Book Box: How to fall in love with books (again)
Dear Reader,
“Did you really read 100 books last year?” I get asked.
“ After work, WhatsApp forwards and Netflix, where’s the time?”
It is true our reading habits were formed in times of scarcity. And now we have to scramble for reading time, amidst a deluge of distractions.
Here are five reading strategies to help you adapt to these changed times, and to find your way back to books again.
Strategy 1 of 5: Start with Fiction
Too often, we give up the pleasures of fiction — only to lose reading altogether.
“Fiction is… a gateway drug to reading. The drive to know what happens next, to want to turn the page, the need to keep going, even if it’s hard, because someone’s in trouble and you have to know how it’s all going to end… that’s a very real drive. And it forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going. To discover that reading per se is pleasurable. Once you learn that, you’re on the road to reading everything,” says Neil Gaiman.
Go back to fiction — try these rainy reads and read them alongside your non-fiction books.
Strategy 2 of 5: Hang out at a bookstore this weekend (and the next)
On a recent Saturday, we drove to Granth, our local bookstore in Juhu, Mumbai. I dipped into The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told and was mesmerised with The Madiga Girl by Chalam. A cappuccino and a couple of hours of later, I came away with books for the week ahead. A trip to a bookstore is a pocket of quiet reading time, it’s a crash course in the latest book releases, and when you buy books there, you are helping local bookstores stay alive.
Strategy 3 of 5: Read across formats
“I just can’t get used to an e-book reader. It doesn’t smell the same” say paper and print readers.
This is true, yet an e-reader has its charms. A recent survey showed e-book readers read 40% more than physical book readers.
After trying most of the e-book readers in the market, I have settled for the Kindle. Consider buying one. Slip it into your laptop bag and you have a library wherever you go. Adjust the brightness, increase the font. Change the screensaver setting, so it reflects the book you are currently reading.
Add another format to the mix — audio books. Here’s a beginners guide to audiobooks for you.
Strategy 4 of 5: Join a Book Club
I started the Juhu Book Club when I had three small children at home. We’d moved from DINK (Double Income, No Kids) to SINK (Singe Income, Numerous Kids) There wasn’t much money to buy books, or the time to read them in. But the book club kept me afloat, pushing me to read at least a book a month. It gave a structure to my reading, deepened and diversified it – I was introduced to Orson Scott Card’s fabulous Enders Game and to authors like Jeanette Winterson. Sessions with authors like Gregory David Roberts and the late Kiran Nagarkar were landmark events. Book clubs can transform your reading in a fun way- join one online or offline. If you can’t find one you that you like, consider starting one!
Strategy 5 of 5: Create special spaces for reading
Set up a reading corner, with a comfortable chair or a lounging space and lots of light. Use big cushions, colourful bedspreads and lamps. Arrange your to-read books in a bookshelf. When you retreat to this reading space, leave your digital devices in the next room or in a drawer downstairs.
Other strategies include embracing your to-be-read list (TBR) Prolific readers have ever growing lists books to read. One good book invariably leads to another. Don’t be overwhelmed by a titanic TBR – revel in having such a list.
If a book is boring, don’t read it. Try 30 or 40 pages and put it aside in the Do Not Finish (DNF) pile. Some books speak to us at certain times and some don’t. So don’t feel compelled to finish every book you start. Put it aside for now and start another.
And finally, meet Neela Saldanha, Executive Director at Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale (Y-RISE) at Yale University. I talk to her at her Bethesda home, via email and phone, on reading goals and how to read 100 plus books every year. Edited excerpts of our conversation.
If you were shipwrecked on a desert island, which 10 books would you carry?
To laugh & forget my predicament
The Trotternama by I Allan Sealy
To think about what I’ll do when I escape the island
The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer
The Essential Ambedkar by Bhalchandra Mungekar
The Power of Meaning by Emily Eshfahani Smith
There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura
To inspire me
Play it Again by Alan Rusbridger
Books so tragedy filled I’ll feel better about my situation
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
To take so long to read that I’ll be rescued before I finish
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
(My daughter sensibly reminded me that I may want to pack an Atlas. And a compass).
How did you start reading?
My earliest memories are of my mum taking us to a tiny neighbouring circulating library on Linking Road in Mumbai, every Sunday evening to get our books for the week. When we went on summer holidays to my grandmother’s place in Mangalore, my aunt would take us to the library every day.
If you look back on your reading life, have there been phase?
