I still remember learning to read my first few words in a book. Well, it wasn’t really words, but onomatopoeias in comic books, as a Belgian kid does. I was so excited to be able to read “Boom!” “Wow!” “Haha!” and the rest followed. For years after that, I only read comic books, not Marvel or DC, but what we had in my local library. I particularly remember Les Psys, Les Tuniques Bleues, and Les Femmes En Blanc. Now that I list them, I realize these three were all written by the same author, Raoul Cauvin. It’s fair to say he probably forged my early sense of humor.
I stubbornly refused to read actual, non-picture books, to the dismay of my mom and local librarian. Then finally, I got stuck in bed with the flu for a week when I was 10, and my mom came home with the first Harry Potter. I had nothing else to do, so I begrudgingly started it and then quickly got sucked in. After that, I was unstoppable. I started devouring every fantasy book I could get my hands on: The Chronicles of Narnia, Otherland, The Farseer Trilogy, and a lot more. I was reading every evening and past curfew, using every light source I could find to keep reading under the sheets, even a tiny, tiny lamp from a LEGO set when my mom got rid of all the flashlights. I even started spending Wednesday afternoons helping out at my local library, sorting books and writing little reviews for other teenagers.
My reading habits slowed down after I got my first PC, well into my teenage years. Long evenings of reading were replaced by playing online or chatting with friends, but I always had a book in progress and kept up with a few favorite series. It slowed down even further once I started working and became generally more mentally exhausted, in need of dumb escapism, which video games provided more easily.
The situation got really dire in the past couple of years after the birth of my daughter. I brought a book to the hospital for our three-day stay after her birth. I didn’t read a single page. That was an omen for the months to come. I think I managed to finish one or two books a year over the past two years. I just had too little free time, and what little I had went to spending time with my partner, my newfound passion for running or playing video games, since that was all I had the energy for at the end of the day.
I missed reading and watched new releases in series I enjoy pile up, unable to figure out how to find the time. Until I read an article earlier this year (I’ve tried hard to find it again to link it here, but couldn’t). The gist of it was: don’t be precious about how or where you read books.
For the last few years, I had been reading only physical books bought from my local bookstore to support them instead of Amazon. And because a shelf full of books is the most beautiful thing in the world, of course. But sticking to that habit robbed me of so many chances to read—waiting rooms, queues, or late at night with the lights off so as not to bother my partner (sadly, I don’t have my tiny, tiny LEGO set lamp anymore).
The article made the case for two ways to read more:
- e-books, not on an e-reader but on your phone
- audiobooks
Tad Williams had just released the last tome in the Osten Ard series, so I bought it and started reading on my phone. I wasn’t sure it would change anything, but I gave it a shot. I finished it in a month. That hadn’t happened in years. I made steady progress every time I had a free moment, and it came with the added bonus of eating into my doomscrolling time.
But the true revolution in my reading habits has been audiobooks. I was always a bit wary, thinking I wouldn’t be able to focus enough to follow a complex story just by listening. To be completely honest, I also felt it would somehow be “cheating” and less beneficial to me than reading.
Well, I’m glad to say I was wrong about the focus part. Of course, I can’t multitask as much as I do while listening to podcasts, or I’d get lost in the story. But listening while doing familiar tasks like driving a regular route or washing dishes works perfectly. My two big listening moments are during relaxed runs and right before sleeping. I’ve found that listening to a book during long runs actually helps my running. I usually tend to run too fast, but listening keeps my pace relaxed without effort. It even gives me extra motivation to go on longer runs just to get more book time. Win-win. And listening before bed is the perfect way to wind down. It’s actually how I get my daughter to sleep every night too.
Of course, I was wrong about the “cheating” part as well. I don’t have proof, because the idea was ludicrous to begin with, but my mind changed after I managed to listen to four books in a month, for the first time since my teens. Reading four books a month, even if it’s somehow a shortcut, beats reading zero books a month every time.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” This is a lesson I keep relearning since becoming a parent. “Badly” here is pushing it, though—there’s nothing bad about reading e-books or listening to audiobooks. But it does mean that lowering your standards to do something is better than not doing it at all. You’ll be better for it and probably realize some of those standards were misguided in the first place.
I wish I could still support smaller bookstores or my local library like I used to, but we don’t have a strong digital lending system in Belgium. I’ve started supporting them in other ways though—by renting or buying a ton of physical books for my daughter, since she’s now the one with all the time in the world to read.