How I am able to read more, even with kids and work and netflix?

My New Year’s resolution this year was to not buy any more books. I have lots of books and I have been carting these books around for twelve years. I was sorting through them after my last move and I decided to organize a little bit differently. This time I organized them into the books I have read and books that I have yet read. I realized I have more than thirty books that I have not read. So, I decided that I am not going to buy any more books until I had read the ones that I have.
This worked in one regard. I have not purchased any more hardback books. I have, however, purchased digital books and I also have a library card to download digital books. So, I have been reading some new books.

The reason that I wanted to post about this today is that I have adopted a new reading philosophy. I’ve actually been able to get through a lot more books in the past few months than I have in the past few years.
My reading goal is to read one book a month and 1 article a day (by article I mean a scholarly article from a journal I tend to lean towards articles that are open access). I have a list that is at least 600 articles long of all the things that I wish I could read, all the things that my colleagues’ have created that I have been meaning to get to, and articles that pop-up related to current events by Scholars I respect. I’m so impressed with that they’re able to turn out all these articles that are well researched and on topics I’ve never thought about. I want to do give thier hard work a chance but I tend to run out of time.

Going back to books, so I have a friend who is in publishing and she posted this amazing resource about how she got through all the books that she wants to read, all the books that she needs to read for work, and how is she stays excited about reading. This was really appealing to me for a lot of reseasons. After I finished my Master’s Degree I was so turned off from reading. I was exhausted by it. Reading was something that I really really loved my whole life and then grad school just killed it. Then I had kids and felt exhausted by it. Books started to feel like something hanging over my head and I didn’t need anymore of that. Anyway, using the a few of the methods I read and a few other tips I have finally gotten back to reading.

• The first step is to read things that you enjoy not read things that you think that you should be reading:

• This is it one of the things that I really struggled with. I always felt guilty about reading young adult novels or science fiction. I felt like I should be spending my time reading stuff relevant to my career. I was obsessed with this list of the hundred best books written of all time and that I should be making my way through it. I would pick up these books and start them and then I will feel so guilty about not wanting to finishing them. Then reading became a chore instead of something I enjoyed doing. So, I have started reading the books that I really want to read that I am genuinely interested in and that I think sound enjoyable.

•  This brings me to the second tip, if you’re not enjoying the book don’t feel obligated to finish reading it. 

•  This is another one that I struggled with because for years and years and years. I read every book to completion and it wasn’t that I enjoy these books but that I had to know what happened. I had to known what the end was. That’s why I read every book from start to finish. There was only one book in my 30 years of living that I had not finished and that book was ‘Anna Karenina’. That book has some how become my Everest. I feel like I’ll probably never revisit it because I just didn’t enjoy it. I know that it’s a great work of literature and that it’s some people’s favorite book but that book is just not for me.  In the same token one of my favorite books ever is ‘The Good Earth’. I know that there are ton of people that despise that book. So, I have given myself some grace and I have accepted that I will not finish books or waste my time with books that I am no longer intrested in.  I have given myself permission, if I don’t enjoy it I don’t have to read it! I’m not at school anymore I can let these things go.

•  The next tip is to have a few books going at once and in a different formats

• This one definitely is not for everyone but it has worked for me. I have a few ebooks that I am reading simultaneously. Each is from a different genre. I have a hard copy book that I am also reading and then I’ll download an e-book or an audiobook that I can listen to in my car.  I will admit that this worked a little bit better pre-COVID. I do not spend as much time in my car as I was before the pandemic but what I am in my car I can listen to my audiobook and too me that counts as reading. When I am getting ready for bed at night I might read my hard copy book and if I need to take a break in the middle of the day I might pop over to my ebook. I’m fortunate that I’m one of those people that I can jump around books and remember what’s going on in any given book. I try not to have more than four going at once but occasionally with some of the shorter ones that I just brez through, I might have a couple more going at a time.

•  To keep reading I make a wish list of books that I want to read

• I do this in a couple ways. When I see a book that I really want to read I either write it down or I add it to my wishlist on my library app and display if I have finished the book and ready to start a new book but not really sure what I can read I go back and just look through what titles I have on there and I can pick one one of the great things about the library app as I can see what’s available and what’s not available on there so I can download something right now or I can put something on a wait list and then will not things ready I am happily surprised that I have this book and I’ve been wanting to read the all the centers right it’s like a little present meeting for me this is also something that is really helped me with not purchasing a funny book because I will forget about them in the store so I just kind of keep with you by my bed in a few in my office and then I am pleasantly surprised with what I might find.

•  last hope is to inject some scholarly or other articles in with my daily reading

• this one I know it’s a little crazy but this really helps me personally with that guilt that I am not spending enough time looking at things that are directly relevant to my job career personal research and goals and I mix he’s up to sometimes Irene just a bunch of archaeology articles sometimes I’ll look at Merit marketing advertising articles sometimes I look at you know really in-depth articles from things like the New York Times or other places where I know that the people are really doing their research and I can respect the writing that they’re doing I sure articles that I read are tied to an actual publisher and not just floating around online and again this just help me with that feeling that I should be reading something. 

•  Last but not least, I like to read and write with some kind of background noise

• This really helps me focus in on what I’m doing. Especially with audio books, it keeps my mind from drifting. I have a tendency while listening to an audiobook, to hear a really compelling point and then my mind starts thinking about how that applies. This is why i listen in the car, if I am multi-tasking, my mind doesnt jump around as much. If I am reading a book, I put on classical music or white noise or the TV can you play in the background. I think that that can really help you Zone in into your book. Especially if you’re reading fiction, getting lost in the world that the book is presenting to you, is a great stress relif method and for me, a form of self care. Reading gives my mind a break from working on all the other issues I have going on.

If you want to see what I’ve been reading you can head on over to my Instagram I have highlights of all the books that I have read so far since June of 2020 and I will be updating goes into collections Puryear this is how I have chosen to document my reading journey and I think that is really helpful and also gives you a really big sense of accomplishment when you can see what you have read and how much you’ve grown so go ahead and check that out if you’re interested in my reading list I also will there is also a link to my wishlist and if you want to see the books and I’m hoping green you can check that out as well.