How To Read More (Plus Recommendations)

If you’ve been reading this blog for a little while, you may have noticed that I really like to read and that I’m typically in middle of at least one book. In elementary and high school, I was a serious bookworm, but for the first few years after seminary, I was so busy figuring out life I didn’t make time to read, and I didn’t know what to read. Over the past year or so, I’ve gotten back into my reading groove and have since discovered some really excellent books. I primarily read nonfiction and children’s fiction. I love reading because it’s a quick and easy escape, it’s taught me so much, and it’s given me a never-ending supply of conversation topics.

 

It can be hard to carve out time for reading, so here are some suggestions to help you read more:

 

1. Keep a to-read list. To get you started, think about authors, genres, or topics you have enjoyed in the past or are interested in now. Write down recommendations as you get them. You’ll very quickly have more titles on the list than you can ever get to.
2. Take advantage of your local library and establish a routine. I almost never browse the shelves for books. Instead, I search the books I want in the library’s catalog and put them on hold. About once every two weeks I go to the library to return my books and pick up holds. Judging by the crammed shelves behind the counter, I’m not the only one doing this. Remember, most libraries network with other libraries or library systems and can get you pretty much any book you want.
3. Drop a book you’re not enjoying. Sometimes a book doesn’t seem to be working for you. Maybe you’re really not interested in ever finishing it or maybe the timing just isn’t right. Don’t feel obligated to finish a book. 
4. Keep more than one book “active” simultaneously. I’ve been known to switch between two books on the same flight. I suggest keeping books of different genres going (like nonfiction and a novel).
5. This is new for me, but check out audiobooks. I get them for free through my library on Hoopla and Overdrive. I’ve also heard great things about Amazon Audible, but haven’t tried it yet. Audiobooks are especially good for a long drive or flight if reading from a book makes you carsick. Also, audiobooks let you get reading in at times you don’t use: think commuting, exercising, or folding laundry.

 

Some general thoughts about reading, since I’m thinking about it a lot as I write this: I’ve been trying to stay mindful of the ultimate purpose of reading for pleasure, the why. Basically, what it comes down to is this: reading for pleasure, like any activity, is a part of avodas Hashem, and has value inasmuch as it makes us better able to do what’s right. Though reading opens my eyes, connects me to new people and places, and stimulates me to think and feel about life, reading in and of itself is not inherently meaningful. I read to recharge and refresh, to learn new things, to experience things I’d never have access to otherwise. But logging a high page count is not a goal unto itself. I could probably curl up in my room for 24 hours with a good book, so it’s a struggle for me to remember that just as in any activity I engage in, reading for pleasure should ultimately happen in the context of avodas Hashem, and not take on a life of its own. At one point I had a Goodreads account and obsessively logged everything I read. Finally I realized it was becoming much too big a distraction and I deleted my account. Now I can actually read for pleasure again, instead of trying to reach some arbitrary goal.

 

Of course, I couldn’t leave you off without a few recommendations:

 

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown. I am so not an athlete but this is such an inspiring, exciting come-from-behind sports drama and everyone I’ve recommended it to loved it.

 

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport. This book made me take a good look at my work habits and my relationship with technology. Bonus: Look out for the reference to Daf Yomi.

 

Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, by Steve Sheinkin. I couldn’t put down this book about the creation of the atomic bomb. Personalities and events just jumped off the pages.

 

Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain, by Dana Suskind. About the importance of a language-rich environment in brain development, this book will inspire you to talk and read more to the baby in your life.

 

And one work of fiction…The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Emmuska Orczy. A tale of daring rescue during the French Revolution.

 

Happy reading! Have a good Yom Tov!