In an era of distraction and noise, reading deeply proves more difficult than ever — but it doesn’t have to be.
Curling up with a blanket and a good book sounds like an idyllic nightly routine to many. But in reality, cracking open a novel isn’t as easy as it seems, especially with the temptation of a low-stakes TV series that takes your mind off daily stressors.
The research is clear: Americans read less than ever. The number of books read by U.S. adults each year has dropped significantly in less than a decade, from an average of 15.6 books in 2016 to 12.6 in 2021, a Gallup survey found. What’s more, just six percent of Americans named reading as their favorite evening activity in 2020 — the lowest rate recorded since Gallup started tracking it in 1960.
Without a regular reading practice, you could be missing out on opportunities to grow as a person, whether it be through biographies of leaders you admire, books on professional specialties, or collections of poems that change how you perceive the world. Plus, reading has been associated with improved longevity, reduced psychological distress, and lower risk of cognitive decline in older adults. Literary fiction may also enhance your ability to understand what others are thinking or feeling, research suggests.
If you’re not a thoughtful bookworm — yet — know that there are steps you can take to read more deeply, retain that knowledge you acquire, and make books a staple in your life. Here’s your game plan.
RELATED: Healing Through Prose
Start with a Clear Strategy
Yes, reading brings so much pleasure. But if you crave a more robust reading practice, you’ll need to recognize that it will require effort and a bit of forethought, says Jennie Edgar, the founder of So Textual, a book club meets literary platform that offers courses on improving reading and retention skills.
If you want to become a better reader, Edgar recommends exploring where that desire comes from. Ask yourself: What do you want to get from the books you read? What type of person do you want to be? What is the kind of wisdom you seek from reading? Considering your ‘why’ will help you choose authors and books that will resonate with you most — and keep you on track for finishing them.
“Aligning your values with what you hope to get out of reading is the strongest practice for achieving [your reading goals]," she says. “Reading is a meaning-making process. I argue it's not something one does for mere entertainment. There's a curiosity and a value system at play.”
Simplify the Process
Once you’ve selected a story, set your sights on an achievable target — 10 minutes of reading before bed, two chapters a week, and so on. “I would encourage anyone building their reading habit to be practical about what ‘enough’ means for them,” Edgar says. “A realistic goal is a good place to start.”
Then, prime your environment to make reading without disruption easy and attainable. Edgar suggests keeping your book or reading material front and center. “Keep The New Yorker open to the short story on your kitchen counter,” she says. “Invest in a great clip-on reading light, a book holder for your tub, or anything else that might make books more of your routine.”
To keep you motivated, plan regular recaps with a friend or a loved one reading the same book. If you don’t have anyone in your orbit up for the challenge, joining a reading group like So Textual can help you connect more deeply with what you read. “Our book club strives to provide avid and novice readers alike with a container to read well,” Edgar says. “We consider books in their cultural context, evaluate why they're significant and resonate years (decades) after they were written, and consider their personal significance.” The result is a built-in process for discussing and exploring ideas as you read them — and diving more deeply into meaning as a community.
RELATED: Can Doodling be Therapeutic?
Write While You Read
“I think it's mandatory to read with a pen in hand,” says Edgar. “It's so funny to me that so many people have a block against this — like it's sacrilegious. My view is it's disrespectful to not engage with a text if it's any good! People get around this by taking notes in a separate journal or writing on stickies or paper inserts, but I'm a fan of good old-fashioned marginalia. Many of my pages look like a Cy Twombly drawing.”
Recent research shows that writing notes by hand promotes learning, and there’s an added advantage: When you return to a book later, you can quickly review the thoughts and ideas that resonated with you at the time and explore how your feelings have shifted since. “I love this type of archiving — I can go back to the book in five years and be reminded of my thoughts, find the beautiful passages, and see how I've changed in light of the text, or perhaps how the text has changed in light of who I am now,” Edgar says.
See Yourself as Part of the Experience
A reading practice doesn’t start when you crack the cover or end when you snap a book shut, says Edgar. She points to reader-response theory (also known as reader-response criticism) as a way of thinking about your reading practice. “It contends that a book is only half-finished and that it is, in fact, the reader's subjectivity that completes the book,” Edgar says. “It is the intersubjective relationship between book and reader that constructs the meaning from the text. So, who you are is paramount to how the reading unfolds.”
With that in mind, consciously put yourself into the story to read more deeply, Edgar suggests. “How does it feel? How does it open you? What do you remember?” she says. “Some books are better at this than others, which is why reading an author you trust with your time is so important.”