Background:
I'm in my 40s and I've always sort of beaten myself up over not being an avid reader. I go through phases where I read a bunch, sometimes I'll finish a book in a months time, sometimes start a book and forget it, sometimes it seems like I go literally years without really getting into any book at all. But I still accumulate them.
Because of how important reading is and now I "fail" to prioritize it, I've always found myself in a poor relationship with reading. I feel this artificial pressure to read things that are only important and will somehow make me more useful. I feel this artificial pressure to start one book and read it to the end. I feel this artificial pressure to become a changed person by fully investing every bit of info from every book.
I've been learning that these pressures are untenable.
I've also noticed that I partake in all kinds of things without the same expectations: tv shows, games, podcasts, media and news outlets, social media, etc.
Right now I have 6 books that I am actively reading, and I am trying to remember that it's for enjoyment and not some high level goal. Someone told me if I read 10 pages a day I would finish about 10 books a year. I found this so encouraging.
Taking the pressure off of reading has really helped me get more productive at reading, and I think it will help me convert my habit into a truly fruitful one.
So now I ask you:
- What are your reading habits like?
- What do you like to read?
- What kind of stage of life are you in, and how does that affect it?
- Have you made any changes, positive or negative, to your reading habits?
- What else?
I used to be an avid reader but as I got older and busier I just couldn’t find the time.
Then when I did have time there was always distractions, or other things I could be doing.
So now I read primarily via audiobooks through Libby and my library.
I read 130 books or so last year that way.
Mowing the yard? Audiobook.
Long drive? Audiobook.
Waiting at the doctors? Audiobook.
Dishes? Audiobook.
And then when I’m really invested I’ll relax by playing some mindless game while I listen. Think match 3 or bejeweled.
Just engaging enough to keep me from getting bored while listening but not so much that I can’t do both.
Balatro, BABA is you? Bad candidates for playing and listening.
The last couple of years I burned through the wheel of time series, all of Brandon Sanderson’s books (except skyward which I haven’t gotten to), a lot of Adrian Tchaikovsky, and others.