Being a Reader
Table of Contents
Note: I’m using the term “reading”, but it’s a general verb referring to the act of consuming a book, regardless of the media type: audio, e, or print.
Currently Reading
It’s February 2024, and what I’m currently reading:
Why I Read
Depends.
Sometimes I read as a distraction from the real world. Mindless books to help keep my attention for a bit, as a replacement for scrolling social media.
Sometimes I read as pure entertainment on vacation, just for the fun of it. This is where Sophie Kinsella filled a HUGE void for me with her hilarious stories.
Sometimes I read to learn more about something, typically non-fiction.
I’ve always been a reader, book collector, and not-so-secretly wanted to write a book. I love libraries and book stores. I’m that friend that can rattle off all sorts of book recommendations in the middle of discussions. One of my favorite parties was a secret book-exchange party, where we brought a book, wrapped it and wrote “clues” on the front, and people could pick a book based on the clues.
I started with reading my mom’s old Nancy Drew books at a very early age, and grew that to reading adult mystery novels I’d find laying around our house by the time I was 12 or 13. I used to read on the hour-long commute into school on the bus and would try to cram as much reading into a day as I could. I found it to be relaxing entertainment I could take wherever I wanted as a way to learn about other places and people.
I think reading really helped me grow up to be empathetic towards other people’s points of views, understanding of other cultures, and a deep desire to keep learning and understanding.
Reading plays so many roles in my life, and those roles shifted over the years as I moved through major life changes. Where I used to read for inspiration or for school, I now read for learning more about social issues or pure entertainment.
These shifts are normal, and okay, and I’m learning that just because I once identified as a mystery-novel lover, doesn’t mean I can’t also explore non-fiction, or romance, and I don’t have to just pick one genre.
Reading can meet us where we’re at in the moment, fulfilling a need we have for a current reason. Those reasons will likely change, and what we read can change with it, without it having to be a whole big thing. The ease of that flexibility, for me, is what I enjoy.
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How I Read
At a given point in time, if I’m in an active state of reading, I often will have multiple books going at the same time, but in different formats with different purposes.
Audiobooks
I love audiobooks for walks, lifting, long drives, jogs / runs, and gardening. Because I’m usually doing some sort of activity while I listen, I typically listen to non-fiction books. I like learning from non-fiction books, but often struggle to focus and stay engaged with them if I’m physically reading a book. When I’m physically engaged with something else, I’m still not entirely focused on the book, but I have an easier time at least gathering the gist of it, while maybe not remembering specific details.
I typically use audiobooks (or podcasts) to learn general ideas, and if I need to research or understand them better, I can research / read more after.
I get my audiobooks a couple of different ways:
($$) If Audible is running a deal, I’ll usually buy the deal, pick out all of my books, and then cancel. I’m a slow audiobook consumer, so I can get 12 audiobooks and they’ll last me a couple of years for entertainment. Once you buy a book, mostly, you keep them, so you do NOT need to be an active Audible subscriber to listen (there are exceptions for the Prime Plus audiobooks). Fun fact: you can share your Audible library with family members set up in your Amazon account, so I actually have twice the library because my partner and I share a lot of the same tastes.
($) I have Spotify Premium, which in Oct 2023 announced Premium (or plan managers for Family / Duo plans) get 15 free audiobook-listening hours a month.
(-) I also use the Libby app, with access through my local library. Books, especially new and popular ones, aren’t always available when I want them, but for the ones that are, the user experience is great.
ebooks
A few things for context around my ebook journey:
I owned one of the first Kindles to be released back in 2007-08ish and I bought right into the idea of having my entire library on a tiny device I could carry around with me. I was upgraded by force to a new one in 2012ish, which I eventually stopped using because I stopped buying books. While I commend authors, I had a hard time justifying the spend on books at the time, so I started using my library almost exclusively, and donating to them instead of buying books. But with the library, I was having a hard time getting ebooks in a timely way, so I essentially switched to reading print books. Recently, in an effort to reduce the number of devices I have floating around, I turned my Kindle in for recycling, figuring I would figure out how to read ebooks at a later date.
I use my phone, and the Kindle app, to read ebooks now. I’m in the middle of a Kindle Unlimited trial. I’ve decided a few things over the last couple of months:
No social media on my phone. This is VERY difficult when you run a business, but my mental health has to be a priority. I use an old phone we’ve had laying around as my social media device, and my actual phone has no social media apps.
