Rediscovering Reading
As an audiobook narrator, as an editor, and simply as a (now) avid reader—I encourage everyone reading this blog to try their best to reclaim, rediscover, or discover reading. This is how I regained my love for literature, my tips and personal ‘guide’, and the changes I’ve noticed after getting back my reading.
When I was younger, and well into my teenage years, I used to absorb books like a sponge. I’d be able to spend the entire day reading and would often stay up as long as possible getting through the pages. Then one day, I found myself no longer able to go through books like I did before. I truly cannot say when that was, though it must have been sometime in my later teenage years, around seventeen or so. Though I’ve always had a book (or three) lined up and lying around that I’d be semi-actively reading, it was truly a drop in the ocean of my previous volume. I’d still be ‘reading’ and narrating books for my job, though the content was seldom what I personally looked for in a book, though occasionally I did enjoy an absolute gem that I was happy to have been able to narrate. In my personal life however, I lost focus and interest in books significantly faster, and found that I could no longer ‘just pick something up and read it’. I used to truly, truly love reading—what happened?
A combination of growing responsibilities and stress, as well as free access to the internet had eroded my will and ability to read. Through conversations with friends, family, and acquaintances, I’ve found that many people have or are experiencing the same.
About two years ago, I set out to fix this. I had finally reached a level in Japanese where I could read and (mostly) understand intermediate-level literature, and had purchased some new English novels at my local bookstore at a bargain. It felt like a waste having them just lying on my table, waiting to be read. So I decided to just start reading how I could and figure it out along the way.
Over the next year I slowly got back into the rhythm of reading. I’m happy to report that since the beginning of this new literary journey, I’ve gotten through over fifty books and many more short stories and literature in my various languages—most in English and Japanese, with a handful of French ones and one Russian novel (still working on getting my Russian reading back).
Here are the general guidelines that helped me get my reading back, that I now stick to in my daily life:
Reading before bed.
Not only does this help me wind out and pass out at night, but it was also great to rediscover my reading. The dangers of this are not remembering what you read the night before, and interesting books which kept me up much later than usual. And some books do turn into “sleepy-go-bye-bye” works, that you do need to be more awake to read and absorb.
I don’t always read before bed, but I have consistently gotten at least three nights a week for the past year or so, with few exceptions.
Non-zero days. A page a day is better than none a day.
Even just a little adds up over time.
Taking pocket-sized books with me everywhere I go.
A special thank you Japan for your pocket-sized 文庫本 bunkobon and France for your livres de poche.
Transit time or downtime adds up surprisingly quickly. A page here and a page there goes by in a flash.
Giving every book at least an hour’s try.
Some of the most interesting books I’ve read—such as the Overstory by Richard Powers—were fantastic, but took me time to get into them. Many blurbs and reviews don’t do books justice, as the reviewers and blurb-ers (?) have differing tastes to my own.
This also gets me in ‘the zone’ and focused on reading. With some shorter books or stories I ended up just reading them in one sitting doing this.
Trying out new authors, genres, and categories of books.
I’ve read books ranging from fantasy fiction to non-fiction educational books, to online fanfiction. The greater range of content gives me variety to keep me interested in reading, and helps me discover more about various fields that I otherwise would have skipped over entirely.
The diversity of reading in different languages also helped fuel my interest. When it comes to Japanese, occasionally I found that the urge to practice and learn took me through the lull in reading when the content itself was slower.
Most importantly, I just read as much as I can, in any shape that I can.
This is what really made the difference. I just continued reading, whether that be comics, short stories, poems, blogs, or anything that I found online that was somewhat cohesive medium- to longer-form content. Eventually, my ‘tolerance’ and attention span grew again, and I found myself naturally yearning for longer posts to read, which brought me back to books. For Japanese, I also read and still read manga, their version of comic books.
A combination of slowly implementing these guidelines has resulted in me finally feeling like I’ve regained that kid in me who could lose himself in a book for an entire day. I’ve also learned some great things about myself and about reading along the way.
I’ve found my attention span has grown significantly. Not only am I now able to sit down and read a book for hours, but my use of social media has changed. I still browse social media. But the amount of time I spend on it, and how many ‘posts’ I have to see before I get my fill have completely changed. Looking at my phone timer, I’ve dropped down to ten minutes at least, an hour at most a day (though there are exceptions, and I’m not immune to the occasional rabbit-hole doom scroll!). I have become much more comfortable with boredom and with staying with my thoughts.
I suddenly realised how much time I can find during the day to accomplish something. The transit and downtime that I now often use to read has shown me just how much time I really have in any given day. One of my reasons (and excuses) for not reading as much as I have in the past was that I had too much going on in the day. Yes, I am busy—but I was blown away by how much reading I got done, on my phone, kindle, or book. Now, I no longer make the excuse for myself of not having time for something I enjoy. I make it. And I am still always surprised by how easy it is. Just a few minutes here and there to stretch, do some mobility exercises, take a small walk, or read. It’s always there in some way.
My mental clarity and creativity has greatly improved. This goes hand-in-hand with my attention span and how much time I’ve found. Getting into the reading ‘zone’ has helped me find that again in regular thought patterns, slowly. That focus has helped me organise my thoughts into coherent narratives within my head that I can now build on and use in work, study, writing, and just about any aspect of my life. I’ve started writing more often—stories, poetry, and this blog! I’ve seen steady improvement in this area, and I truly hope that this trend continues.
Relaxing, unwinding, and falling asleep are much easier. One of my favourite boons that has made me stick by my decision of reading again has been how much easier I can unwind. The peace that I feel while reading is incomparable to any other entertainment, and keeps me coming back. As soon as I fall into the world of a book, I find a certain calm that then helps me fall asleep faster, get to my baseline relaxation faster, and unwind faster after a long day at work or studies.
My language skills have improved. My Japanese in particular has grown significantly as I read more, and my vocabulary and grammar improved noticeably after every single work I finished reading. It’s one of the most effective methods of language acquisition. It allows you to practice the language whilst contextualising new vocabulary, grammar, and styles. I remember the very first proper novel I finished in Japanese, Kafka by the Shore by Haruki Murakami. It was nearly 800 pages in Japanese, and took me five months to read slowly as I gained back my reading and had to jump to the dictionary and ask natives about it. When I finished, I re-read the first chapter, blown away by how much easier it was than the first time around. Since then I’ve completed another fifteen novels, with each one being an exciting venture into an entirely different literary world, that has also boosted my language skills by no small amount.
Overall, I can say that taking back my reading was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I sincerely encourage all of you who have read this far to give reading a solid try—I think you may be surprised at how amazing you will find it, if you give it some time.
I would like to say that at my current point, I’m still a ways away from my maximum reading capacity. I still have Russian literature to get back into, and an extensive ‘to read’ list that keeps growing by the day that I have yet to make a dent in. More than anything else, I’m glad to have come back to a point where reading is a comfort for me. A safe space where I can dive into a new world and go on an adventure.
