If you read 50+ books a year, how do you do it?

Edward St Aubyn, the author of the Melrose novels, said he once hired a cottage and spent months doing nothing but read Proust. When he emerged at the end, he wasn’t the same man. That’s the kind of reader I admire. People who really dedicate themselves to a great work.

I assume he had taken the precaution of being born rich, and hiring/marrying “help” for any familial and domestic responsibilities?

Certain writers really would change you if you approached them in that way - Blake, Wordsworth, Dostoyevsky, D H Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, etc, will re-wire your brain and re-shape how you see the world. Sadly, we no longer treat great literature with the kind of reverence people use to.

And equally, people can read what they like and enjoy.

Most of your list of classics were written by dead white men. The world is a lot wider than that.

(Oh, and Jeffery Archer hasn’t written that many books. If your friend of a friend finished one each weekend, she would have moved on to a different author in less than 6 months.)

I read about 100+ a year
i don’t really watch TV/scroll
I usually read in the mornings, on my commute, at lunch, before bed
on weekends I usually go to coffee shops to read

Being deeply read impresses me more. Someone once told me their friend was amazing because she read an entire book every weekend. It impressed me too (as a slow reader) until she added that the friend loved Jeffrey Archer! Great literature demands effort and concentration. You can’t zip through Middlemarch or Bleak House or Mrs Dalloway. Well, you could, I guess, but you’d be wasting your time.

The modern world is so noisy and busy and overcrowded that we now struggle with the classics. We don’t have the time or space to truly absorb Proust or Tolstoy. Such writers need dedication. And if you completely immerse yourself in them, and really live their writings, they change you. Edward St Aubyn, the author of the Melrose novels, said he once hired a cottage and spent months doing nothing but read Proust. When he emerged at the end, he wasn’t the same man. That’s the kind of reader I admire. People who really dedicate themselves to a great work.

Certain writers really would change you if you approached them in that way - Blake, Wordsworth, Dostoyevsky, D H Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, etc, will re-wire your brain and re-shape how you see the world. Sadly, we no longer treat great literature with the kind of reverence people use to.

What a nasty and judgemental quote. People have many, many reasons to take a while reading a book. There's no deadline, no way of doing it "right".

The important thing is to enjoy it.

I recently saw a quote which gave me pause: “If it takes you more than a fortnight to read a book, you aren’t really reading it”. I think I get the point and there’s something to be said for it – you need the intensity of really living inside the author’s vision.

But having savoured Black Lamb and Grey Falcon over a full nine months last year, I’m saying no, some things really are better enjoyed slowly.

Beyond prioritizing a regular time to read each day it's possible to manipulate your numbers by doing the following:
Audiobooks (allows you to consume books when normally you couldn't read because driving / doing housework / exercising)
Graphic novels - less text so so less time to read
Genre fiction - lower reading age and focus on plot rather than style so quicker to read
Children's novels - as above
Novellas - got to be carefully with these because they are sometime so dense in writing style they take longer than expected to read
Non fiction- tends to be quicker to read than literary fiction.

However, I think someone who read War and Peace a chapter a day over a year will get more out of their reading than someone who read the complete output of Mills and Boons over the same time period. Living with a good book for a while gives a more intense intimate relationship than reading severaltrashy novels in a week. So while it's fun to compare numbers don't forget the pleasure in slowing down.

Kindle with a backlight - I spent many happy years reading by a kid's bedside in the dark doing this. Then if you end up stuck somewhere with only your phone, you can still pick up in the same place on the app.

I am trying to do more steps this year, so every time I go on a walk, I listen to an audiobook. Listening and focusing is a skill - but one you can get better at!

It all adds up but it is about having the time, too. A friend of mine prioritises jogging so gets in more steps/runs than me. Nothing wrong with that. I tend towards laziness so read more. Nothing wrong with that either!

I read fast, read every night before falling asleep, and have a lot of appointments where Im hanging round. I mostly read on Kindle, which syncs with my Kindle phone app, so almost always have access to a book.

The flippant answer is one a week! But I read constantly - at mealtimes, sitting in the car before going somewhere (I'm early for everything, so spend a lot if time in car parks), on the sofa in the afternoon, especially at weekends, in bed before sleep. I never go anywhere without a Kindle in my handbag. Read a lot more on holiday - a beach holiday could easily be a book per day - so that will make up for any times when my reading pace drops.

I usually have a book on me when going to work or travelling about, I can't read on buses but will do on trains. I don't watch much TV and prioritise reading over housework ;)

Don’t compare your reading with other people’s. Reading for pleasure and curiosity is a hobby, and it’s important to enjoy it.

Keep a notebook of thoughts and quotes if you find it difficult to recall information. We all learn in different ways.

