One year ago, as recorded in the pages of Reformed Perspective, I (nearly) completed a 52-book reading challenge – one book a week for a year – with two friends: RP editor Jon Dykstra and pastor Jim Witteveen, both of whom trounced me in the friendly competition. As another year begins, why not challenge yourself to read a few more books in 2024? Assuming you read wholesome stuff, I promise you won’t regret it.
And to help you, here are a few tips from an amateur bibliophile:
Yes to good books means no to…
- Cut back on social media, or purge it altogether. This one was key for me. Social media not only eats up valuable downtime, it also negatively affects attention span making it harder to concentrate when reading a book.
- Cut back on passive entertainment (like watching TV or scrolling through YouTube). Budget limited time for passive entertainment. Friday night is movie night in my house, and any rainy Saturday afternoon. Other than those times, we try to engage in active entertainment (board games, going to the park) which engages the mind and body, and has a positive impact on your ability to read. In fact, watching a screen just before bed will negatively impact your sleep, while reading a chapter from a book just before bed will improve your sleep.
- Cut back on consuming news. While reading long-form articles with deeper analysis is good for your mind and benefits you intellectually, there is not really much meat in short-form news articles.
- Don’t finish everything. If you want to read more good books, don’t try to slog through bad ones. If you’re really struggling with getting through a book and you’re still in the first 50 pages, put it down and try a different one.
A group exercise
- Read aloud to your kids. And read longer chapter books to them. It’s do-able. Before starting each evening, ask them what happened in the previous night’s reading. Some long classics were written as serials in newspapers, like A Tale of Two Cities, and The Count of Monte Cristo. This means that the author had to write each chapter in a way that made the reader want to come back and order the next newspaper the following week. These longer novels are very engaging reads, even for younger readers.
Pick a few books to read with a friend. Pick a friend who is willing to push you to finish. Tied with that, be a bit more public about your reading challenge to keep yourself accountable. Peer pressure is not always a bad thing.- Share with others what you’re reading. Books – whether fiction or non-fiction – can be great conversation topics with friends and family and can sometimes lead to other great suggestions.
Mix it up
- Mix up your reading categories. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood for getting into something dense. But I could read something lighter. So I always try to have some fiction going as well as history/biography, Christian thought, and a book on a public policy issue or cultural issues.
- Follow C.S. Lewis’ advice: “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one until you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones…. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes.”
- Make use of your minutes
- Carry the lighter read with you, if possible, for unexpected downtime like waiting for the oil change, or for your doctor to see you. This is where an e-reader can be helpful for some people – a few of my lighter reads were free Kindle books, and I could read them on my phone when I had a few minutes to spare.
- Use your transit time. I used to take the bus to work each day, and I saw a small handful of people reading a book every time. What a great use of that time! (I couldn’t employ this tactic because I get car sick, though using audiobooks could be one way to still use that time well.)
- Take notes. When reading a more complex book, have a pencil on hand to jot little notes in the margins or underline key arguments in the text. This will not only help you stay focused while reading, but also help to more quickly situate you in your read the next time you pick up the book.
Plan it out
- There are some good reading challenges out there that other Christians are doing too. Christian blogger Tim Challies puts one out nearly every year.
- Pick out a few books ahead of time, so you know what you want to read next.
- Particularly for books on Christian thought, pray before picking up the book, that you might profit from it, to learn more about God and His world.
- Pick times to read when your mind is sharpest and reserve mindless tasks of the day for when your mind is most dull.
- Be realistic in your goal and remember your season in life: if you serve the church as an office bearer or sit on a school board, for example, maybe set a more modest goal of 24 books a year (two a month), but then set your goal higher for the years when you’re not serving in these capacities.
- Try to push yourself to read a little faster. Perhaps use a ruler or finger to speed along a little quicker than normal. With practice, you will learn to read faster, while still comprehending what you’re reading. Your brain is like a muscle that improves and strengthens with exercise.
- Come to know the freedom of airplane mode. If you’ve budgeted time to read for an hour, switch your phone to airplane mode and enjoy the hour distraction free.
- Plan to read. Budget time to do it. Then do it.
So, there it is. A few tips from a guy who tried to read 52 books in a year and (almost) succeeded. I wish you success in whatever reading challenge you decide to undertake.