As a Gen Z, I’m proud I can ignore my needy devices long enough to read between 50 and 60 books each year. I’m not an outlier among my friends either; some of us have children, most have spouses and we all work full-time jobs, yet manage to get through a book every week or so.
The good news for you? It’s not because we have an absurd amount of willpower or spare time. Rather, we realise reading is an antidote to the fast-paced, online way we spend most of our days and have cultivated reading habits that nestle into the existing architecture of our schedules and obligations.
Unless you and I have identical circumstances, our lives (and thus reading habits) will not look the same. However, some practices and principles can help you cultivate your own reading habit for 2025.
The most important step when starting (or restarting) a reading habit is finding a few quick wins; readable books that will grab your attention and create momentum.
Quick tip: Skip high-brow books typically featured on award lists. They may be high-quality but that doesn’t necessarily make them enjoyable and joy is crucial when training your brain to choose books over other distractions. Leave Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries or Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life for next year.
Instead, ask friends or colleagues what they’ve loved recently. If they know you, ask what they would recommend specifically for you. Anoter tip is to notice people you enjoy via other mediums such as podcasts, articles or documentaries; if they have written a book, chances are you’ll enjoy it. My top-rated non-fiction reads for 2023 were written by people I first heard on podcasts.
Finally, sign up for GoodReads, which is essentially social media for readers. The app shows your progress over the year or towards a goal, records books you’ve ‘read’ or ‘want to read’ and shows updates from friends such as books they’ve finished and what they rated them.
Goodreads allows you to track the books you have read and enjoyed. Photo / Sarah Pollok
2. Get free books
Do you know there are approximately 600 places in Aotearoa where you can get free books? Every time I visit my local library, it never ceases to amaze me how incredible yet underutilised the humble library is. Not only do they offer free books but each one has a ‘due date’ that provides the perfect external motivation to read it. Also, did I mention, the books are free? Sign up (for free) and reserve books from your new ‘want to read’ list via the website, or peruse the books at your local branch. Plus, your account also works on Libby, a free app where you can reserve eBooks, eAudiobooks and eMagazines via the ‘Libby by OverDrive’
Some people (ahem, my husband) say goals for leisure activities are unnecessarily legalistic. If you’re terrible at making time for hobbies and goals motivate you, set ‘em up, I say. One method is to set a certain amount of time to read each day or week but I find an annual ‘number of books’ is more flexible, as I may read for hours during a holiday but very little during a busy week at work.
Consider what works best for you then tell your partner, family or friends for added accountability.
4. Eat (with) your books
The classic time to read is before bed but personally, this is a recipe for sleepily re-reading pages before eventually nodding off. My most unusual (yet most effective) tip presents another time to read; mealtimes.
You’ll find me chewing through a book as I chew through meals for several reasons. Firstly, they become automatic daily reminders to pick up a book. Secondly, they’re often at least 15-minute chunks of time and ones I can often take alone, especially if I have breakfast and lunch in the office.
If this approach doesn’t suit your season of life, consider other unconventional times or regular activities when you could read.
Summer holidays are a great time to catch up on reading. Photo / 123RF
5. Put yourself in time-out
Your environment is another factor that makes reading easy or challenging. I’d recommend avoiding social spaces such as the office kitchen or the lounge at home if you struggle to resist socialising, singularly focus on a book or have hit a ‘slow’ part that requires more concentration.
Chat or chapters, you can’t do both well. Commit to one and if you choose socialising, don’t be that person who declares every five minutes: “Okay NOW I’m going to read”.
6. Optimise the empty moments
A glance at your phone’s ‘screen time’ proves how a few minutes here and there can add up. Do I recall spending 45 minutes on social media today? Absolutely not, but alas I did, often during those 10-minute chunks before an appointment or catch-up, gym class or phone call. If you swap scrolling for reading, well, those ‘empty moments’ stack up to chapters and entire books.
The key is keeping a light, readable book nearby, whether it’s in your bag, car or desk drawer.
7. Give it a go … then let it go
I’m a firm believer one should always give a book a few chapters to ‘get going’. After this, if the plot is bewildering, the topics boring or the writing stilted, shut it and move on.
If you don’t find a book entertaining, educational or engaging, there are no gold stars or certificates for battling through. Plus, the better you become at ditching books, the more likely you are to experiment with different genres or formats, knowing you can skip the duds after a few chapters.
