Romanticise Your Reading Life

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The observant amongst you may have noticed that I sent out an ‘extra’ essay last Tuesday…this was entirely a malfunction on my part! I will put it down to the heat, and my excitement at wanting to share the amazing life and inspiration of Maria Branwell Brontë, mother to the famous Brontë sisters.

In case you missed that essay, here it is again. It was such a special one to research, and made me feel quite emotional writing it.

Anyway, I didn’t not want to share anything in my usual Sunday slot, so I decided to write a somewhat lighter post today - all about our reading lives. I’ve seen many essays and posts lately that tell me that people on here are really trying to commit to the analogue movement; focusing on the important things like reading, writing, creativity, notebook-keeping, and so on.

I was inspired to write this post after reading posts around the difficulties of finding reading time amidst the busyness of our always-on, distracted lives. Posts like this one have been inspiring me to read more, and conversations with both other substackers and my daughter over the summer made me think of all the little things that make our reading lives even better.

Yes - reading a great book that you enjoy is a given, and that should be enough. But sometimes, I believe we need a little nudge to make good choices (even when we know those choices are something we actually want to do).

So here goes: here is a list of tiny habits that might brighten up your reading life 😂

Pairing our books to both the actual season of the year, such as reading titles like Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home or Hot Milk in summer, or Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights during the darkness of winter, can enhance the time and place for you, cementing that book deeply into your psyche. I remember reading Miranda July’s All Fours last summer, and so its themes and the reaction I had to reading it reminds me of that whenever I see it on my shelf.

Usually a one-book-at-a-time reader, I have been experimenting with shifting between genres over the day for the past couple of months, and have to say: I have definitely found myself getting through more of my reading pile. I find that a few pages of a thicker nonfiction book are good for early morning reading, when I’m fresh and ready to absorb information. After dinner and an early evening walk, I like to get stuck into a novel over a cup of herbal tea. In the evenings, a time when I was finding myself too tired to read, I’ve started picking up poetry collections, which I can dip in and out of easily. These have also been accompanying me as my out-and-about read, for the same reason.

Placing books in places where I habitually might pick up my phone has been a huge help in pushing me back into a book. I’ve experimented so far with leaving books beside the kitchen hob, for when I’m waiting for dinner to cook, as well as taking a book out with me everywhere.

Reading just one line of a poem or a paragraph of a short story during times when I would otherwise be doing nothing has been a gamechanger! Times such as waiting in the car when picking up your kids, or in the dentist’s waiting room. (Side note: at a recent dental appointment, I looked up from my paperback to see a sea of faces young and old staring into their blue screens, looking completely zoned out. If that wasn’t enough incentive to remind me to bring a book with me everywhere, I don’t know what was).

By this, I mean read actively, not passively. I know some of us have a horror at writing in our books. I get it. I got into the habit of doing so when I first started studying literature; now all my books ever after have marginalia, underlining, and all manner of random thoughts whilst reading. As somebody who also reads a lot of library books, this can be a problem…so I have to make do with post-its and notebooks in that case. If I feel a book is one that I just have to make notes in, I try to find a secondhand copy. But I honestly cannot stress enough the difference it makes to get you closer to your books, pencil in hand, always hovering above the words.

This is something I borrowed from Cal Newport, the computer scientist, writer and professor. He speaks to the idea of taking yourself off somewhere ‘remarkable’ to read. This doesn’t have to be an awe-inspiring, Instagram-worthy beauty spot (though it might). But somewhere that makes you feel engaged with a book, and importantly, that is away from other distractions. Some suggestions are a bench in the park, a beautiful library reading room, on a train, or in a nice coffee shop (probably my favourite!)

This is similar to the above point, but I’ve found that taking myself out somewhere alone, just to read, has become something I anticipate with joy. I usually choose a favourite coffee shop, especially one with a bookshop attached, or one in a local museum or art gallery, which all make me feel more in the mood to be romanced by my reading.

This is a new habit I’ve been experimenting with over the past couple of months, and it definitely makes me read more throughout the day. I think even setting your alarm for ten minutes earlier, so that you can enjoy reading before getting on with your day, is worth the extra effort. It is far nicer than greeting the day with scrolling, and I’ve personally found it more useful than journaling.

I started this habit around a year or so ago on the advice of my daughter, when I was finding myself giving up on books that were long or felt too hard to get into. By taking myself out to a coffee shop on the weekend, I allow myself to really connect with a large chunk of a new read. This then makes it much easier to continue with the book, as I have ‘broken through’ the hard part.

You know that feeling: you finish a book and it’s so good, you just can’t imagine reading anything that great again. You’re reluctant to even start looking at another book on your reading pile, because the one you just finished has left you with thoughts, feelings and emotions. So don’t! I know we all want to get through as many great books as we can, but sometimes, it can be nice to just ‘sit’ with a book for a while. Maybe write some notes on it; maybe go back over your favourite phrases or paragraphs. Just like the end of a relationship, there really is no rush to move on.

I have to say that I have never fully committed to either the reading journal or commonplace book keeping. I know that many readers love them, and I feel incredible envy when I see pictures of them online. As I mentioned in my Reading Reflections at the end of last month, I have started attempting to keep a short ‘daily log.’ Within that practice, I am beginning to note down the book I’ve been reading that day, or that I’ve just finished. Sometimes, I include a quotation from it; sometimes I just make a note on what I felt about it. This has become enough of an enjoyable practice for me. I also make more detailed notes when I finish a book that I plan to write about.

This is a habit I have adopted without even thinking about it for years: using specific bookmarks to match books and reading moods. I also love a nice postcard as a bookmark, and have started the habit of putting any postcards I’ve collected inside the books on my bookshelf. That way, when I decide to re-read a book, or if I need to refer to it when writing an essay, the postcard reminds me of when and where I last read it. (On this note, I think Polaroid photographs or letters would also be lovely to rediscover).

Finally, I think it would be good to invent your own ‘Reading Rituals’ around your reading life. This might include things like pairing reading with a relaxing cup of tea (as with my habit in the early evenings), or something more elaborate, like putting on a specific playlist and lighting a candle, as a show that you are ready to settle down and read. I will be trying this out when we move into autumn!

Whatever you do to ‘Romanticise Your Reading Life,’ I’d love to hear about it in the comments - these are the kinds of conversations I live for 😂