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Try a novella and ditch your snobbery: five ways to read more books

<span>Photograph: Justin Lambert/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Justin Lambert/Getty Images

1. Plump for page-turners

Struggling to find the time to read could suggest you are reading the wrong books. Sian Cain, the Guardian’s books site editor, says people often aspire to read books they feel they “should”, rather than ones they actually want to read, then end up putting them off. “Get over your snobbery, as there is literally a book for everyone out there.” John Rampton, an entrepreneur who has written about building a voracious reading habit, adds: “If I go for one or two books that are just OK, my rhythm gets thrown off.”

2. Diversify your reading

Marvin Marcano, a personal development coach who reads a book a week, says diversifying your reading – more genres, or more than one book on the go at once – will inevitably result in you reading more. “This way you make it a priority because it’s fun. If you get burnt out, you can always go to something else.” If you are a very slow reader, try novellas and short stories so you can finish a book before you lose interest.

3. Find the time

Rampton schedules time to do it – typically 15 to 20 minutes, twice a day, for his commute. Over a working week, that comes to roughly three hours of reading, even without the weekends. “I have to block out time for this on my calendar or it won’t happen. Other things will take priority if you let them.” Joining a book club can help with this by committing you to finishing a book before a certain date. Katie Cunningham, a journalist who completed her new year resolution to read 52 books in 2019, says joining a library was a “gamechanger”: “You have a hard deadline to get it finished by.”

4. Experiment with format

If it is an ebook or an audiobook, it’s still a book. If you have a podcast habit, Cain suggests making the switch to audiobooks, which can be consumed on your commute or at the gym. “If you look at your phone a lot when you know you could be reading, download an ebook app. I do this when I know I’ll be standing, which was my excuse for not reading on the train but staring at my phone anyway.” Cain always has an ebook on the go – “while also having a print book for comfy reading”.

5. Put in the work

Services such as Blinkist that condense books into “key takeaways” are increasingly capitalising on the desire to read more books in a shorter period of time. “It is not the equivalent of reading,” says Cain. As with exercise, making time for reading becomes easier with repetition. “It is 100 times easier when you’ve made it a habit,” she says. “Even setting your alarm for 30 minutes before you’d normally go to bed, so you can spend that set time in bed reading, is a good idea.”