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How To Read More in 2024

Follow simple yet effective ways to squeeze more reading into your schedule.

I’d never been a morning person until I started reading in the morning. 

Over the past year, I’ve reveled in the feeling of pouring myself into a book after pouring myself a cup of coffee, awake in my imagination before the day begins. I’ve found that reading a chapter or two before work makes work — and reading through emails — more manageable. 

It wasn’t always like this for me, though. There was a time when the feeling of a paperback felt too overwhelming, and it was audiobooks that got me into reading, to and from work. There were times, too, when I didn’t feel the call to read at all. I’d either buy books that sat untouched on my nightstand for ages or get discouraged by a book I didn’t connect with, letting months go by without picking up another. 

But now that I read more, it has become one of my favorite parts of the day. Traveling to new places, imagining characters’ faces, and following storylines only to be led astray, unable to rip yourself from the turning point on the page, is utterly addicting. I’ve fallen in love with reading again (and a few books, too), and you can too. Consider these tips, based on my back-and-forth experience and a trickle of data, if you long to read more this year.

Find your time.

Uncover a suitable space for reading to make it feel more like joy than a job. Play around with different days and times of the day to see when it feels accessible and pleasurable for you to read. For many, that’ll be bedtime. Research shows more than four in 10 U.S. adults read as part of their bedtime routine — averaging 36 minutes of reading time each night four (or more) nights each week. Give yourself time to find the right time for you. 

Choose your format.

Evaluate what format of a book keeps you engaged. Whether you’re reading on your Kindle, listening to Audible, or holding a hardcover, you’re reading. See what feels best, and feel free to mix it up! While print books hold steady as the most popular format for reading (65% of adults say they’ve read a print book in the last year), a third of adults read digital formats and print. It’s okay if your style is seasonal.  

Share your thoughts.

I get weirdly excited whenever I finish a book and post about it on my Instagram Story to see who else it’s impacted. Or maybe it’s not weird at all — because reading feels even better when it’s a social experience. From joining book clubs to leaving reviews on Goodreads to posting your thoughts on social media, inviting others into your reading experience can be great for accountability and can create space to discuss all your racing thoughts about a book, discover new perspectives, and lead to wonderful recommendations. 

Read outside your shelf.

I’m normally a lover of historical fiction, but this year? I’ve gotten into romantasy — reading five in January. Spend time reading book summaries and reviews to see what speaks to you, and try a few different genres to see what you’re into. And if you pick a book you don’t enjoy, try not to be hard on yourself. It’s okay not to finish a book. It’s okay to try it again later. Heck, I once didn’t like a book and then read it three years later! Reading will come far more naturally if you focus on what you enjoy and close the cover on what you don’t. 

Add to your TBR list.

There are so many amazing books, but only so much time to read. Keep up the momentum by saving books you’re interested in, whether it’s a list on your phone or saved on a digital wishlist. Make it so that when you finish a book, you have a bunch of options to dive into easily. Consider signing up for newsletters with book recommendations and glancing at book lists that interest you to keep that list growing. And when you do, think of it less like a to-do list and more like a treasure trove. 

You can also join reading challenges and set personal goals. Or, if books feel like too much, you can turn to short-story collections or long-form journalism. To get into the groove, you have to find what moves you. Maybe you’ll find that, like me, it’s reading in the morning. Or maybe for you, it’s reading fiction on Sunday evenings to counter the Sunday Scaries. Maybe it’s listening to a self-help audiobook while cleaning. Or perhaps you read best when binging a thriller just in time for book club. 

However, whatever you read this year, keep the pages turning.