-A.M. Aguilar

How Did I Read 100 Books in 2020

I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a book

If you’ve read the short paragraphs that I’ve written for my “Welcome” page in the blog, then you may recognise this one: I have been known for reading a lot of books in my spare time. I’m the kind of person you will see reading everywhere: at the breakfast table, through the morning, in between classes, before going to sleep, even when I go to the bathroom. I literally read anywhere and everywhere.

“But Andrea, that must not be very comfortable? Carrying huge books with you to every place you go to?” I know! When I’m reading a physical book it can get uncomfortable, so I don’t read it everywhere. Though, most of the books I read are ebooks. (Most of you know that shipping to Honduras is super expensive so I can rarely afford them 🙁 ) But I have an old iPad which I take care of, as if it were worth millions. I literally have a library in there 🙂  

Reading ebooks has made it easy for me to carry my books around and therefore read anywhere I can take my tablet to, or even download them in my smartphone which is more accesible, and read my favorite books everywhere. 

So is this how I read 100 books in 2020? By reading ebooks? Not really, but later on I will explain why this is relevant. Today I’ll share with you guys a couple of tips for reading more books, because reading many books isn’t a matter of reading faster but smarter 😀 . Developing healthy habits to read more. 

And if there is something I want you to take away from this post once you’re done reading too, is that the number of books you read doesn’t determine that you are a book lover or not. There’s no such thing. If there is something I learned last year with the 100 books challenge, is that you shouldn’t pressure yourself when reading. Let me explain.

I’m a very organized person when it comes to myself and sometimes I can be too strict and pressure myself if I don’t meet a goal I had in mind. Which really isn’t a good thing. And when I began this challenge I was too hard on myself “You need to read 10 books per month, YOU NEED TO.” And rather than reading being a hobby, it had become a task and I wasn’t really enjoying the books I was reading.

This went on for around 4 months, 4 dreadful months believe me… in May when I created my blog and started a bookstagram I learned a lot from other readers and the lesson that stuck with me the most was that “you should not pressure yourself but enjoy every book you read. Reading shouldn’t become a competition.” From that moment I began changing my reading habits and I was able to enjoy the books I read, instead of reading them as a homework.

I swear! I began reading the books I wanted, during any free time I could spare and I promise I truly enjoyed every single book I read and even had fun by sharing them with other book lovers in bookstagram and writing the reviews. It wasn’t a burden anymore to sit and read many books.

Some months I ended up reading up to 8 books and I swear I didn’t notice when that happened 😀 I was just reading and having fun. It is just as binge-watching all movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a day, suddenly you’ve watched 30 movies in one sit. Literally felt like that 😉 

So setting goals can be productive for many, but you shouldn’t let your reading become a chore, rather enjoy fully every book you’ve set you will read for a challenge and if you don’t meet the goal that’s totally okay. You still had an amazing time reading some incredible books! Don’t dwell on it too much 😉

In my case, I’m a huge mood reader so I didn’t have a specific TBR to follow during the 100 book challenge. I picked up the books I was interested on or the new releases that catched my attention. But no, I didn’t read 100 stand alone books; I also focused on reading sagas and trilogies. I usually read sagas between 4 and 8 books long so I was reading more books with each saga I started.

But not binge-reading the series. That never works, you’ll just put yourself in a reading slump. My method is reading book 1 in the saga, then grab a stand alone. Then come back and grab book 2 and so on… I swear it’s the best way to read more books if you’re the kind of person that likes reading book series too. But that was a bonus one 😉 I will share my top 4 tips to read more books and develop new reading habits!

Plus, how did I get out of the reading slumps I stumbled upon through the year. And as many of you are probably wondering about reading speed: yes, I am naturally a fast reader but reading more books doesn’t have much to do with speed 😉  

With no more to say let’s get started…

Disclaimer: there are many tips on how to read more books out there (from reading smaller books to speed reading, which I don’t recommend) but the ones I will share are from my personal experience and how I was able to read more books on 2020. 

