How I Built Back a Habit of Reading
A deep dive into how I revived a cherished habit, featuring some good reads.
A deep dive into how I revived a cherished habit, featuring some good reads.
This year was the year I built back my habit of reading. Being a bookworm was a defining part of my identity as a kid with many blissful hours spent befriending the local librarian, hovering impatiently over bookshelves in anticipation of the latest book drop in a series, and excitedly consuming books whole in marathon reading sessions.
Around high school, something changed. I stopped reading for fun.
It’s not that I didn’t try with continuing to read in high school and college. I read a decent amount, flitting from book to book, hoping to get back the spark which would launch me back into my voracious reading habit. I did come across the occasional gem, either amidst the required reading from school or my own selections. The overall level of enjoyment I gleaned from it, however, was really not even remotely comparable to what I experienced as a kid. Getting through books felt like a chore. I would inadvertently be counting the pages, checking how far through I was, and constantly thinking “Get to the point!” when I should have been enjoying the meandering, descriptive nature of artistic storytelling.
There were several reasons I dropped reading as a habit.
I dropped the habit of making frequent visits to libraries. As the barrier to entry for discovering new and exciting books increased, it became too easy to say reading is too hard. The most popular books seemed to be perpetually on hold, I was irregular in returning library books and had to settle my fare share of fines, and buying books seemed like an unnecessary expense for a frugal student living off of part-time job and gift money.
My time was fractured by being a student and I cared more about spending my free time fostering friendships than sitting in an isolated corner with my nose buried in a book. I simply couldn’t justify dumping large bouts of time into the multi-day, late-night reading sessions I once enjoyed.
Probably the biggest reason was that I didn’t know what types of books I enjoyed anymore. Somewhere along the way, my tastes had changed. The books I did select based on prior knowledge of myself were typically misses. One unfortunate thing people never told me when I was younger is that getting older means you start to notice patterns which make the experiences which once seemed striking and innovative seem dull and unoriginal. I was also perpetually influenced by this idea of what I should be reading, in a way one wouldn’t expect. I’d spent a lot of my childhood flouting my parent’s wishes for me to read “useful” (non-fiction, historical, biographical, self-help etc.) books in favor of reading and re-reading fictional fantasies which stirred my imagination. It never even occurred to me that I could grow into enjoying the “useful” sort of books.
So, the portion of my identity tied to reading took a back seat. However, life without reading is a life with little learning. Reading is the grease on the wheel that keeps our desire for knowledge and growth churning. Even reading so-called “useless” books as a kid inspired my love of writing, poetry, and engaging storytelling which shaped the way I view the world.
In the fall of 2021, I finally turned to face the roaring beast of a post-grad existential crisis I’d been turning a blind eye to for a number of years. In keeping busy hopping from distraction to distraction and focusing on doing over being, I fell out of touch with how I could enjoy simply existing by myself.
This is when I rediscovered reading.
Like, really reading. Not perusing through articles or posts which held my attention for a minute or two before I swiped down for the next dopamine hit. Not doomsday scrolling the New York Times once a day to drown in the disasters befalling our world. I mean discovering new ideas which constantly reshape how I view the world around me or living through a book where the images are so vivid the world around me just fades away.
Here’s how I did it.
I made it easy. In order to find and access my books, I have the Kindle App downloaded on my laptop, tablets, and phone. Sure, I’m one of those people who prefers a physical book over a digital one. But at the end of the day, I’m more likely carry along at least one device with me than to haul around a book at all times. With using the Kindle app for reading, there’s no need to buy a Kindle device, go to the library, or frequent a book store. Of course, having a full-time job helps me justify the money I spend on buying books. However, in general, Kindle books are cheaper than their physical counterparts and it’s an amazing feeling knowing that you can always carry your entire library with you as long as you have at least one device on hand.
I reassessed my relationship with reading and time. There are so many cracks in our day which we fill with scrolling on our phone — why not make it scrolling through a book? Before I go to bed, while I’m eating lunch solo, or when I’m waiting in a lunch line at work I’m on my phone, reading. I also swapped out my solo TV time for book time and only watch television when I’m with friends or on a machine at the gym. Although the micro-doses of book time steeply contradict my old, cherished habit of spending massive chunks of time reading, I’ve learned to glean the same sense of enjoyment by reading in smaller amounts but more consistently.
Reading doesn’t need to be an activity of isolation. It’s an opportunity to soak in the ambiance of a new reading spot, as long as one takes the (literal) extra steps to go somewhere nice instead of sitting in the same isolated corner. Additionally, reading the same book as a friend is an unconventionally social, shared experience. The most fascinating topics I’ve encountered in books frequently work their way into my conversations and often spur enriching debates and discussions with my friends.
Lastly, and most importantly, I rediscovered the type of books I enjoy. After years of dodging non-fiction in favor of creative books which boggled my imagination, it took a minute for me to realize that my tastes had changed. While I still enjoy the occasional sci-fi, mystery, or fantasy novel, the books which consistently grip me nowadays are those which give me reasons to be fascinated with the world around me. It took a fair amount of clues, a creeping interest for documentaries/based-on-real-life films and an unprecedented — dare I say it— interest in politics, for me to realize what seemed impossible was a reality. I’ve morphed into that lowdown, buttoned up, sensible adult I never intended on being. Heck, oh well.
On that note, here are some of the books I’ve read recently or am currently reading that I would recommend to a friend!
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson: the first of a popular dark high fantasy series
The Overstory by Richard Powers: a Pulitzer prize-winning fictional novel which will forever change how you view trees
Quiet by Susan Cain: a non-fiction book that tackles the topic of understanding and learning to value introversion
Talking with Zombies by Paul Krugman: a breakdown of major topics in politics consisting of essays written by this Nobel Prize-winning economist
Atomic Habits by James Clear: a best-selling book about how one can harness small, consistent changes in habits to change their overarching life trajectory
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari: a fascinating non-fiction book about humankind which helps explain our world today through the lens of our evolution and ancestors
I’m Shubha. I write about computer graphics, tech, life, and anything else I find interesting! Also, I make cartoons for a living @ Pixar Animation Studios — shubhaj.com