No one could have ever mistaken me for a voracious reader. Sure, I went through phases and series that delighted me as a child: Boxcar Children, Ramona Quimby, Sweet Valley High, real high brow, literary stuff. I wanted to be into spooky things, but I was (and still am) just too scared. All the girls I knew who read Jane Austin or Charlotte Bontë were very normal coded and I was already exhibiting signs of ultra weirdo.
It wasn’t uncommon for me to go a full year without reading a book, even as an adult. Much of my college reading content were plays, articles, or selections of larger textbooks, but I never cuddled up with the Norton anthology to read the whole thing on a rainy day. Sure, I read a lot of Shakespeare and Greek plays, but I promise you that made me much more of a patient researcher than a “good reader”.
This year, I’ll likely read over 70 books.
My reading habits shifted when I decided to take a break from making theater in the fall of 2019. I’d been pursuing theater seriously since 2002 and I was on my way to a rehearsal when I had the passing thought that maybe I’d get hit by a car and not have to go, which thankfully did not lead me to walk in front of a bus, but rather to think, “I could just not do this.”1
In theater’s absence, I focused my creativity on something I’d done for far longer, but never explored formally: Writing. I signed up for a class on the now-defunct Catapult.co that very night and mercifully did not get hit by a car.
I took at least a dozen classes in 2020 and frequently heard, “You have to read to write.” And “Reading is writing.” And, “Maybe you’d suck less at writing if you picked up a fucking book every now and then, you idiot.” Up until then I hadn’t felt badly about my lack of engagement with books, but soon it became shameful that I’d never read a Didion essay. Short stories I didn’t know existed were brought up as examples in classes, and Stephen King’s craft book/cocaine habits were referenced constantly. But I was so intimidated. I’ve been a slow reader all my life and suddenly my TBR pile was so massive it felt impossible.
I started small— following authors whose twitter accounts I liked and writers I’d taken classes from and began to read their books and books they recommended. I purchased books to support people I “knew” in an internet sense and read them for fun.
In 2020 I set a goal to read one book a month. In 2021 I wanted to read 25 books (I didn’t make it). In 2022, I read 24 of the 25 book goal and in 2023 I read 29 of my hoped-for 30 books.
In 2024, I set a goal to read 35 books. As of September 30 I have read 58, which means I’m on track to read 76-77 this year, which is explosive. So I compiled a list of the seven things that catapulted me from reading 29 books in 2023 to probably 76 in 2024.
Be a book slut. I know a lot of people are monogamous in their book-reading, but I can’t do it. If I’m reading some drier non-fiction, I want something fun to counter it. If a book is too heavy or too dark, reading it before bed isn’t great, so I have something lighter for bedside reading. If I’m listening to a book, I need a paper book for when I have reading time. Five books at one time is not unheard of for me, but I know that’s not for everyone.
Join book clubs. I’m currently in three book clubs: one with my mom and sister that meets on zoom every other month, a virtual book club for humor writers hosted by the great internet friend I’ve gotten to meet irl, Emily Kling, and because I’m new in town, a woman invited me to her neighborhood book club. I love book clubs! Welcome to my thirties!
Don’t fear the DNF (Did not finish). I’ve yet to not finish a book I started this year, but it has happened in the past and I am not sad about it! Life is too short, I read too slowly, and there are too many books to read to trudge through something that’s not hitting.
Embrace the audio book. Some people hate this advice and crummy people don’t consider audio books “real” reading (sucks to suck, haters!). Shout out to Hurley Winkler who wrote about listening to books in her newsletter so much that I thought I should give it another go. Something that’s gotten in the way of reading for me is that I want to do so many other things with my free time: Go for walks, knit, run, bake something, knit. KNIT. And it turns out knitting is ideal book listening time. I do sometimes knit while I read paper books too, but even to me this feels extra. Strangely, something about listening to more books helped me read more paper books, too? Of the 57 books I’ve read so far, less than half of them have been audio books. Take it or leave it.
Don’t set goals if that isn’t your vibe. I love a reasonable goal, but if it’s going to kill your motivation if you don’t meet it, don’t do it! The goal isn’t to crush every reading goal, the goal is to read.
Be under-employed! I credit this as the number one reason I got so much reading done this year. It’s not ideal for anxiety levels— your girl is working four jobs and usually more than a single paycheck goes to my health insurance leaving me with very little disposable income. What I do have is a library card, the Libby app, a desperate desire to distract myself from my current employment situation, and one of four jobs that allows me to read while I’m working!
Move somewhere you don’t know anyone. One could observe that my social calendar isn’t exactly packed. I’ve always been an introvert, but now I’m an introvert who has discovered books.
Finally and surprisingly, I don’t find that reading takes away from any of my other free-time activities. I wish I could tell you my screen time has plummeted, but it’s actually gone up on average since last year (underemployment, baby!). I still comfort watch TV shows and knit all the time. I still go for lil’ mental health walks and bake and obsessively try on sixteen outfits before an interview, landing on the same thing I wear every time I have an interview. I just read a lot, too.
Other Updates:
I know Goodreads is an Amazon affiliate, which I don’t love, but it’s great for tracking my reading habits and stalking my friends’ reading habits. Wanna be my goodreads friend/let me stalk you on goodreads?
Fall is HERE and I just bought the CostCo sized butter. What are you baking and what should I bake?
A stunning fall bouquet also from CostCo that I found out the hard way I’m allergic to. At the recommendation of a friend, I recently joined Lucky Sweater, an app for trading slow fashion clothing and I am HOOKED. I haven’t had my first trade yet, but seeing a small community where people are trading slow fashion feels so wholesome and reminds me vaguely of the Old Internet.
Is there an emoji that you feel like was just made for you? I remember feeling so seen when they first came out with this guy: 🫠
This was a much fuller and more challenging decision process than this sentence leads you to believe, but that’s for another time!
Wait I also feel incredibly seen by the 🫠 emoji
I'm also. book slut! Need at least 3 going at once.