For those of you who are reading 5 or more books per month, what is your secret?
I have been making a conscious effort to read throughout the day, but I still feel like it is taking me FOREVER to get through a book (about a week and a half). For those of you who are reading 5 or more books per month, what is your secret?
I read every morning & night at least 20 minutes. I try for more though
Audiobooks
Ahhh!!! Maybe this is where I’m lacking. I say this without any judgement, I’ve never considered that reading. It is such a different experience. I know it is still good for our development as readers though.
Kayla I agree
I don’t consider it reading either. It’s listening!
This might sound crazy but it’s what I do. I take every book I read and divide it by thirds (I try to read a book in three or four days). Whenever I get to the bookmark I stop. If I can’t make it to the book mark I just read until I’m tired
That is a great idea ?
Thanks!! It sounds crazy but it works ?
I keep thinking when I retire how many books will I go through in a week. I am 48… got a few more years to go?
?? my husband works second shift. I get my reading done when he’s at work. I’m enjoying while I can because he won’t be on second much longer!
It is so much easier when my husband is not around. He plays soccer on Wednesday nights and usually once he leaves I turn off the TV have my Amazon Echo play me some classical music and then I’ll read until he gets back.
I think reading a book in a week and a half is pretty good!
I just want to read more! I remember as a kid I would go to the library and check out 20-30 books at a time and spend the next couple of weeks reading all of them. Now, I’m lucky if I get through 2-3 books a month. Granted, the books I’m reading now are much more difficult.
My TBR list is getting out of control!! I’m wanting to move through my books faster, so I can read more of them.
Omg I read sooo slow
I watch very little TV
I’m working on this. I love stories of all kinds, so I have some television series that I’m pretty dedicated too. I’m getting better though.
I think it helps that I just have basic TV and do a little on Netflix and Amazon prime.
We don’t have cable. I read instead of TV.
I’m the same. I read 1 or 2 books a month. I would like to read more since my physical TBR pile is in the hundreds ?
I get focused on some books and distracted during others. No idea how some get through so many – my goal is 2/month including audible versions so I take advantage of car/commute time…
I listen to audio books when doing chores. Focus on 30-60 minutes of reading after everyone goes to bed (kids and husband).
I think that sounds reasonable. I consider very fast for me four days.
no internet, no TV.. and if possible skip work. kidding.
I wouldn’t worry about the fact that others read more. Just be proud that you are reading more than you use to and just keep going. ?
Exactly. I have friends that can read 130+ books a year. I’m not that person, and I’m ok with that.
I just aim to read more books than I read last year! Wow 130+, I don’t know how they can do it! At least as they have read heaps they can suggest some good ones for you to read ☺
Same here. I set a goal of 60 books last year, so I hope to read 61 books this year lol. I already have a TBR list longer than my lifespan…so not sure I need more suggestions…not that it stops me from obtaining them lol.
Haha I know that feeling! 60 is good. I did 27 last year. I find that I get weighed down with professional reading.
I hear others get immersed in books and block out everything. That has never happened to me. I am easily distracted. I have to force myself to read. I really think that I don’t like reading but just love learning and thats the only way to do it. I guess is like exercise. In order to get results you have to do the work. But I cannot imagine my life without reading.
It depends on the day. January,,, 23 books, February 12 and March… I expect 6 maybe. Winter is when I read 56-8 hours a day.. am retired so it works. But even when I was not retired most months was 10-15. I just carry my Kindle everywhere. And it builds up over times.
Ok…don’t laugh but I read in the bath tub every morning while I drink some coffee to wake up. I plan a good 30 or so minutes and I read on my lunch break , if I get one, and I read in bed before I pass out. I also read on a kindle or my phone so it’s always with me.
I read in the bath tub every night. Television and phone can’t distract me in there….usually lol.
I read in the bath too!
I do the same thing! We read with any free time we get ?
Before I retired, I’d read on my commute & at lunch.
Since I’m retired I block out between 2 to 5pm for reading.
That’s the key. Our lives are busy. You have to make time to read!
In January I read 9, last month I read 1, so no secret, just a matter of randomness.
Mine is audiobooks
With 3 kids, a job and all the chores a house hold requires there is very little time for reading (l only manage 1 paper book a month) but l can listen up to 15 ?
I startee audio books recently and it’s so true. Not as much as 15 a month but way better then I was doing without.
Same here! Not 15 a month though, but much more than before with only paper books.
Then my man is right when he claims l am always with my headphones on!!!?
I’m starting Christmas knitting for my daughters (Birthday, for one who was born in October) and reading Audio books helps with that. I’m finding I’m capable of listening when my hands are busy.
Can’t do much about when I have to practice music.