My reading streaks have always been kickstarted by the easy availability of books, and particularly the discovery of libraries. When I joined St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, I was stunned by the lending library (what do you mean free checkout? HOW many books can we take at a time?) and the gorgeous Reference & Reading library space. It had this wonderful atmosphere that encouraged you to just stay and read for hours together. In the US, I was really fortunate to study and now work at two great universities which come with amazing libraries. And of course, the jaw-dropping free libraries in the US — with beautifully quiet and comfortable reading spaces and a huge selection of books and magazines — is pretty much my favourite thing about living here and responsible for my reading habit in the US.
I don’t think I’ve ever stopped reading but I do remember that when social media first came around I stopped reading for a while – Facebook was so exciting! But eventually, no matter how much time I spend on Twitter, I always get back to reading.
What are your preferences on fiction and non-fiction?
For me, fiction is a great window to the world. If you are an enthusiastic but disorganised traveler like me, which means you hardly travel in reality because by the time you get around to it, all the tickets and hotels are snapped up, reading is great! You can learn about different cultures without leaving your house.
I enjoy reading non-fiction because I always feel a little bit smarter after reading it — plus it’s great to see how authors develop ideas and arguments.
What are the books that have shaped your thinking as a behavioural scientist?
I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink as a PhD student and thought how cool it was to democratize academic research in the way he did. I enjoyed Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely which was one of the first in behavioral science. And I was thrilled to play a tiny part as a research assistant on Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit. A few I read recently that I loved because I learned something new from each: Innumeracy In the Wild by Ellen Peters, How to Change by Katy Milkman and The Voltage Effect by John List.
Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir really brought home to me how important it was to understand the psychology of poverty if we wanted to do anything about changing it. Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save changed my outlook on life and introduced me to moral philosophy — what do we owe to others? Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo is an inspiring and thought-provoking introduction to the world of evidence-based interventions for poverty alleviation.
Do you have reading goals?
I aim to read double the number of books as my age every year. Having this goal has been motivating — it’s fun to see yourself moving closer to the goal. Though I do have to periodically remind myself that it’s the journey, not the destination and not fixate so much on how many books I’ve read.
Do you track your reading?
When I started making goals, I began to track my reading in the Notes app in my phone — just the author, title of the book and the date when I finished reading it. Recently I’ve started tracking it on Instagram — with a short summary of the book. It helps me remember the book.
How do you decide which books you are going to read?
I keep a running list of “Books to Read” on my phone, based on these lists that I like, so if I’m at the library or in a bookstore I don’t have to think about what to read next.
NPR Book Concierge is my go-to list — they have a fabulous list of 100+ great books of the year, ranging from romance to fiction to short stories. Twitter is great for niche recommendations — recently there was a whole thread on African Novels That Aren’t Dark and another set of recommendations around “Riveting Books”. I’ve found the Booker longlist a good resource — I used to think they would be intimidating but then I picked one up and never looked back — so now I know literally not to judge a book by its cover or by its presence on an awards list.
Do you abandon books you are not enjoying?
I mostly finish all the books I read. A few months ago, I abandoned The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was just too discombobulating, even for me who likes magical realism. I did slog through Open City by Teju Cole — nothing seemed to happen but it was about my favourite city (New York) so I stuck with it. I found A Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam hard to get through too – but there always seemed to be danger around the corner, which kept me going.
Do you argue about books with your family?
My husband and I discuss great books we’ve read, though he still cannot get me to read the Jujutsu Kaisen series, no matter how much he raves about them. And I’m sure the Tolkien fan club is going to get me – I only read Lord of The Rings recently and my Tolkien-loving husband had to listen to my rants about how it was really just a massive Google maps of some countryside (and now you turn northwest to get to here and so southeast to get to there) with action interspersed for variety. (But what action! he demurred).
And finally, 3 tips to people on how to read more?
Read whatever you like. Everything counts.
Join a book club. Or Not. Read every format. Or not. Basically do whatever suits you and makes you want to read. Throw out all the rules.
Always have a list handy so you are not stuck for what to read next.
With that, we wrap up. In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your reading goals and strategies that have helped you read more.
Until next week then, Happy Reading!
Sonya Dutta Choudhury is a Mumbai-based journalist and the founder of Sonya’s Book Box, a bespoke book service. Each week, she brings you specially curated books to give you an immersive understanding of people and places. If you have any reading recommendations or suggestions, write to her at [email protected]
The views expressed are personal
Enjoy unlimited digital access with HT Premium
Subscribe Now to continue reading
Dear Reader,
“Did you really read 100 books last year?” I get asked.
