How to read more books

+ a massive list of book recommendations to celebrate World Book Day

Mar 07, 2024

World Book Day is a pain in the proverbial for most parents, and I can see why. Our little one is only in nursery, and she was encouraged to go along dressed up today. Obviously, I sent her in a dinosaur dress (her current obsession) in keeping with her favourite book, If I Had A Dinosaur. The full T-Rex outfit can wait until next year.

While World Book Day is generally focused on getting kids into reading, I think I would be amiss not to dedicate this week’s issue of the newsletter to my own love of books. I’m going to share some thoughts on how we can read more in a technology-addicted world and plenty of recommendations to kickstart your reading habits.

Let’s go…

Logging off

Although I grew up before the advent of the smartphone, I still struggled to give my full attention to reading. I wasn’t going to log off my family computer after six hours of tormenting my Sims to open a paperback, and if I did, then I would lack the dedication actually to finish it. That’s not to say I didn’t read at all, but it definitely wasn’t part of my daily routine like it is now.

Pairing my obsession with watching heads explode on Theme Hospital with the fact that I hated anything that was remotely in vogue, I missed quite a few of the big book obsessions of my generation. I didn’t even read the Harry Potter series until I was an adult - meaning I had about six months before this was ruined for me (for obvious reasons), cutting me not quite as deep as those who queued outside of Waterstones at midnight for The Deathly Hallows (*cough* Craig *cough*).

I did, however, devour the first couple of Twilight books, to my shame. These books are poorly written, with flat characters and even flatter plotlines, and yet they captured the imagination of a whole generation of young girls.

This leads me nicely onto one of the main points I wanted to make here.

It doesn’t matter what you read, just do it.

There is still a lot of snobbery in the literature world. And, unsurprisingly, women’s literature is very often seen as a lower form of entertainment. I can’t remember if I have written about the attitudes towards female-focused entertainment before (I’ve been sending this email for four years!), but I do recall this fantastic piece by

Nia

about how teenage girls are both mocked and marketed towards in equal measure.

Please, let girls enjoy things in peace

Do you ever wonder why teenage boys/adult men screaming their lungs out at a goal is ‘passion’ but or teenage girls/adult women screaming for their favourite musicians is ‘hysteria’?

Both sets of people show how invested they are in the people they choose to ‘stan’. Funny how sexism works.

- Teenage girls make superstars, we better start respecting them (Jul ‘21) -

Not Controversial

So, if you’re a woman reading this and you want to read more, take this as your green light to pick up that latest romance book or go back to your teenage crush—nobody cares, and if they do, then they’re wrong.

Creating a habit

I touched on this earlier, but I wanted to dedicate a whole section to the attitude shift towards becoming a regular reader. I didn’t start reading every day until I was in my 20s, and now I can’t imagine a day going by without picking up my Kindle or plugging into an audiobook. In fact, you can see below from the last ten years of setting myself a reading goal on Goodreads; it was only in 2018 that I started to read regularly.

To find out what changed, I clicked on my 2018 reading challenge to see what captured my imagination that year. It turns out this was the year I discovered Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes - no wonder I was so in love with reading; these are still some of my favourite books of all time.

That was probably the year I became a ‘mood reader’ - someone who picks up a book based on how they feel, rather than having a set ‘to be read (TBR)’ list. That might not work for everyone, but it helped me to reframe reading as a hobby I actually enjoy and not something I should do because everyone else is doing it.

Like with exercise, it took me a few years to get over the aftermath of bad reading experiences in school. I didn’t really enjoy the books we were encouraged to read, and discussions like “Why doesn’t Curly’s Wife have a name?” were pretty mind-numbing. It wasn’t until I left school and started learning my own tastes that I realised books could be very special indeed.

If you’re struggling to develop a regular reading habit, you’re not alone. It’s no surprise that the rise of smartphones, and in particular addictive apps like Instagram and TikTok, has made it harder for people to put their devices down and pick up a book.

However, these apps have also brought with them a whole new generation of readers, with the likes of BookTok and BookTube holding authors’ careers in the palm of their hands. In fact, reading is more popular than ever - or at least buying books is. According to this Guardian article about Gen Z’s love of reading, 669 million physical books were sold in the UK in 2023, the highest overall level ever recorded.

