on GoodReads.
I used to have a section in my notes app where I’d just type the title of books when I’d hear of a good one.
I either never went back to it or I could never actually find the book because I didn’t include the author or I got the title wrong, and to be honest, I may have totally forgotten what the book was about when I did go back to look at it months later.
Wellington, Florida
In GoodReads, you can see it all – the title, the author, the description, the cover, and even if your friends read it and what they thought… along with thousands and thousands of others.
Now, I can’t continue reading and building my to be read, or TBR, list without updating it on GoodReads.
2. Get a library card
For years, I bought books.
Yes, it adds up to a lot of money, but I had a dream of built-in bookshelves in my home with a sliding ladder, and naturally, I wanted them full of books.
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Once I got that, I started getting all of my books from the library.
It even turned into a weekly trip for me and the kids every Sunday.
Austin Public Library in Texas
Not only can you rent physical books, but you can also rent digital books and audiobooks. (More on that soon.)
The local library app makes it super easy to put books on hold (after you add them to your “want to read” shelf on GoodReads, of course).
3. Listen to books
This is something I’m new to.
I love holding a book and looking at works and reading them.
When I would drive or take my son on walks, I would listen to podcasts.
But like self-help books, you can get burnt out and feel like you’re hearing the same thing over and over again.
So, I bought a subscription to Audible on Amazon Prime Day and started listening to non-fiction books.
CLICK HERE TO EXPLORE AN AUDIBLE MEMBERSHIP
There is something about fiction books that I like to read and non-fiction books that I like to listen to.
Maybe it’s the narrator. Who knows?!
The bonus is that I pop on my FitBit and count my steps as I listen to an audiobook.
Yes, the book is my motivation to hit 10,000 steps a day.
Hey – whatever works?!
4. Schedule time to read
I rarely read in the morning or middle of the day unless it’s the weekend.
Even though I’m my own boss, I still find it difficult to be “clocked out” during business hours for fun reading.
I really like reading every night before bed because it’s the perfect way to decompress and wind down.
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The only time this can get problematic is if you’re reading a really good psychological thriller and can’t turn your crazy brain off.
As someone who has had problems sleeping for quite some time, it’s a great way to wind down in the evening, but regardless of what time works for you, scheduling time daily will help you read more.
Oh yeah, and make sure your family at home knows when it’s reading time so you can actually read.
5. Do both at the same time
I mean this in two ways.
Let me explain.
Classic Bookshop in Palm Beach, Florida
a. Listen and read at the same time
If you look at a book while you’re listening to a book at the same, you can read it much faster if you speed the audio up.
I usually listen to books at 1.2 speed.
However, if you see the words while you listen, you can bump that up to 1.5 or higher.
Because your brain is hearing and seeing the words, you won’t only get through it faster but you will retain the information better.
Barnes & Noble in Wellington, Florida
b. Read fiction and non-fiction at the same time
This is something I started doing to read more… and it works great.
I like to mix fiction and non-fiction because there is no way you’re going to feel overwhelmed or confused because the content in the books is going to be completely different.
Right now, I’m actually reading two non-fiction books and one fiction book and it’s working well because one non-fiction book is a memoir and the other is about rental property investing.
As long as the books are totally different topics, you should be good.
And hey – sometimes you’re in the mood for learning and development and other times you just want to be entertained.
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6. Stop reading or listening (if you don’t like the book)
I had a really hard time with this for quite a while.
If I started something, I wanted to finish it.
The first time I did not finish a book was when I was reading The Goldfinch.
I just couldn’t get into it (even though so many people seemed to love it).
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After that, I’ve stopped The Nightingale and The Millionaire Next Door.
Again, very popular books that weren’t doing it for me for one reason or another.
It used to bother me, but then I’d go back to the reason I don’t read the same book twice – there are way too many good books out there to waste your time on one you don’t like!
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7. Join a book club
This is yet another one on my list that I’m late to the game on.
I don’t know why in the world it took me so long to join a book club, but it did.
Luckily, I overshare everything about books on Instagram so a few people who live in the Palm Beach area messaged me about local book clubs, so I joined those.
Then, the Coronavirus made it hard to actually attend those book club meetings, so I’ve defaulted to #bookstagram.
#bookstackchallenge
I’ve “met” some pretty cool fellow book lovers and readers by just using the hashtag and falling in love with creative book stacks and images of bookstores.
Then, I joined Facebook groups where people just chat about books and share recommendations.
#Bookstagram is by far more enjoyable for me than the Facebook groups, but I like to keep my options open.
So, what’s on your TBR list this year?