I want to read more “mindless” type books. The books that are for pure entertainment, have a silly premise / story line, something I can pick up for 2-3 minutes and then put right back down.
Based on these two major changes, I’ve found that the Kindle app is a great replacement for social media scrolling. When I’m in a situation where I would normally open Instagram, but then get stressed out for various reasons, I instead read my silly romance book on my Kindle app, and when it’s time to stop scrolling, can close down my phone without worrying that I was “mid-page” or whatever.
When I did this (December ‘23-January ‘24) I felt better, mentally. In February I put social back on my phone for business-related reasons, and fell RIGHT back into the bad scrolling habits I had, and immediately found myself spiraling into anxiety around the state of the world. This was an interesting experiment for me, leading me back to ebooks, but for silly books and as a replacement for mindless scrolling.
I get my ebooks either from the Libby app, through my library, or the Kindle Unlimited trial I’m in right now. I rarely buy ebooks unless I have already read them and suspect I’ll read them again.
Print Books
I’m not sure why, but print books are easier for me to get from the library, even if I have to wait for others to return them. I’m not sure what’s so different about getting a print book from the library versus waiting and getting an ebook or audiobook. I think it has to do with the physical reminder in my house to actually read it, versus something on a device I have to remember. Regardless, I usually have at least one print book floating around to read.
There’s apparently something to do with the tactile feel for knowing where you are in a book by holding it that’s supposed to be good for our brain chemistry. I’ve also made the mistake a couple of times, and requested the “Large Print” versions of books, which I’m growing to enjoy as I age and need reading glasses.
I rarely buy books these days, for various reasons I won’t get into, but this is where my library really supports me, and I them in return through monetary donations.
I try to keep my print books on the lighter side, or at least engaging and exciting. If I get bored of a book, it’s more likely to be a printed book, and I will return it to the library if I’m not a fan, unfinished.
What I Read
Sometimes people can be a bit judgmental around what people choose to read, and this judgment would weigh on me when I chose books. Frankly it still does. As I’m writing this, I originally was going to leave off the romance novel I’m reading, which I’m reading on my phone because then I don’t have to worry about people seeing the cover or title of my book when I’m out and about. I have pretty strong opinions about NOT judging what people are reading.
The act of reading, or listening, to a book is what’s important. I do think that folks should be conscious about what they’re consuming, as content, in general, and how it makes them feel (i.e. if you have a trauma in your past, maybe don’t read books that can trigger the negative feelings of that trauma until you’re in the right headspace). But that, in my strong opinion, is the reader’s choice. I tend to hear things like poo-pooing on reading fiction novels, or mindless books.
Each book has its place and purpose, and if it’s not for you, that’s fine. It’s one of the main reasons I’m a HUGE proponent for learning to use the library. This offers a safe space where you can try new genres or types of books you wouldn’t normally, relatively risk free. You would have to learn how to let things go, if you’re one of those people that must finish a book you start, but you could try all sorts of new things here.
I read all sorts of things, depending on my mood. Sometimes books accidentally are themed, like right now, reading two books about two women in two VERY different time periods both experiencing forced institutionalization against their wills (The Woman They Could Not Silence and The Woman in Me). For the most part, if something seems interesting, I try to find it and try it. If I don’t like it, I return it.
Leaving books unfinished was one of the biggest challenges I had to overcome in this endeavor. I never would before. My partner convinced me I should give it a try, leading me down the library patronage path. It’s been a freeing experience and if you’re someone who is scoffing at this practice, I challenge you to explore your motives for finishing that book you hate. Just try it once. See how you feel.
I keep track of all of my books the number of pages to completion, and how many pages of the book I actually read. Something I noticed as being an obstacle for me is if I didn’t finish a book, it felt like it “didn’t count” (check out my reflection about Perfectionism here). Instead of counting completed books, I started counting completed pages. Yes, this is a rough estimate because different styles of print books, ebooks, and audiobooks, don’t exactly easily translate to “pages read”, but the idea here is to “get credit” for anything I read, even if I return it.
Over the years things have ebbed and flowed. There were months I read zero pages, typically around opening businesses or feeling overwhelmed with work. There were months when I read well over 1,000 pages. Sometimes I quit books immediately, sometimes half-way through. I track the data, but I don’t analyze it or think to heavily on it. It just is.
Maybe someday I’ll turn this data into a data visualization to share out with folks. But for now, I keep my reading list a bit more private. Stay tuned!
How do you track your books?!
