Well, although I’ve probably talked about this before, I thought that I’d offer a few tips about how to get into reading novels.
For context, I’m someone who has a weird “on-off” relationship with the medium – I read a lot during the 2000s and a reasonable amount during the early-mid 2010s, then mostly abandoned novels between about 2014-18, then got back into them in 2018-20 before getting “burnt out” by and not reading much until January this year. So, I’ve gotten back into it at least twice.
And here are four tips:
1) Choose novels you actually enjoy: Novels are meant to be enjoyable to read. It is a hobby, not a chore. If you are “forcing yourself” to read, then you’re doing it wrong! This isn’t school or university! It isn’t a competition either! I cannot overstate all of this enough!
If you look online, you’ll see lots of people talking about “popular” novels/genres or extolling the virtues of “serious literature”, boasting about how many novels they have read or showing off fashionable “book hauls” or whatever. If you actually like popular novels, then read them. But, if you don’t, then look for novels that you do actually enjoy. Ones that you actually want to read. Statistically speaking, they exist. Millions upon millions of novels have been published, so there will be at least a few that you’ll actually enjoy.
Start by searching by genre – if you enjoy sci-fi TV shows, then look for sci-fi novels etc… – and then just look at blurbs and, more importantly, sample chapters until you find one that grabs you. Sample chapters matter a lot because you can find a novel with a really interesting premise… but the writing style might just put you off. Again, don’t force yourself to read. Unlike a social media site, with algorithms designed to grab your attention, you are the one who has to give your attention to a novel – so find one that you actually want to give it to before you start reading the whole thing.
And, if a novel isn’t working for you, then ditch it! Be merciless with this. It protects your enjoyment of reading. Seriously, one of the reasons I didn’t read much between 2014-18 was because I’d started a novel I couldn’t get on with at the time and I kept putting off reading more of it – because I still believed that you “had” to finish any novel you started – and therefore just didn’t read much for four years. Learn how to ditch novels that you don’t enjoy… because these can turn you into a non-reader again.
Ultimately, you are reading for you. So, do yourself a favour and ignore whatever is trendy or popular and focus on finding novels that you actually want to read. Because they exist.
2) Do NOT “be productive”!: Earlier, I mentioned that I got “burnt-out” on novels for about four or five years. This happened because, in 2018-20, I made a really stupid mistake. I tried to “be productive” with my reading. I tried to make sure that book reviews appeared here every 2-4 days, which meant I set myself deadlines for finishing books. I kept the latest book within easy reach of my computer desk.
I took extensive notes whilst reading, I had a whole system of rules to vary the books I read and I didn’t play many videogames or watch many movies. And, yes, I was reading an impressive number of novels but, after a year or two of this, I didn’t even want to look at a novel again. They stopped being fun for literal years afterwards because I was trying to “be productive” with them. Don’t make this mistake! It is a very unnatural way to read.
The whole thing about “reading goals” or boasting about how many books you’ve read is a fairly recent thing. Whether you blame it on US-style “hustle culture” or on social media, it is a weird modern anomaly. I’m in my mid-late thirties and I can easily remember a time before this. One where novels were just something you picked up if you had a few spare minutes, or read during long journeys or whatever. They were a background item, not a “focus”. It was all a lot more relaxed and people had more fun reading.
And I’ve been trying to replicate this with my current reading. I don’t set myself deadlines for finishing novels, or even say that I have to read every day. Instead of placing the novel within easy reach of my desk, I’ll put it in the middle of the room, so that I might sometimes pick it up and read a bit on the way back or forth from my desk. I read whatever interests me rather than “No more than two books by the same author every month, read a different author to the one you’ve just read etc…”.
Reading is relaxation, not “productivity”!
3) Start with one focus, and variety will follow naturally: When I was getting back into novels in 2018 and in January this year, I noticed an interesting pattern. At the beginning, I pretty much stuck to the one author or genre that fascinated me the most. The one that was the easiest and/or most fascinating to read. And I hyper-focused on this for a few books.
Back in 2018, I ended up reading several nautical thriller novels by Clive Cussler before branching out into a wider range of genres and/or authors that I like. And, this January, I had to start by just reading the sort of gruesome 1980s-style horror novels that really got me interested in novels back when I was about thirteen. I read enough of them until I felt like a change and then started reading other genres that I like as well.
So don’t worry if you start out only reading books by the same author or only reading books in the same genre. The important thing is to enjoy yourself. Don’t worry if you start out only reading old novels or only reading modern novels. Eventually, you will find yourself getting slightly bored and be hungry for a change – which will lead to you reading more genres and/or authors.
Case in point, after getting back into reading via 1980s-style horror novels, I’m now reading one of the novellas in S. J. Parris’ “The Dead Of Winter” (2020) – which is a collection of three historical detective/thriller novellas, following a fictional version of Giordano Bruno, in 16th century Naples. Seriously, I’d almost forgotten just how atmospheric Parris’ historical fiction is 🙂 [Note: Due to a scheduling mix-up, my review of the first novella in this collection (the second one was good, but not my sort of thing, and I moved on to another book) won’t appear here until very early next month.]
If you want to get into reading novels, then the important thing at the beginning is consistent enjoyment. So, once you’ve found an author or genre that you like, then focus on this until you – naturally and organically – feel like you want to branch out into reading other stuff. Again, don’t force it. The point of branching out is to deepen your enjoyment or keep reading interesting and not to boast about how “well-read” you are.
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
