Whenever I’m in a good reading groove I always feel better about life. Not just because I’m adding books to Goodreads which gives me a euphoric sense of accomplishment, but because I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile, which is a good feeling for someone who has no job and spends at least 4 hours a day scrolling social media.
But sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to read. I liken reading to running a lot. It’s something that always makes me feel better but I have to be in the right headspace to do. Starting a new book is like starting training for race. It’s hard to get going and find your rhythm but once you do you’re like OH YEAH, I LIKE THIS.
And while I haven’t done any running in maybe even a year, I read 50’ish books in the last 6 months of 2020 and right now I’m in a good read routine and I thought I’d share it with you…after a bit more rambling about 2020.
I definitely was not in a good reading routine during the first half of the year. (I WONDER WHY?) I only read 4 books in January, 1 in February, 1 in March, 0 in April or May and then 3 in June of the same year.
That kind of shows you what I mean about how easy it is just simply not to read sometimes. (Just like how easy it is not to run right now. But that’s another entry for another day.) Some years I’ve not read AT ALL outside of the periodic book club book.
But for the last 6 months I have been in a good groove. I’ve had a great stretch of books. Here are some of my favorites from 2020 in no particular order. This is an intentionally varied list…there’s some YA, some memoirs, some adult fiction, some non-fiction.
As always you can see what I’ve said about books here on my Goodreads profile. I don’t always review them, but I always rate them.
The point of this post though, was to talk about my 2021 reading routine. I want to stay more consistent this year with my reading so I don’t fall off the wagon (man, this really could be something I would write about running some day too) so I’ve got a few books going in a few different formats/schedules. This wasn’t intentional. It started with the beginning of the year when I opened up The Body Is Not An Apology – because I realized that I couldn’t just sit down and read that one indefinitely. It’s a hard self-help type read that requires processing so I needed to read it in small sessions. I started reading a chapter or two first thing in the morning with my first cup of coffee. Then, the rest of the day I’d read whatever fiction I was working on.
Now that I’ve finished that one, I’m back to reading Evicted which I put down last summer because it was just too heavy. It’s not as hard this time because I’m doing the same thing, I’m reading a few chapters in the morning with my first cup of coffee and then I get to jump into my fiction the rest of the day. (Currently reading Furyborn which is a very dense YA fantasy that would appeal to anyone who loves epic world-building like Lord of the Rings. Although I did not like those books. Heh.) I find this non-fiction/fiction schedule to be really conducive to the way my brain likes to process books. Especially non-fictions which I sometimes really struggle with.
Okay. I just realized I’m sitting here writing about my established reading routine of 2021 and it is only January 8th. That should tell you how intense my reading is right now. I’m like let me tell you about my 2021 routine 8 days in…
But it’s all true! I guess I’ve only been doing the routine for 8 days (HA!) but it feels really good. I even have a couple extra books going right now because I’m reading Outsiders with Wesley for school and I got the free download of Their Eyes Were Watching God yesterday off Libro.fm because it was the author’s birthday. So I’m technically reading four books at once and let me tell you…THIS IS IDEAL FOR SOMEONE CONSTANTLY IN DESPERATE NEED OF ESCAPE.
