Intentional Reading
And how it eludes my rebel-reader mindset
Welcome to a new year of sharing the stories of women!
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I have been consuming with interest some of the reading plans of other writers and readers I admire here on Substack this past couple of weeks. Inspiring people such as
on A Reading Life and over on Beyond the Bookshelf, who recently shared a conversation around how to set up an intentional reading schedule to make the important discovery of words happen every single day.As the year began to fade out, I started to give some thought to my own reading practice, something I have been thinking a lot about, to be frank, the whole of 2024. In fact, since completing my literature studies a couple of years ago, I have been desperately trying to claw back the kind of reserves needed to read more books, not to mention a desire to read and research more ‘literary’ novels, books of essays and criticism, and discover writers who have not been covered in my extensive literature studies.
After completing an undergraduate degree in English literature ten years ago (as a mature student) I returned to further study a couple of years ago to complete my Masters in English Studies. To my dismay, I found it exponentially harder to consume the demanding reading list involved in my studies than I had as an undergrad.
I was foxed by this for a while: after all, I reasoned, I had tackled many longer, more difficult books on my literature degree. In comparison, the two year part-time MA, though challenging, had far less books in total. Admittedly, the assignments were tougher in that as a postgraduate student, you are required to make your own academic discoveries on the writing you encounter, including a 12,000 word original dissertation on a topic of your choosing.
But as I delved into the interesting modules of the course (I am a shamelessly enthusiastic student) I realised that something life-changing had happened to my concentration and focus in the intervening 6-7 years since completing my first degree. Namely: I had obtained a Smartphone and all the distractions that came with it.
I have never been one for watching a lot of television, but streaming services such as Netflix had also made an appearance in our household during this time, not to mention that the hormones that can terrorise an otherwise balanced forty something woman began to surface over the period of my studies, and there was the tail end of that whole pandemic thing to contend with.
All this to say: I found reading more of a chore than I ever had before, and more than I wanted to admit to myself.
Since successfully graduating from my MA, I have therefore been on a quest to reclaim my focus from the distractions of...well, the world, really.
I inherently know that switching off your phone is one answer; as is planning out time to read. But sometimes, such as when your kids are not around and you need to check if they need you for anything; or you’ve not had the best day and you just fancy watching that one YouTube vlog by your favourite content creator; or you pick up your phone to check the time and see 86 missed WhatsApp messages from work…it can be harder than it sounds.
For this reason, I have enjoyed delving into the newsletters where readers show how they set out their intentions, grouping together themes for book reading, intentionally planning out reading time and lists for each week or month of the year. I love reading roundups and tallies of how many books other folks have read.
But I just falter at the first hurdle every time, because something about setting a target or goal for myself, or having a written down plan for my reading (or anything else: exercise plans are another no-no for me) means that the rebellious streak I have had since adolescence begins to surface and I obstinately choose not to read the books on my list. This then makes me feel like I am not a ‘proper reader’ because I should be reading ‘real literature’ as I have done in the past. This is particularly prevalent now that I research and write a newsletter each week.
I decided that I wanted to change this narrative though. I still don’t feel that I am a natural reading planner, but I also do want to stop thinking of myself as someone who can’t- or who is unwilling- to change. I want to make my reading life more intentional, whilst still acknowledging that rebellious teenage streak I seem unable to shake.
What follows is a (very) short list of what has started to work for me towards the end of 2024, and which I am hoping to build on in 2025.
Where and When
I don’t know about you, but as soon as I clamber into bed in the evening (formerly my favourite place and time to read) my eyes begin to droop and I often only manage about half a page of a book before turning in for the night.
To combat this, I have begun thinking around the time of day I indulge in my reading.
During the pandemic, my husband and I began taking a walk together straight after our evening meal. Just a short walk around the local neighbourhood, this allows for us to chat through the events of the day.
On our return home, I have introduced the habit of sitting and enjoying a relaxing cup of herbal tea and reading quietly in the armchair underneath a soft lamp for around 30 minutes. This has really made a difference in feeling that I have made a sizeable dent in a book, and the habit stacking principle of pairing the sitting down after a nice walk with a cup of something hot and having the book right there waiting for me has encouraged this practice.
Longer Weekend Reads
A recommendation from my daughter, I have started tackling a new book on the weekends when I have more time and am less tired. Saturday afternoons have historically meant a walk in the local woods followed by a stop-off at the library to pick up or drop off books. I have found that this puts me in the ‘zone’ of reading, and I usually read for a while on our return home.
Book Dates
I have begun taking one Saturday per month to go into town by myself to browse the bookshops and treat myself to lunch and a book.
I had this idea earlier in the year when I found that a lot of the books I wanted to read and that my favourite newsletters were talking about were unavailable at the library (either they hadn’t purchased them at all, or I was so far down on the list that I just couldn’t wait).