“ After work, WhatsApp forwards and Netflix, where’s the time?”
It is true our reading habits were formed in times of scarcity. And now we have to scramble for reading time, amidst a deluge of distractions.
Here are five reading strategies to help you adapt to these changed times, and to find your way back to books again.
Strategy 1 of 5: Start with Fiction
Too often, we give up the pleasures of fiction — only to lose reading altogether.
“Fiction is… a gateway drug to reading. The drive to know what happens next, to want to turn the page, the need to keep going, even if it’s hard, because someone’s in trouble and you have to know how it’s all going to end… that’s a very real drive. And it forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going. To discover that reading per se is pleasurable. Once you learn that, you’re on the road to reading everything,” says Neil Gaiman.
Go back to fiction — try these rainy reads and read them alongside your non-fiction books.
Strategy 2 of 5: Hang out at a bookstore this weekend (and the next)
On a recent Saturday, we drove to Granth, our local bookstore in Juhu, Mumbai. I dipped into The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told and was mesmerised with The Madiga Girl by Chalam. A cappuccino and a couple of hours of later, I came away with books for the week ahead. A trip to a bookstore is a pocket of quiet reading time, it’s a crash course in the latest book releases, and when you buy books there, you are helping local bookstores stay alive.
Strategy 3 of 5: Read across formats
“I just can’t get used to an e-book reader. It doesn’t smell the same” say paper and print readers.
This is true, yet an e-reader has its charms. A recent survey showed e-book readers read 40% more than physical book readers.
After trying most of the e-book readers in the market, I have settled for the Kindle. Consider buying one. Slip it into your laptop bag and you have a library wherever you go. Adjust the brightness, increase the font. Change the screensaver setting, so it reflects the book you are currently reading.
Add another format to the mix — audio books. Here’s a beginners guide to audiobooks for you.
Strategy 4 of 5: Join a Book Club
I started the Juhu Book Club when I had three small children at home. We’d moved from DINK (Double Income, No Kids) to SINK (Singe Income, Numerous Kids) There wasn’t much money to buy books, or the time to read them in. But the book club kept me afloat, pushing me to read at least a book a month. It gave a structure to my reading, deepened and diversified it – I was introduced to Orson Scott Card’s fabulous Enders Game and to authors like Jeanette Winterson. Sessions with authors like Gregory David Roberts and the late Kiran Nagarkar were landmark events. Book clubs can transform your reading in a fun way- join one online or offline. If you can’t find one you that you like, consider starting one!
Strategy 5 of 5: Create special spaces for reading
Set up a reading corner, with a comfortable chair or a lounging space and lots of light. Use big cushions, colourful bedspreads and lamps. Arrange your to-read books in a bookshelf. When you retreat to this reading space, leave your digital devices in the next room or in a drawer downstairs.
Other strategies include embracing your to-be-read list (TBR) Prolific readers have ever growing lists books to read. One good book invariably leads to another. Don’t be overwhelmed by a titanic TBR – revel in having such a list.
If a book is boring, don’t read it. Try 30 or 40 pages and put it aside in the Do Not Finish (DNF) pile. Some books speak to us at certain times and some don’t. So don’t feel compelled to finish every book you start. Put it aside for now and start another.
And finally, meet Neela Saldanha, Executive Director at Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale (Y-RISE) at Yale University. I talk to her at her Bethesda home, via email and phone, on reading goals and how to read 100 plus books every year. Edited excerpts of our conversation.
If you were shipwrecked on a desert island, which 10 books would you carry?
To laugh & forget my predicament
The Trotternama by I Allan Sealy
To think about what I’ll do when I escape the island
The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer
The Essential Ambedkar by Bhalchandra Mungekar
The Power of Meaning by Emily Eshfahani Smith
There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura
To inspire me
Play it Again by Alan Rusbridger
Books so tragedy filled I’ll feel better about my situation
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
To take so long to read that I’ll be rescued before I finish
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
(My daughter sensibly reminded me that I may want to pack an Atlas. And a compass).
How did you start reading?
My earliest memories are of my mum taking us to a tiny neighbouring circulating library on Linking Road in Mumbai, every Sunday evening to get our books for the week. When we went on summer holidays to my grandmother’s place in Mangalore, my aunt would take us to the library every day.
If you look back on your reading life, have there been phase?