Audiobooks while doing anything like cooking, housework, dog walking, the walking parts of my commute. I also have an hour on the train to and from work so I read a physical book or on my kindle for those parts.

Read a physical book every night before bed - I also have trouble falling asleep so I do get quite a bit of reading in in the evening.

On holiday I can easily get through a book a day, and generally am a fast reader anyway.

I have been trying to force myself to read for a while first thing in the morning instead of scrolling on my phone, checking the news or my email. I had to download an app to block me out of my own phone until 7.30am, but it's made a difference so far this year.

I agree that it's not worth comparing to others! I read vastly more books by number than DH - he reads weighty things like Crime and Punishment and it takes him a month, but he remembers everything incredibly well and never re-reads - whereas I'll sprint through 5 books in the same time knowing I might re-read one or two of them down the line if I really enjoy it. My friend reads more books than I do a year, but she reads more light cosy fiction than I do. She doesn't enjoy Victorian classics or purple prose like Gormenghast, which I probably re-read every 5 years. No right or wrong about it, just what different people enjoy.

I think I’m chronically tired. If I do have a window to read in the day, I don’t choose to do so as I know I’ll fall asleep.
I do listen to a lot of audio books but don’t count those as reading a book (not that I’m counting anyway!).
I can plough through books on holiday but prioritise other things (mainly sport) for my regular down time as I have a sedentary, brain-intensive job.

I listen to audiobooks on my commute. Which is about an hour a day. I also listen to audiobooks while cooking, cleaning, cleaning, gardening etc. I read during my lunch break and while I am waiting for the kids to fall asleep. A particularly good book I will read in the evening while DH watches TV. Holidays are bliss for reading. I also count the books I am reading to DC if they are chapter books, currently reading Matilda to one, Peter Pan to another and Percy Jackson series to the other.

Last year I did about 80, this year I am on 10 so far.

I don’t have many other commitments on my time. I’ve always enjoyed reading but it was mainly a holiday thing until fairly recently. My book consumption went up hugely during lockdown when I started working from home, there being little else to do, DC becoming independent and my mum being cared for. I’m now retired so there are many hours each day I’m able to sit and read. If anything I read too much!

I do, also 2 kids demanding job and exercise 7 times a week so often get ‘how do you fit it in’ comments. Audiobooks as well as paper books (only listen to a couple of work related podcasts, otherwise listening to an audiobook). Read books before bed (probably watch a bit less TV than average), sometimes on way back from work travel, waiting for kids to do classes (luckily my eldest is 9 and loves to read so we will both do it in a pub/cafe) and as someone else said, having a book with you at all times!

I think the key is just not to compare yourself to any one else really
Just read in the way you enjoy. If you would like to read more then read more. But you don't have to read as much as someone else to feel good about your reading habits.
Brains process at different speeds and work in different ways.

Hmmmm reading in the morning is an ‘option’
for me because I’d see 0630 as a lie-in…….

People always think they’re busier than others but like all of us who work 12+ hrs and have a family, the answer is always that you do what your prioritise. It’s fine if that’s not reading, or not reading right now. But that is the ‘secret’. Check your phone time and spend half of it reading and you’ll be amazed.

I do have a kindle but don’t really keep count those books as I just use that for very light reads because I just don’t absorb it if it’s not a physical book. Same with audiobooks.

If I spent less time on Facebook and Mumsnet I’d read a lot more books…

I have the kindle app on my phone so I always have a book with me. I’ll read first thing on a morning to have a gentle start to the day and I’ll read before bed. I’ll read on the staff room at lunch if I’m by myself and I’ll read waiting for appointments. I’ll read on the treadmill at the gym, I’ll read sat next to my husband as he’s watching some rubbish on tv that I don’t like or care to watch. Basically I spend a good hour to 2hrs a day reading over the entire day.

I read 81 last year that have been logged on my kindle app.
Im a cleaner and I listen to audible all day. I can get through a book and a bit a week. I usually finish the rest of whatever I started in the week over dog walks. I also always have my kindle with me. If I ever have 5 minutes I’m reading.

I read over 100 books last year - I always have my kindle with me, and try to read instead of doomscrolling when waiting for kids etc. i have instilled in them a love of reading so on holiday we are all happy to sit and read for chunks of time, I also don’t read hugely taxing books, it is a way of me to relax and unwind more than educating myself. Lastly I am prepared to stop reading a book if it isn’t hooking me in, I don’t force myself to finish anything!!

Same, my job means I have to read a lot often very fast

I used my Storygraph graphs to show my doctor how severe my insomnia had become when I was on prednisolone. The charts are really helpful
I also use them as a nudge to read more uplifting /funny books as I read too much serious /sad stuff