I realised that I have no problem buying something I need for my physical health, so why was I denying myself something that would not only bring me pleasure in the short-term, but was arguably good for my mental health and intellectual development??
The book date was born! I decided that once a month, I would take myself off to a bookshop or two, browse for a book of my choice, and find a nice cafe to sit and eat, drink coffee, and read…
Book Lists
Feeding on from my ‘book dates’ idea above, I realised that I needed to keep track of the books I was hearing about from various sources and wanting to read, as I don’t know about you, but sometimes, when faced with a bookshop and all those books…I can often get overwhelmed and end up choosing nothing at all!
It sounds silly to say it out loud, but I have never kept a physical ‘to be read’ list in my life before! I always knew other people did, but I just tended to either place a hold via my library app, purchase it online if it wasn’t too expensive and I was really desperate to read it, or forget about it.
No more!
I began keeping a note on my phone notes app, adding books as they occurred to me, and removing them if they became available at the library or I purchased them. This one tiny decision to keep a list of books I want to read has made me far more intentional with my reading life. I am now thinking of moving this list into a notebook to avoid the distraction of accessing it via my phone.
Immersion
One of the most useful tactics I have come across here on Substack have been the reader/writers who share their annotation methods of engaging with a book.
As a student, I was used to writing all over my copies of texts, slipping in coloured tabs and sticky notes, the works. Unlike some readers, I have never had an issue with writing in books and I love to buy second hand copies with annotations from the previous owner.
However, I hadn’t really considered just doing this when I was reading ‘for fun’. After discovering
brilliant close reading guides on her newsletter Closely Reading and book nerdery on A Reading Life, pertaining to the use of sticky tabs and other book related ephemera, I have become a convert!I now turn back pages, use sticky notes, or underline in pencil when I encounter a beautiful sentence in a fiction novel, or something deeply resonates with me. I have found this kind of immersion is adding joy to my (reading) life and means I can quickly find a quotation whenever I want to remind myself of the ways in which a book has touched or mirrored my own life.
Physical Bookshops
Ok, so I have always loved browsing in bookshops, especially second hand ones that are often a treasure trove of great finds. And yet…in recent years, like many people, I have turned to online buying more and more.
Don’t get me wrong: I much prefer online shopping in general as I hate physical shopping. But I realised that searching for cheap copies of books online means the whole tactile experience of browsing and discovering other books you might want to read is totally lost.
In addition to this, I have also discovered in the last month or so the pleasures of browsing smaller, independent bookshops. One has recently opened just around the corner from where I live and even has a small coffee shop to sit in and read…oh, the joy!
When I received a book voucher for the shop as a Christmas gift from my daughter, we spent a cosy afternoon there, where I bought my first book for 2025: Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin.
With that in mind, I am off now to read! I hope this has been a welcome addition to your new year inbox. I have loads of great ideas for essays on the lives and literature of women coming up for 2025, inspired, as always, by my reading life past and present.
As a final note: if you, too, struggle to meticulously plan your reading lives and sometimes feel that your monthly or yearly tally of books is lagging behind that of others, just take a step back and acknowledge that YOU are the reader YOU are.
You have nothing to prove to anyone through your reading, and the whole point of picking up a book in the first place is to enrich your life; to entertain or educate you (hopefully both); and to help you to find out more about the lives of other humans in the hope that you may discover more about yourself.
Happy reading, folks! 😀
I’d love to hear about your reading plans in the comments, as well as whether you are a planner or a rebel-reader like myself…all types of readers are welcome 🙂
Further Reading:
This essay by Dr Kathleen Waller on The Matterhorn, ‘Read Less but Read Better’, was one of the very first pieces of writing I read here on Substack and is one of the best reminders on slowing down your reading. I highly recommend it if you are struggling with FOMO in your reading life!
And for those of you who, like me, really want to untether from your phones and build better relationships with your screen use, I really found this piece on setting out some 2025 Tech Resolutions useful on newsletter Brave Enough.
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Really good Kate! 👏 "Reading" sounds easy (kids do it), but it requires a massive energy investment in focal attention and cognitive work (decoding symbols, short-term memory, meaning making etc). So all your attention to the where and when and what and how you read is right on point for the desired outcome.
I feel ALL of this so deeply - the desire to read in a more organized and intentional way, to make the reading MEAN more.
But I also feel very strongly that we all need to be gentler with ourselves and just allow for play and lifelong learning (as Matt reminds us). There is something so comforting in knowing that we will be in our 80s, having read so many more books than we have now and STILL fretting that we could be better readers.
P.S. I will of course always support any excuse to buy a fresh notebook and extra office supplies! 🤓😂