entry 005 | how to read more books during school! 📚

helloooo!! hope you guys are having a good 2024 so far!

today, i wanted to talk about how YOU can READ MORE during this SCHOOL YEAR!

coming from someone who read 237 books last year… i think i’m well versed to give tips and advice for this 🤠

so, let me start off by saying, you do NOT need to read that many books 😭 i've talked to so many people about this and they have this need to get too ahead of themselves and read SO many books. but it really isn’t necessary.

you shouldn’t be reading books because you have external forces driving this goal. it’s great to have external forces, but they shouldn’t be the primary reason or underlying motivation. rather, having intrinsic motivation and your own desire to read more will help you work towards your goal better, faster, and stress free. (ap psych coming in clutch guys)

when you set goals for yourself, you’ll realize that you don’t have anyone pressurizing you or stressing you out. when your goal is to read more, you want to be able to enjoy it, otherwise you’ll be done with reading after your FIRST book.

next, i think that though yearly goals are great, you should break up those goals into smaller, manageable chunks. what i mean by this is that you should set weekly/monthly goals that help keep you on track for your goal! a friend of mine has a goal of 24 books this year, so she wants to read a book every 2 weeks, and 2 books every month.

on to the next tip… find your own recs. sure getting recs from your friends, other people, librarians, and booktok is great… but if you just read random books thrown at you, you’re gonna get bored. instead, find genere/topic specific books related to your interests! if you had a childhood favorite book or series, search it up with keywords like “books like (book title) for (your age/grade)” and go on from there!

a lot of times, you’ll hit the jackpot and learn what you like. this might be a specific genre, author, or series!!!

another tip for finding your own books is finding books related to things you watch. if you watch murder mystery shows, try reading books like that, and etc.

next tip. don’t forget the fact that media can be consumed in multiple ways, whether that be paperback, hardcover, on a kindle, or audiobooks! sometimes when i’m in a reading rut, i loveee listening to audiobooks. there are obviously pros and cons for all these methods, but it honestly depends on your preference :)

ANOTHER TIP!! don’t forget that nonfiction exists. yes, it can be boring, but it depends on what you’re reading. nonfiction is such a broad word, because it covers such a vast array of topics, from warfare, to biographies, to self development. so don’t think nonfiction is just about learning about animals and the earth, like in elementary school :,)

i feel like the biggest problem that students, me included, have is time. we simply don't have time. with juggling school, studying, extracurriculars, and sleep, it seems like we just don't have any time to read. yet we somehow have time to get on our phone. text our friends on insta, snap everyone on snapchat to save streaks, and endlessly scroll on tiktok. so, here's my proposition. replace your screen time for reading time. you don't have to completely replace it, but try to replace at least half of it.

why would this work? because think about it, the average teen spends about 6 hours on their phone, more or less. if you replaced half of that, that would be 3 HOURS of reading. real life changer, right?

if you are still stuck on what you want to read, you can always check out my blogpost entry 001 | MY 2024 TBR! 📚 just remember to take it with a grain of salt, because what i like, might not float your boat!

that’s all for today!! let me know if you want a part two for this blog in either the comments or dm me on insta!

love u,

sincerely,

studybutterfly <3