not an avid reader (~3-4 books / year, trying to get that number up) but the things that have really invigorated my reading when it feels like a chore to get started:
- reading books that aren’t challenging to start off. all about love and the will to change by bell hooks were the first books i was able to successfully finish in like, years bc her writing style is very colloquial despite the subject matter being very dense. similarly, finding a fun fantasy book (or other genre fiction) to get back in the practice of turning pages and “wanting to find out what comes next” is gonna be paramount to being able to do that for books that are gonna require a little more give from you down the line (haven’t read a physical book in over six months so personally going to start legends and lattes soon to try and trick my brain into not thinking books are time-consuming and scary)
- audiobooks; for me at least reading requires too much visual processing + “sitting still” time that i can’t multi-task and read, so i have to schedule when i’m gonna try and do it (unlike tv where you can have it on in the background as you do dishes or working from home or something and can look up periodically) - taking a chunk of podcast + music time and replacing it with audiobooks has been a game changer bc i now read at the gym, at the office, and in transit <30 min long bc i have to track what station i’m at or see where i’m going
Mar 28, 2024
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As someone who just got back into reading in the last couple of years, I totally understand the frustration of having free time, a shelf full of good books and yet somehow you’re never finishing them or even picking those sweeties up! Here are some tips that helped me be a better reader:
1. Get a Goodreads account and add your friends! While the app itself is pretty clunky, i still love it for getting back into reading because it lets you set goals for yourself, find new reads and more importantly see what your friends are reading (This last one helps me stay accountable, I don’t want my book nerd friends to catch me slacking). I also love being able to write reviews of the books I’ve read.
2. Instead of watching tv or scrolling before bed, read for at least 15 minutes every night. I’ve found this goal to be helpful because it’s attainable, plus reading before bed helps me unplug and sleep better.
3. Start small with shorter or simpler books before building your way back up to longer ones. This was crucial for me coming off of a heavy scrolling/tik tok era when my attention span was especially shot.
Jun 2, 2025
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when I was getting back into reading more regularly, I started with novellas and short stories because it felt less overwhelming. even now, if I get out of the groove of reading, I find something short that will motivate me and get me back into reading my main book
another thing Ive done is invested in an e-reader because an issue I had was keeping focus because of a screen time issue and I was able to satisfy that part of my brain itching for my phone but making it more productive lol. not sure if that's something you're experiencing but it was my biggest issue I had to work around at first
the last thing that helps me is setting up the right vibe to read. in the last few months, Ive been reading a lot of Russian literature so I put on my playlist of older russian and soviet music, maybe light a candle, whatever Im feeling, and just let myself get into it. obviously not a necessity but I always like some quiet music in the background while I read
also seeing this ask made me remember I need to read before bed tonight so thanks for that lmao
Jun 2, 2025
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Start small. I got back into reading this year by reading a lot of novellas and short story collections. No more than 200 pages long. It really felt like I was having to rewire my brain because I’d been out of practice with reading. Find a book that intrigues you (if you want to read graphic novels read graphic novels! you’ll get to your friend’s recs in time) and carry it with you everywhere you go. Then (and I know this sounds ridiculous) you just have to actively choose to read the book. I have to be like “ok we’re putting the phone away now and we are going to read 10 pages” sometimes I read more and sometimes I hit my quota and ditch the book for the day. I made a goodreads and you can set a reading goal challenge (which I’m now behind on) and that’s kinda fun.
Oct 20, 2024
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Mar 23, 2024
a treatise on the attention economy - checked it out on libby and got through it over the course of a work day, a lot of really interesting social and cultural explorations about how time itself is the final frontier of hypercapitalism and what decommodification of our attention and time should look like
the book starts with a story about the oldest redwood tree in oakland and how the only reason it’s still standing is bc it’s unmillable, and how being uncommercializable is essential to our survival. it ends with an exploration of alt social media platforms (mostly p2p ones) and what keeping the good parts of the social internet and rejecting the bad ones should look like
all in all a super valuable read; my only nitpick with the book is that odell isn’t just charting the attention economy but also attempting to “solve” it and relate it back to broader concepts about labor and social organizing, but her background is in the arts which leads to some really wonderful references to drive the points home while also missing some critical racial + socioeconomic analyses that one would expect (or at least really appreciate) from the book she promises to deliver in the introduction. but this does also make the book easier to read which is good because everyone should definitely engage with what she has to say
will definitely be revisiting
Mar 25, 2024
