The Art of Daily Reading
Tags: Mental Health, Habit Building, Books, Reading, Habits

There are so many touted benefits to reading daily that it feels unnecesary to repeat them here. We all know we should be reading more—what holds us back is the notion that we just don’t have the time, or the energy, or the focus to read as much as we think we should.

I’ve always loved reading, and I have a PhD in English to prove it. Still, reading every day is a habit I’ve had to cultivate.

At times I’ve thought I’m just too busy right now, or I’m just too tired. Sometimes it just feels easier to plop onto bed after a long day spent with a toddler and stream scenes from my reality TV fantasy life directly into my brain.

Those days, not coincidentally, are usually my worst—they come when I’m in an emotional rut, uninspired, and running out of steam.

I’ve learned that these are precisely the days when pausing for a moment of reading helps me the most.

I don’t think I’m alone in this.

Fortunately, getting yourself into the habit of reading daily can be done. It’s a matter of making good use of the bits of time that are already there, pushing away the shameful and judgmental thoughts we all have, and becoming aware of the reading that brings you joy.

Here are some guidelines that will help you seamlessly integrate your reading into your daily life.

1. Take advantage of the little unexpected bits of time.

Christine Smallwood once said, “Children fill up time that you didn’t know was empty.” This is true, and the same can be said about writing, and about reading.

When I’m into a good book, I miraculously find little pockets of time all through the day: while standing by the stove waiting for a pan to heat up, waiting for an Uber or a bus or the train, in line at the grocery story, in line for the bathroom, waiting for a to go order, on hold, in waiting rooms, etc.

These bits of empty time are scattered all throughout the day, waiting for us to notice them.

This doesn’t even take into consideration the convenience of audiobooks. Personally, I like the feel of a book in my hand, and I like to be able to control the pace of my reading, to linger on a line or reread a passage or skim back to remind myself of a detail or a name. I realize, however, how many more opportunities audiobooks open up: you can listen while you walk, drive, bike, fold your laundry, wash your dishes, etc.

Pretty reliably, unless it’s an especially grueling day and all I want to do is close my eyes, I can at least read for a few minutes before going to bed. Reading relaxes me and so actually helps to lull me into a better sleep.

Those little bits of time are there to be used. You’d be surprised how much you can read in a day if you’re willing to read a page at a time.

2. Let go of that perfect reading time.

We all have the ambition to find the time to sit and read for hours. These big chunks of time when you can really get lost in a book are wonderful, but, for most of us, they’re hard to come by.

We all want to be curled up in a couch, with some hot chocolate (or spiced rum) and a book in hand, while snow falls outside. At the very least, we want to be able to “fully” immerse, in other words, get lost, in this other world that books offer.

That is the ideal—I can’t argue against those beautiful, peaceful hours. But, I can advocate for the brief moments of immersion that come from touching on your book several times throughout the day.

When you’re reading something a bit at a time, you’re always just a little bit immersed. Because your reading time is full of interruptions, you never really leave the book. You “hold that thought” for when you can get back to it at some other point in the day.

You pick up your book and can get right into the next paragraph without having to remind yourself of where you are, or what happened last, or who these characters are.

Everything is fresh because you were just now, an hour or two ago, there.

3. Keep your books nearby.

To make this work, you need to keep your books accessible.

You never know when that free moment is going to arrive, but you need to be ready for it. Make packing up your book on your way out of the door as essential as taking your keys or your wallet with you.

Don’t leave your book gathering dust on your nighttable.

When you get up, take it into the bathroom with you. Then take it into the kitchen. It might be that while you wait for your coffeemaker to start up, you’ll have an extra minute or two to jumpstart your reading for the day.

Seeing your book every time you open your purse or every time you refill your coffee cup will give you a nudge.

4. Stop reading what you think you should read, and read what you actually enjoy.

When I hear people say they just don’t like reading, I often think they’re just reading the wrong kind of books.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I used to keep a copy of Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary by my bedside to help me fall asleep. One paragraph in, my arms would go limp. I’m sure other people love this novel—I don’t.

Lots of people want to read more, but what they want themselves to want to read are the books they think are important: the classics, the denser the better.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t read outside of your comfort, or that you shouldn’t read anything difficult or new or challenging. This is sometimes where we have the most to gain.

What I’m saying is, if what you enjoy is speculative fiction, or detective novels, or historical romance, then find the well-written and challenging examples of writing in those genres.

Look beyond the American or Anglo- examples and build your own canon.

Not everybody is going to love Charles Dickens’ wordiness, or William Faulkner’s excess, or Virginia Woolf’s abstraction. While there are obviously benefits to knowing your way around the classics, there are so many examples to chose from.

There’s no point in forcing yourself to invest weeks or months working through Ulysses if you hate every second of it. It’s actually more likely that you’ll start to avoid reading altogether.

It is nearly impossible for me to enjoy a book of nonfiction. I know this about myself. I know this from many years of trying and failing to get into even the most eventful biography or influential theory books.

So, if I don’t want to get kicked out of my daily reading habit altogether, I plan to read nonfiction in little bits and switch back to my novel when I get tired of it.

5. You don’t have to finish every book you begin. Let go of books that don’t interest you.

This one is still hard for me.

Earlier this year, I bought Laura Lippman’s Lady in the Lake. It got rave reviews from some good publications. It features a woman journalist as the detective trying to solve a murder mystery. What could go wrong? I went to my nearby bookstore and did something I almost never do: I bought a hardcover copy.

Turns out, I just couldn’t get into it. Still, I tried for weeks. I kept thinking, everyone else says it’s good, and rationalizing, it’s got all the things I like, and the kicker, I now own this hardcover book!

When my husband asked me why I didn’t just start reading something else after the fifteenth time I fell asleep after a page or two, I responded with annoyance: “Listen, I invested $27 in this book.”

What keeps us stuck in projects or investements we don’t care about or believe in anymore is the “fallacy of sunk costs.”

We tend to think of it as stubbornness or pride, I have to finish what I started, but it’s usually a little deeper than that.

When you’ve sunk a certain amount of money or time or effort into a project, you convince yourself that you need to keep going. You’ve already invested x amount of time on this, how could you give it up now? Giving up feels like throwing away all of that time and effort.

So, you push on. This is a mistake.

That time is already gone, there is nothing you can do to recover it. Investing even more time isn’t going to get you that initial investement back. The thing to do is to accept your loss and move on instead of continuing to invest time in something you don’t care about.

Nobody cares if I do or don’t finish Lady in the Lake, and nobody cares whether you do or don’t finish Infinite Jest.

Spend your time reading books that enrich your life.