I love reading more than just about anything, but I don’t have a set goal. I’m very busy with work, kids…adulting. So, I read when I can, enjoy what I’m reading and excitedly grow my TBR pile on the side. No rush, just pure relaxation and enjoyment. ??
Audio books have pushed up my reading achievements quite a lot. I have a full time job teaching literature and researching (university job) and do enough actual physical reading of paper books and articles etc. at/for work.I also have two children so there’s little time to actually sit down to read at home. Therefore audiobooks are my leisure reading (+ also to get ideas for books to teach); I can listen while doing chores, going for walks, in the car, and I get through quite a lot of these.
I wonder the same thing! – but after feeling a little bit lost in a group of fast readers, I’ve come to realise we all are different kinds of readers. So, unless it makes you feel really sad, taking your time is not such a bad thing…
LIke with eating, right? I eat so slowly, it drives some people crazy. But I enjoy the food, want to get all the flavours, textures, etc. If I eat fast I just get a stomachache. 😉
I find the more I read the faster I get, still.
I read 11 books in January and barely finished 2 in February. Lots of variables – what’s going on in my life, how interesting the book is, etc. A week and a half is not bad depending on your life, do you work full time outside the home, do you have children to take care of when you come home, etc. When you don’t want to put the book down, you read it a lot faster.
Maybe that’s because you have a life…it takes me a week too because I garden and quilt and cook and clean and shop, and the list goes on. I read mostly at night…but I always read.
you must understand, there is no secret; some people simply are faster readers than others, and it’s a perfectly fine variation in ability. What matters here is that when you DO read, you enjoy and retain it!!!
Audiobooks on 1.5 speed.
Some people can just read faster than others. Don’t compare yourself to others. Read at your speed, and engage with what you’re reading, that’s when you will enjoy it. Try audiobooks if you want to get more reading done but can’t find the time sit and read in your day; if you are captive in your car for an hour a day, you’ll finish another book in that week and half. But can you listen to one and read to another and keep them straight? Only you can decide what’s right for you.
omg I had no idea we could speed them up….!!!
@Emery you can if you listen to them digitally! Overdrive and Libby let you speed them up to like 2-3x n
As does Audible.
oh yayyy I have only tried a few (through overdrive) but am new to it and got super annoyed at how slow they talk haha!
Tap on the number circled in your overdrive app! It will probably say 1x, and it will go up by .25 so try it out to get to a comfortable listening pace for you. ?
Awesome! I didn’t know that. Thanks!!!
Read at your speed and enjoy!
i’m a very slow reader because i want to imagine everything that’s taking place, the facial expressions of the characters, and looking up vocabulary words i don’t understand. i also love to google locations that are in the story, or of people.
There are a lot of times when I need to put a book down and reflect on thoughts and emotions. And other times I devour the book in one gulp.
Audiobooks for sure
I read every day, usually at night, for 1-2 hours. Since Jan 1, I’ve finished 6 books.
I don’t know how anyone reads multiple books at once or back to back to back. I read one book a week and then take a week off and then start another.
Whatever works for you! Don’t feel pressured. I read a lot and fast, but don’t retain as much as I would like. Everyone has their strengths. 🙂
I got used to reading multiple books in college when I had 3-6 books I had to read at the same time. Now, I have a paper book for bath tub and miscellaneous times, an audio for when doing cleaning and such, and Kindle for when out and about and in the dark (to not disturb the husband). As long as the subject matter isn’t too close to one another, I personally have no issue.
Audiobooks. There is an app called Overdrive. Download it and rent books from your library. ?
I am allowed to read at work when it is not busy and when I commute which is 4 hrs appx a day I listen to audiobooks….my goal this year is reading reading reading I am at 14 so gar
You don’t HAVE to read faster. It’s not a requirement! Just enjoy what you are reading now.
But if this is because you just want to be able to work through your tbr a little faster, two things that help me are:
-Listening to audiobooks on drives or during chores
-Taking advantage of my phone’s ebook capabilities. I don’t just read ebooks, but I always have an ebook available for random down time–standing in line at the store, waiting on someone, during lunch breaks, etc.
I always have at least those two books going at a time, and often a third in hard copy. It helps to be reading different styles of books if the thought of having more than one going at a time seems like it’d be hard to keep track of. I like non-fiction for audio, and try to keep the others in different genres. Right now my hard copy is a dystopian fantasy and my ebook is a murder mystery.
Whatever you do, just make sure you’re enjoying the time you get for reading, no matter how fast you go!
Buy books you enjoy by authors you love.
I just read when I want to!
It sounds terrible but I would def read more if I didn’t live with my partner. I find we do spend too much time together watching TV and I would prefer this time to be spent reading but he thinks that’s me sending him away. Thought choice! I read every evening when he goes to sleep and I listen to audiobooks when cleaning, driving alone and eating my breakfast xx