My wife and I do not have cable, so we have picked up the practice of slowly plodding through books by reading them aloud to one another. We don’t place elaborate or super intense goals on how fast or how many books we read. We just choose a book, begin reading, and then finish whenever we finish.
Sam Bierig, who has a fairly busy schedule, recommends this and five other tips for consuming more books in the time you have, including reading a few books at a time. He says it helps to read a couple small books while plowing through a large one. What do you think? How do you squeeze reading, which includes listening to audiobooks, into a busy schedule?
Owning an e-reader (previously a Nook, now moving to Kindle) made this much easier for me. I resisted heavily, but my wife bought me one while I was deployed, and being able to have several books with me all the time let me use even short periods of down time to read. Waiting in line, riding somewhere, having a snack, all become reading time.
The advantage of an e-reader over a phone or tablet is that (at least for the ones I’ve owned) ALL they do is let me read books. I can read ebooks on my phone, but the distractions there are too readily available. Constant connection is the enemy of reflection and reading.
Also, the “e-paper” isn’t as hard on my eyes, especially at bedtime.
And yes, like so many other readers I know, I’m unable to just read one book at a time.