My reading streaks have always been kickstarted by the easy availability of books, and particularly the discovery of libraries. When I joined St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, I was stunned by the lending library (what do you mean free checkout? HOW many books can we take at a time?) and the gorgeous Reference & Reading library space. It had this wonderful atmosphere that encouraged you to just stay and read for hours together. In the US, I was really fortunate to study and now work at two great universities which come with amazing libraries. And of course, the jaw-dropping free libraries in the US — with beautifully quiet and comfortable reading spaces and a huge selection of books and magazines — is pretty much my favourite thing about living here and responsible for my reading habit in the US.
I don’t think I’ve ever stopped reading but I do remember that when social media first came around I stopped reading for a while – Facebook was so exciting! But eventually, no matter how much time I spend on Twitter, I always get back to reading.
What are your preferences on fiction and non-fiction?
For me, fiction is a great window to the world. If you are an enthusiastic but disorganised traveler like me, which means you hardly travel in reality because by the time you get around to it, all the tickets and hotels are snapped up, reading is great! You can learn about different cultures without leaving your house.
I enjoy reading non-fiction because I always feel a little bit smarter after reading it — plus it’s great to see how authors develop ideas and arguments.
What are the books that have shaped your thinking as a behavioural scientist?
I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink as a PhD student and thought how cool it was to democratize academic research in the way he did. I enjoyed Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely which was one of the first in behavioral science. And I was thrilled to play a tiny part as a research assistant on Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit. A few I read recently that I loved because I learned something new from each: Innumeracy In the Wild by Ellen Peters, How to Change by Katy Milkman and The Voltage Effect by John List.
Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir really brought home to me how important it was to understand the psychology of poverty if we wanted to do anything about changing it. Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save changed my outlook on life and introduced me to moral philosophy — what do we owe to others? Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo is an inspiring and thought-provoking introduction to the world of evidence-based interventions for poverty alleviation.
Do you have reading goals?
I aim to read double the number of books as my age every year. Having this goal has been motivating — it’s fun to see yourself moving closer to the goal. Though I do have to periodically remind myself that it’s the journey, not the destination and not fixate so much on how many books I’ve read.
Do you track your reading?
When I started making goals, I began to track my reading in the Notes app in my phone — just the author, title of the book and the date when I finished reading it. Recently I’ve started tracking it on Instagram — with a short summary of the book. It helps me remember the book.
How do you decide which books you are going to read?
I keep a running list of “Books to Read” on my phone, based on these lists that I like, so if I’m at the library or in a bookstore I don’t have to think about what to read next.
NPR Book Concierge is my go-to list — they have a fabulous list of 100+ great books of the year, ranging from romance to fiction to short stories. Twitter is great for niche recommendations — recently there was a whole thread on African Novels That Aren’t Dark and another set of recommendations around “Riveting Books”. I’ve found the Booker longlist a good resource — I used to think they would be intimidating but then I picked one up and never looked back — so now I know literally not to judge a book by its cover or by its presence on an awards list.
Do you abandon books you are not enjoying?
I mostly finish all the books I read. A few months ago, I abandoned The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was just too discombobulating, even for me who likes magical realism. I did slog through Open City by Teju Cole — nothing seemed to happen but it was about my favourite city (New York) so I stuck with it. I found A Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam hard to get through too – but there always seemed to be danger around the corner, which kept me going.
Do you argue about books with your family?
My husband and I discuss great books we’ve read, though he still cannot get me to read the Jujutsu Kaisen series, no matter how much he raves about them. And I’m sure the Tolkien fan club is going to get me – I only read Lord of The Rings recently and my Tolkien-loving husband had to listen to my rants about how it was really just a massive Google maps of some countryside (and now you turn northwest to get to here and so southeast to get to there) with action interspersed for variety. (But what action! he demurred).
And finally, 3 tips to people on how to read more?
Read whatever you like. Everything counts.
Join a book club. Or Not. Read every format. Or not. Basically do whatever suits you and makes you want to read. Throw out all the rules.
Always have a list handy so you are not stuck for what to read next.
With that, we wrap up. In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your reading goals and strategies that have helped you read more.
Until next week then, Happy Reading!
Sonya Dutta Choudhury is a Mumbai-based journalist and the founder of Sonya’s Book Box, a bespoke book service. Each week, she brings you specially curated books to give you an immersive understanding of people and places. If you have any reading recommendations or suggestions, write to her at [email protected]
The views expressed are personal
Enjoy unlimited digital access with HT Premium
Subscribe Now to continue reading
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