4 Tips to Read More Books

1. Always have a book with you:

If you think about all the minutes of your day that you spent on social media or scrolling through your Pinterest feed, you could sum up a few hours with no problem. Check your battery usage and you’ll see 😉 

What if you had a book with you at all times? It could be an audiobook, an ebook or a physical book; but having a book with you always and spending those few minutes of your day that you dedicate to your phone on your current read, will guarantee you, you will be reading more books.

Why? Because you would finish more and more books! It is not reading faster but spending MORE TIME reading. Of course we all have a very busy life these days; online classes, work, part time jobs or house work. Nonetheless, you can spend a few minutes reading: during your lunch break or every time you’re in the train, at the bus stop, any place where you can multitask. You can spend those minutes reading a few pages or chapters of your book. 

2. Read more than one book at a time:

I know this is very hard for many people, but don’t skip it please. Let me explain why: you grab a book that you are interested in and begin reading the first few chapters, however something doesn’t click and you’re stuck halfway through; can’t find the motivation to read it. This is what we call the dreadful “reading slump.”

Yet you stay there, you’re stuck with a book you don’t like and therefore can’t read anymore. When this happened to me, I left that book for a while and grabbed another one that I wanted to get to. If one book, didn’t work for me then that’s okay. I grab another one! IT IS OKAY! BELIEVE ME 😀

Reading more than one book at a time will help you not stop reading and losing that habit. Plus the more books you are reading, the more books you will eventually finish. But in my opinion, if you never read multiple books at the same time, begin with two for example.

In my case, I began reading A House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas and if you’ve seen that book you know it is HUMONGOUS; after part 2 I just couldn’t go on, so I left it for a while and began You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle, a short and easy romantic comedy. 1) It was super fun to read and I loved it, 2) I didn’t fall into a slump and 3) I continued reading A House of Earth and Blood after finishing this one and was able to get through it. 

3. Read every night before going to sleep:

Most of us get ready to go to bed and before falling asleep we grab our phones and scroll through Instagram or TikTok or any other one of these apps that are very addictive 0_0 . They are designed to keep you scrolling and scrolling and scrolling….

If you develop the habit of reading, say 5 minutes before going to sleep (and this is the important part) INSTEAD OF GRABBING YOUR PHONE, you will surely read more. And that’s the key, make it a habit. Start with 5 minutes this week. You’ll probably even get sleepy and sleep more which is never a bad thing 😉

Next week try 10 minutes before going to sleep and so on. You will even see how your sleeping patterns start changing because now you won’t be going to sleep at 12:30 a.m. after spending 2 hours on social media. Let’s be honest, this has happened to all of us at some point.

And if this hasn’t worked for you before, than try switching it and reading every morning once you wake up. When you’re having breakfast instead of scrolling through Twitter, you grab your book and will surely get through a couple of chapters 😀

4. Try new genres and authors: 

Finally, choose your books wisely 😉 . If you want to read more books don’t stick to the same genres all the time. I know some people are very strict with their TBR (To Be Read) piles, but this business of reading more books is just as nutrition, for example. You’ve had a delicious meal and you really want an ice cream cone but NO, “you are on a diet.”

Diets have never been my thing honestly 🙂 I think that if you want a small treat you should be able to eat it! Don’t think about it too much, just enjoy it <3 Same thing with your books!! You finish this very long book and have another 600-page long book next, but in reality you are in the mood for a contemporary read. But NO, I HAVE A TBR.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, try that new genre, grab that book that caught your eye at the bookstore and read it! Sometimes sticking to your lists can become a burden, and believe me when I say that’s never the best option. The point of reading is for it to be fun and entertaining. Never let it become a task 😀

I hope you guys have enjoyed this blog post 🙂 I was really, really excited to write it and I was waiting to have free time to finally post it! Please leave your comments down below,

Have you tried any of this tips already? Any you want to put into pratice?

And if you have any tips that have worked for you and helped you read more books, don’t hesitate on sharing them down below!

If you have any feedback for me, it is more than welcome! Please let me know your thoughts on this post and any ideas for other blog posts you’ll love to see too 😀 Stay tuned on instagram, I’m always active there and my DMs are open for any suggestions or to just have a short chat 😀 Thank youu for your support and for sticking with me <3 I hope you are all well and I wish you the best of lucks this new week! Stay safe, stay healthy and spread love always dear book lovers 🙂