How to read 100 books a year
Totally possible if, like me, you have no other interests
Reading is my one true pastime.
On average, I read about 100 books a year, a mix of fiction and nonfiction (and a smattering of poetry).
Reading like this is not necessarily GOOD.
It’s not a desirable goal for everyone, and I’m certainly not saying it’s the way everyone should read. In many ways, it’s dysfunctional and obsessive. I choose to read at the cost of many other things I could be doing instead. But people often ask me how I read so much. Here’s how.
But first: Why am I this crazy?
Not sure: Reading has been a motivating force in my life since I was very small.
Family legend holds that I taught myself to read when I was 3, which I still doubt, but it’s at least in keeping with my current personality. I have craved books since I was tiny. I read with furious intensity when I was young, devouring the classics and plowing through Bible twice before I turned sixteen. In my adulthood, my desire to read has not flagged.
I read because I am curious. I read because I want to expand my mind. I read because I want to grow wise. For all of our technological advances, I still believe books are the best vehicle for transmitting ideas and knowledge—which may, with God’s grace, transmute into wisdom.
These desires form the foundation of my reading passion: why I read at such a breakneck pace, why I love following a faith rooted in a book, why I choose to read instead of go to the gym or listen to music or play a video game.
I read with such hunger because I don’t read purely for entertainment. This perhaps separates me from other copious readers, who read for fun, for diversion. I have nothing against this motivation for reading, but it’s not what animates my passion. I am always enjoying myself while I read, but I don’t choose books for “fun,” whether fiction or nonfiction. This orientation necessarily makes me picky about what I read. I read to have my mind expanded, whether in fiction or nonfiction, and so I am often uninterested in a large portion of popular books.
That said, here are my reading tactics, which I am not recommending. Instead, I am trying, sheepishly, to explain myself, to give a reason for the way that I am.
How I read 100 books in a year
1. Read everywhere
If I am free, I have a book. I read at home, at the table, in bed, at the counter, in the car, on a plane, in the waiting room. Even, sometimes, while walking, which I do not endorse.
2. Make time to crush it
I have three tiny children, so demands on my time have changed dramatically. I read more in fits and starts than I did when I was childless. For this reason, I have to try to reserve blocks of time to really get through my stack; I can’t read whenever I want to. I have to take my opportunities when they come.
In this phase of life, my times to plow through books are (1) on the weekends, when my kids are napping or otherwise occupied, and (2) in the evening, after the kids are in bed but before I go up myself. I thankfully am married to a reader, so we often agree to jointly read (or write, in his case) in the evenings, during the precious hour or so we have without children.
3. Have a book at the ready
Always have a book nearby. Place books strategically around your home. Never go to a place you might be waiting without a book in your bag or in your car. Never travel anywhere without (multiple) books. Whenever you get a moment to be still, there you should find books.
I keep books in every room of the house, and I place the ones I’m actively reading in strategic areas around the house, beyond just my nightstand. For instance, I have a shelf of pending books in the dining room, books that are waiting for their turn, and I keep one of the current books I’m reading stashed there for easy access.
4. Track it
I have written about this before, but I love Goodreads in all its badness.
I have used the desktop app (the mobile app is the pits) for over a decade to track reading, organize my books, and write short reviews. It’s valuable to me as a searchable record of what I’ve read and what I’d recommend. I have, apparently, written 1,514 book reviews since I started my account. What can I say? It’s addictive.
5. Keep lists of what’s next
Goodreads is also where I keep a running list of what I want to read. When someone I trust recommends something, when I hear about a new book that piques my interest, when I stumble on a list of classics that includes one I haven’t encountered, I add it to the list. I also use this list to identify how to source the book (is it at the library? Do I need to buy it? Can I borrow it?) and to categorize it in my various digital shelves. The to-read list ebbs and flows, averaging about 150 titles.
I’m personally competitive with my reading, and the infinite list keeps up my energy.
6. Take notes
It’s important for me to remember what I read, and so note-taking is a big part of my reading practice.
My system is precise:
Book I own: Bracket a passage in pen, write page number on last page of book
Book I’m borrowing: Flag passage with tiny sticky note
Take photos of identified passages
Use photos to transcribe passages into this year’s Google doc
I make a Google doc for each year of reading, and I now have a decade’s worth of docs of beautiful, intriguing, or wise passages (along with another record of what I’ve read). The docs are, of course, searchable and thus have become a valuable repository and memory aid.
7. Banish the phone
You can’t read deeply if your phone is nearby. Don’t even have it in your pocket. Put it in another room, out of sight.
8. Read more than one book at a time
I don’t know that this necessarily helps me read more, but I typically read two to four books at a time. When I have a longer space of time to read, I also like to read 20 pages at a time in one book before I switch to the next. I think it helps keep me engaged.
9. Write about books
In this way, you inscribe wisdom on your heart. Talk about what you’ve read with other people. Debate its merits. Ask questions. Write about it yourself and in this way, you may find out what you think and what you know.
Short aside on clothes: More thoughts on curbing consumption.
Are You Satisfied Yet?: My new favorite anonymous newsletter (Totally Recommend) investigates desire and materialism
Not With a Bang, But a Whimper: A Finnish style writer about ending her love of shopping and acquiring fashion.
Why are all of your clothes worse now? A great explainer, from an economic perspective, about how everything is fast fashion now. (The grammar in the piece is atrocious, but it’s a fascinating background that I did not previously understand.)
Currently reading
Autumn, Ali Smith
The Golden Thread, Kassia St. Clair
Concerning the Future of Souls, Joy Williams
The Well-Tempered Garden, Christopher Lloyd
The Bee Sting, Paul Murray
How can I find you on Good Reads? I did a search for Abby Pratt on there and there are several!