How to - Read more books - Wreckedmyeyesreading

Hi! It's Michele, and today I thought that I would share with you some tips on how to read more. I've read -- by some standards, by a lot of standards -- I've read quite a few books this year, and one of the questions that people keep asking me is: How do you read so much? Here are some tips. Yay! My first tip - number one - is practice. Which I know sounds weird, but any skill that you want to get better at, you have to keep doing it. You can't just go run around the block twice and expect to be able to run a marathon. If you want to read more, one thing you have to do is read more, and the more that you read, the faster you'll get at reading, and the better you'll get at reading, and then you'll read more books. So that's my first step - is to actually practice. Stop complaining that you read too slowly, and just, you know, read at the pace that you have to, and the more that you read at the pace that you have to, and don't guilt yourself into not reading because you just think that you're bad at it, then you'll just read more. Logic. My second tip - tip number two - set a goal. Don't set a ridiculous goal, don't think to yourself: "I read 2 books last year. This year, I want to read 100 books." That's like, 2 books a week, and if you only read 2 books last year, that's not a realistic goal, and you're just going to make yourself sad. But if you set yourself a realistic goal -- a goal that you know that you will be able to hit -- you will encourage yourself because you'll see that you're getting things done that you wanted to get done. There are a couple different ways that you can keep track of your goal. Goodreads has a reading challenge that you set the goal for yourself. So, I have a friend who challenged herself to read 15 books this year. I've challenged myself to read 50 books this year. I have friends who challenged themselves to read 75 or 100 books this year. It's not about how many books you're going to read, it's about giving yourself something to work towards. If you don't feel like doing Goodreads, which is kind of like social media but for books, just keep a list. I also have a list going of all the books that I've read this year, as well as books that I really want to read. When I tick those off I'm like:See? I accomplished 2 things. I read another book, AND it's a book that I wanted to read. Tip number 3 is to bring a book with you. You will be amazed at how much time you have to read, when you just bring a book with you. Even by just doing those five minutes spurts -- 5 minutes when you're waiting for the bus 'cause it's late -- 6 minutes when you're waiting for your friend to show up but they got stuck in traffic -- 10 minutes - 15 minutes in the doctor's office. The amount of reading that you will get done simply because you just have the book with you is amazing. You think about how much time you waste on your phone because you just have nothing else to do. If you just choose to read a book instead of doing that stuff on your phone that you really don't need to do, you'll read so much more. And I'm not saying that - like - anti-phone. I'm on my phone a lot. But I do waste a lot of time on my phone. Tip number 4 -- read what you like. I don't care that people think Twilight is lame. If you like Twilight, read a whole bunch of vampire books! Read what you wanna read. Don't let people shame you for reading what you like to read. "Oh, there's some books that are meant to be read, and some books are meant to be studied, and true intellectuals read books that are meant to be studied." No! You know what? Stop talking. Read what you want to read. You really like YA? Read young adult. I don't care that you're 65. OK? Read what you enjoy reading. It is so frustrating trying to push through a book that you just do not enjoy. You have to do enough of that required reading for school, for work. You have to do enough reading of books that you hate. Read books that you love. That's how you read more. Number 5 -- also don't be afraid to step out of your genre. So whatever books that you've been reading a lot, if you feel like: Oh man, I'm just not into reading right now. Step outside of your comfort zone and give it a shot. I did that. I had never read a Western before, and I read Walk On Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson and *pfffftttttt*. I loved it so much, and now I want to read all of the Western-gold-rush stories. Number 6 -- listen to audiobooks. Having someone read something to you still counts as reading. Well, it might not, like, if you're in school, and they want you to practice your reading skills. But you're still getting the story, you're still thinking about it. You're still practicing a whole bunch of those skills. You can get so much reading done in the car when you're driving if you listen to audiobooks. Number 7 -- take a tip from Arthur: having fun isn't hard when you have a library card. Libraries are great. Honestly, they are how I read so much, because I don't have to buy all of the books that I am reading. And a lot of libraries have this really cool thing where you can put books "on hold" -- so they might not have the book, so you say, "Oh, can I put that on hold?" Which is kind of like "on order" and then they'll order the book in for you and let you know when it's on their shelf waiting for you. Which is great. But what's even better is you can put it on "suspended hold" or you can pause the hold, which means I want that book, I have 7 books out of the library right now, so I can't read it right now, so I'm going to pause it, until September, or until the year 2018, whatever. And then I will unpause it -- I will unsuspend it -- when I'm ready for it. You'll still hold your place in line, but when you get to the top it won't automatically come to you unless you unpause it and say OK, now I'm ready for it. Wonderful. Right now I think I have 50 books on hold at the library. None of them are coming in right now, because I have too many books that I'm trying to read right now and work through. But once I kind of get to about halfway through my book, I'll go and look at which ones I'm number one in line for, and I'll start releasing like 1 or 2 of them. And then the book will probably be in when I'm ready for it. And then oh look! It's ready to go!. Prime. Get a library card. Related to this: number 8. Don't be afraid to hit it and quit it. Which means don't be afraid to DNF it -- don't be afraid to mark it as I did not finish it. If you do not like a book and you do not have to write a paper or a test on it -- you don't have to write a review for it, it's not related to something that you have to do -- you DO NOT HAVE TO FINISH IT. Do you need a card that says I give you permission to not finish? I will make you a card. I will make you a card right now, k? I'm making you a card. Just give me a second. Gotta find a good marker. Do you like my Maleficent mug? Isn't this a great mug? Alright, are you ready? I even signed it for you. You have permission to QUIT A CRAPPY BOOK! Don't read it. You don't like it, don't read it. It's ok. If you try and force yourself to finish every book that just doesn't jive with you, you will never read, because you will, like, "Well, I can't read that book because I have to finish this stupid book that I don't like." Case and point. I was really excited about reading The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules. Why was I excited about this? Because that's an awesome title. And it's about old people who want to revolt against their crappy old folks home and start committing crimes, and I thought, you know what? That sounds like a really great book. But guess what? It was translated from Swedish? I think? Anyways, this translation, I'm not a fan of how it was translated, and it just, everything felt really, like, bluntly put. Instead of saying the joke that someone made, and letting the reader know it's funny because of how funny the joke is, they would say this person - like - "joked Martha". And I'm like, can we not? And it just, it was kind of painful to get through. So I'm done. I'm done trying. Quit it. Hit it and quit it. Number 9 -- Ok, so. If you get yourself a reading nook, or like, an area that you make super cozy or super comfortable, that you're like, "Yes, that is my reading spot". Then, not only do you have a spot where you're super comfortable reading, but every time you walk past it, you will think, "Aw man, I should be reading right now. That's my reading spot, and it's empty and lonely without me." Guilt - if it does not cripple you - is a very powerful motivational tool. I bet you that is the advice that your grandmother gave your mother in the hospital after she had you. And number 10 -- my last tip is find people who are excited about reading books. If you want to get better at anything you need to surround yourself with people who are good at the thing. So if you wanna get better at playing hockey, then you gotta surround yourself and play with people who are good at hockey. Because then they will make you better and they will be excited about hockey and talk about it and then you will get excited about it as well. If you wanna get better at music, then surround yourself with people who are really good and talented and strong musicians, and then you will get better at music because you're surrounded by their talent and their passion. If you want to read more books, surround yourself with people who are talking about how much they love books and who read a lot of books, because they will inspire you to get better at reading books. It's great. People get excited about stuff, and it's infectious. Get infected. With being a book lover. Not with other stuff. Those were my 10 tips on how to read more books. I will see you next time with another video. Bye!