Struggling to Finish Books? Here's some tips. (Blog by Daniel Lee)

             After reading Mateo's blog, "Books I Haven't Finished...yet," I found myself pondering about the countless number of books that I haven't finished. For me, I usually find myself not finishing books because I lose interest, or I can't get engaged in a book. So, for my blog, I'm going to write about some tips that I've personally used to keep myself consistently engaged in the books I read. Hopefully these tips may be able help out others in the future.

 

1. Make reading a routine in your daily life

 

            This may seem incredibly obvious to many, but for many readers who are starting to build a habit in reading, this may sound daunting. It was for me at least. Making reading a routine sounded unnecessary to me because I always looked at reading as a thing I had to do when my dad made me. But when I started to read every day, I found myself being more engaged and wanting to read. Instead of having to refresh my memory of where I left off last time, I could quickly dive into the story again. 

            The problem with reading once in a while is that we tend to forget a lot of what we read the last time, so we have to backtrack a lot, causing us to waste lots of time. But we can eliminate this problem with reading daily. Even if you read small amounts every day, it can still benefit you greatly. I try to dedicate around 20-40 minutes to reading books in an isolated, focused environment.

 

2. Limit the amount if books you're reading at one time.

 

            I've personally faced the issue of trying to read way too many books at once. Over the summer there were times where I would alternate reading between 4 books. At first, I would suddenly start on a book because it looked appealing and exciting to read, but the two books I was alternating between suddenly became three books, and then the number continued to grow out of control.

            Setting a clear, defined limit is going to combat this problem really well. My own personal "limit" is 3 books at the most. Even though there are many books that I want to read, I hold off by making myself a waiting list for books I'm going to read in the future. This way, I can still eventually read the books that you want to read, and at the same time I'll still be able to limit the number of books that I read.

            This tip may not apply to everybody, but hopefully it will still help many readers.

 

3. Push through books.

 

            I know we've all faced times where we find a book so boring and slow. It feels grueling to read even a few pages. This situation usually ends with the book being scrapped and put away somewhere in a bookshelf.

            I wish that there was some magical tip that I could give, but unfortunately, there's no way I've ever easily overcome this problem. I use brute force and go through the book no matter how boring it is. Also, who knows if the end of the book will suddenly be entertaining?  

 

 

            Even though I've only listed a few tips, hopefully one of these tips will be able to everybody! Lots of these tips may not be perfect, but they've worked for me very well. Thanks for reading!