How to Establish a Reading Habit

It’s a new year, which is a new chance to get into a reading habit. First of all, don’t feel bad if you don’t already have a reading habit. Times are chaotic, and good habits are hard to establish. I’ve written some advice before on how to get into reading in general and nonfiction in particular. My advice in those pieces still holds up, but I have more to add.

While lots of people hold scorn for New Year’s resolutions, I think they can be helpful, especially if what you’re trying to do is something legitimately fun that you just need a little push to accomplish. For example, I made it a New Year’s resolution a number of years back to check out my local comedy club, and now I go all the time. You could have the same experience with reading. So consider me giving you the gentle nudge, along with some advice.

Your first question might be, what should I read this year? And that’s a big question! I’ll let two of my favorite bookish content creators step in with some advice that is useful in this fraught political and environmental landscape. Satrayreads created a zine with recommendations of speculative fiction that can help you exercise your imagination to visualize (and then create) a better future. Following the 2024 election, Schizophrenicreads suggested Hope in the Dark and Imagination: a Manifesto as books that will help us understand this moment and work from a grounded sense of hope. So, consider those options for your TBR as you read the rest of my advice.

Figure Out How Reading Will Fit Into Your Life

We all know there are only 24 hours in a day, and you are currently filling all of them with some kind of activity. Adding in reading time requires subtracting from something else; that’s just math. Unfair, right? That requires intention, planning, and some brutal honesty. Sure, it may seem easy to replace one hour of nighttime device scrolling with reading, but if you’re fried by that time of day, it might not work. What about reading a little first thing in the morning, or during a lunch or coffee break? It’s discouraging to pick up a book and find yourself unable to concentrate, so try to set yourself up for success.

If audiobooks are an option for you, there is so much opportunity to overlap reading time with other activities. Getting ready, commuting, repetitive work tasks, cooking, cleaning, eating, exercising, making art or crafts, and even video gaming can be livened up with an audiobook.

I hear a lot of people say their attention drifts with audiobooks. Mine used to, too, until I figured out that most narrators talk too slowly for me. Speeding up the narration solved the issue. Also, some people find they can only listen to one type of book, be it fiction or nonfiction. So I advise giving audiobooks a fair shake before deciding they’re not for you.

Find Reading Buddies

Being accountable to someone else might help you get into good habits. You can join a book club. There are so many online, and no doubt ones local to you as well. If one of your reading goals is to raise your consciousness, finding other people to talk to about books will help you process what you read. Hearing other’s perspectives on books is worthwhile. And knowing more people in your community is always a good thing. Reading is not a substitute for action, but it can pair nicely.

There are lots of opportunities to establish reading buddies beyond traditional book clubs. There are silent book clubs, where people gather to read separately, but together. You could ask your friends or family for their favorite books, and invite them to reread while you read for the first time. You could suggest reading a book that has a screen adaptation with some friends before watching said adaptation together. If you live with other people, you could try to establish a routine with your whole household.

Make Goals and Write Them Down

Apparently, there’s neuroscience behind why writing down your goals helps you achieve them. Regardless, it’s good to set goals. You can go about this in a variety of ways.

Like any goal-setting activity, it’s good to balance ambition with reality. Going from zero books per year to 100 is unlikely. And your goal doesn’t even have to be completing books. It could be trying books in different formats, multiple genres, or recommendations from different sources. It could also be time per day spent reading.

Have You Tried Full Immersion Reading?

If part of your trouble establishing reading habits has to do with how easily you can lose focus, I get it. How I used to plow through a whole book in one sitting is a mystery to my frazzled mind. But how about this one weird trick? Have you ever tried reading a paper book and listening to it at the same time (assuming that’s possible for you)? You may have to adjust the narration speed to your reading speed. 

It somehow helps me appreciate beautiful prose, when I can see and hear the words at the same time. Having two sensory inputs helps keep me locked in. And it’s fun! It seems silly to describe it as cinematic, considering movies are their own medium, but that’s the word that comes to mind. Books feel big when I read them this way.

Don’t Be Afraid to Quit

Please quit books you’re struggling to read! You can always come back to them later. Being gentle with yourself as you hop aboard the reading train is so important. First, focus on the books that hook you immediately. That’ll make it easier to get into the groove. Are you eager to get back to that book? Do you find yourself thinking about it when you’re not reading? If not, put it down and try another one.

You can work up to books that are more challenging. No one would suggest getting into marathon running by simply running a marathon. So, if you want to read War and Peace someday (you should, it’s great), you can read other books as a warm-up. The 5K comes before the marathon.

Likewise, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t hit a goal, or don’t finish a book in time for a book club. We can be so prone to knocking ourselves down and giving up on our goals. Instead, there are lots of things to celebrate. Book clubs are worth going to even if you haven’t finished the book. Reading more than you used to is an achievement. Perfection is not the goal. End of pep talk.

Read the Right Books

This is everything. If you want to get into nonfiction, follow your interests. If you want to get into fiction, you must find the authors whose storytelling style draws you in. That is daunting, so you have to rely on trustworthy resources.

Recommending books is a job that requires expertise! So if you need help, consult the right people: librarians, booksellers, and TBR bibliologists, to name a few. Even if you can’t name a single book you like, knowing other things you like, like movies, TV shows, or even topics (your Roman Empire, so to speak) can yield good recommendations.

In Conclusion

I hope some of these thoughts sparked something in you. It’s worth taking your goals seriously, and establishing a reading habit is truly one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself. So what’s the first book you’re picking up?