One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more and 12 books a year sounded feasible. Apparently, I was able to finish a bit earlier even though I am a slow reader. This post is partially #braggingonsocial media but I also want to encourage you to read more. A few trivial tips from me if you are one of the “yeah I should read more” people like me who haven’t been reading much in recent years.
TL;DR Substitute Netflix with reading. Put your phone aside.
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You don’t have to read Kafka all the time, pick books you are really interested in and are easy to read for you.
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Read while commuting. For me, it’s an hour a day if I’m not working from home.
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Read before you go to sleep. Even if it’s just 10 minutes, I trained it as a habit and it helps me to fall asleep.
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Snuggle into a chair orbed and read an easy book after you finished working or came home from work. It’s the equivalent of watching unchallenging series on Netflix when you are drained.
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Fiction is fine. I always tended to think that I have to learn something from a book. If you find good-rated fiction it’s actually very exciting.
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Read at least 2 books simultaneously, I liked it to switch between whatever I was into at that moment. You don’t have to worry about getting the books “mixed up”.
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Put the phone aside and set a timer. 45 minutes works for me. You might want to try Pomodoro or something similar.
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Read on Saturday and/or Sunday morning. When the sun is shining and you don’t have any chores, it’s the highlight of the week. I open the window and reveal my butt towards the sunshine. So enjoyable. (I know, not everyone has a bed window located to the south side, this might be bragging.)
Three months should be enough to build a habit but maybe I am lecturing prematurely and I will not continue reading as much. Just felt like sharing with friends and strangers.
Recommendations
Out of these 12 books, I didn’t like all of them but I would like to highlight a few of them that I did.
- Anton Myrer: The Last Convertible - a beautiful book about friendship in the USA’s 40s and 50s
For Czechs:
- Nina Špitálníková: Svědectví o životě - incredible stories of defectros from North Korea
- Filip Titlbach: Byli jsme tu vždycky - interesting interviews with queer people from Czechia
What are you favorite books? Do you read often? Thank you for the visit, Chinese bots.