So, if you are among those book buyers but you’re finding it hard to crack open the first page, here are some tips for reading more books in 2024:

Go with your mood: I mentioned this already, but it deserves its own point. If you don’t want to read the book that everybody’s talking about, then don’t. Pick up something that speaks to you.
DNF, don’t waste time: DNF, or did not finish, is a term book lovers use to refer to a book they quit part-way through. I used to struggle with this as I would always try to finish a book. Otherwise, I felt my time was wasted - but in reality, you’re wasting even more time reading something that doesn’t spark joy. Get rid, pick up something else.
Join a library: Growing up, my mam would always take me to the local library, and I have already made this a weekly tradition for my daughter. Public libraries are amazing, not just because of the books. They are warm, safe spaces without pressure to spend money or free up a table. We are lucky enough to have several libraries near us, all with an online catalogue of books. I regularly order books online for collection, and this has saved me a lot of money over the years.
Reading isn’t just books: I’m a big fan of audiobooks, as well as physical books and ebooks. I must admit I still use Audible, but I know there are a few more ethical audiobook apps out there, including BookBeat and BorrowBox (part of the public library network). Listening to books counts as reading books. This is a fact.
Set time aside to read: If you find you’re particularly distracted by doom-scrolling, then it’s time to chuck your phone into another room and dedicate a set time to reading every evening. It doesn’t have to be in bed (better if it’s not if you’re like me and always fall asleep), just anywhere that you’d usually waste away the hours on TikTok.
Find friends who love books: I love getting reading recommendations from friends who have similar reading tastes, and I am fortunate to have many people around me who share my love of books.

So now you’re ready to create a regular reading habit… what are you going to read? If you’re unsure, here are some recommendations from me.

I want to read…

Books about motherhood

Matrescence by Lucy Jones - Non-fic piece about the transition of motherhood, this really works to dispel some of the biggest issues facing new mothers in today’s society. She talks about everything from the obsession with natural birth through to breastfeeding and the mental load. Every mother (and their partners!) should read this.
Spilt Milk by Amy Beashel - A novel about a woman struggling with the decision and judgement of having an abortion after the birth of her first child changed her entire life. A very honest and tactfully written story.
A Life’s Work by Rachel Cusk - When Cusk first wrote this memoir, she was shamed for even admitting that motherhood is anything but sunshine and rainbows. Fortunately, attitudes have changed a bit, but a lot of what Cusk says still rings true.
Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness - Cho experienced every woman’s worst nightmare - post-partum psychosis. She writes about her lived experience as the birth of her son triggered a mental health episode she could have never imagined. Brutally honest and super well-written.

Really, really weird books

If you like strange stuff, here are some recs (trigger warnings aplenty here).

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata - I don’t even know how to explain this one - it’s absolutely bonkers and one you’ll never forget.
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Herdman - Forty young women are kept in a cage in a room policed by armed guards. They don’t know how they got there, where they are, or why they are there. The narrator, who was a child when she first arrived, tells the women’s stories as she slowly learns a little more about their world.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado is a short story collection that includes some horror, some magic realism, and some that are just plain bizarre.

Women-led sci-fi

Wool by Hugh Howey - Move over Ellen Ripley, there’s a new badass woman in space. This dystopian tale tells of Juliette, a woman who lives in an underground community that’s held under a corrupt system - and no one really knows what’s outside. Wool has recently been turned into an Apple TV series, which I’ve yet to watch.
A Long Way Back To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - A modern feminist twist on Firefly, is the best way I can describe this found-family novel. Chamber has since written quite a few books, but her debut remains my personal favourite.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - Another one that’s since become a TV show, this novel tells human stories amidst a societal collapse brought on by a pandemic (written before COVID!)

Really bloody good non-fiction

All The Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks and Kevin Carr O’Leary - This is one book that has stuck with me for a very long time. Ruth was a single mother growing up in rural Arkansas. When the AIDS crisis hit, she dedicated her life to helping the people affected by the disease in a time and place where this was simply not done. The people who become Ruth’s family and the stories she tells about them are breathtaking.
Riot Days by Maria Alyokhina - Maria is a member of Pussy Riot, the group of Russian women who openly rebelled against Putin’s system of oppression. In Riot Days, she tells of her experience in a Russian prison and how she is treated as a political criminal in her own country.
This Is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan - One day, Morgan’s husband collapsed from a mysterious illness and woke up with an entirely different personality. In this memoir, she explores grief in a raw and honest way.

Celeb memoirs but not shit

These need no introduction…

No time for Touching Grass this week because work beckons. Want a book recommendation? Comment below with something else you loved, or a type of book you’d like to read, and I’ll see if there’s anything that comes to mind.