How I managed to read 98 books last year
Tried-and-tested hacks for making more time to read...
First of all, Happy New Year!
I know we’re already a good week into 2025, but it’s been a little while since I last popped into your inboxes—so let me start by saying how good it feels to be back.
Over Christmas, I decided to take an extended break to truly unwind. No emails, no deadlines, and for once, no overthinking (OK, maybe just a tiny bit of this)—but, on the whole, just pure, uninterrupted downtime. It was bliss. And, unsurprisingly, that extra space gave me plenty of time to do what I love most: read. I managed to finish each of my favourite festive reads—though I underestimated how long it would take me to get through Winter Solstice, which meant I didn’t get around to reading A Christmas Carol until Christmas Day itself.
Which brings me to my fashionably late year-end reflection: in 2024, I read 98 books. (Full disclosure—the picture above isn’t a roundup of my reads but a library curation project for a client.) And God only knows how desperately I tried to make it to that elusive a hundred. I wanted to, I was desperate to, and—believe me—I tried. So close I was to nearly hitting the century mark that I all but refused to speak to my other half in the final days of 2024. Alas, it just wasn’t to be.
Still, 98 isn’t too shabby. My reading ranged from brick-sized tomes like The Overstory by Richard Powers to slim yet memorable reads like Blubber by Judy Blume. A mix of the excellent and the average, of course.
I know many of you are on the hunt for ways to squeeze more reading into busy lives. So, I thought I’d share how I made it work last year. From small daily habits to my all-time favourite hack (that’s admittedly not for everyone), here are five hacks that worked for me—and just might for you too.
And do please feel free to share any reading hacks that work for you in the comment section below.
Put your phone on airplane mode and leave it in another room
Our dependency on our phones is, quite frankly, terrifying. I recently read a report claiming that the average child born today will spend an estimated seventeen years of their life on their phone by the time they die. SEVENTEEN YEARS. Technology addiction—and how I’ve tried to curb my own—is another topic for another post, but suffice it to say, if you want to make more time for reading, the easiest (and hardest) first step is to disconnect. Put your phone on airplane mode, stash it in a drawer in another room, and then (this is key) forget about it entirely. Easier said than done, I know. But the more you practice it, the easier it becomes—and you’d be surprised at just how much more time you find in the day when you’re not mindlessly scrolling through endless videos of an influencer in Idaho perfecting heatless curls.
Get comfortable with being antisocial
A few years ago, I was in Byron Bay with some girlfriends for a long weekend. On the first night, we met a group of guys at a beach rave (I think? The details are hazy), and the next day, we ended up at their house, lounging by their pool. After a while in the water, I climbed out, grabbed my book from my bag, and sprawled out on a sun lounger to read. One of the guys, Jack—who’s now a good friend—found it hysterical, utterly aghast at how rude it was of me to read while everyone else was socialising.
That wasn’t the first or last time I flexed my antisocial muscles to prioritise a book over company. I read on Christmas Day evening while my cousins played card games. I’ve said no to coffee with a friend because I was deep in a book. I’ve sparked 4 a.m. arguments with my boyfriend, wanting to get up and read at ungodly hours instead of staying in bed like a normal person (OK, I admit this one might be a little odd)—all just to make sure I didn’t miss out on any vital reading time. And honestly? Zero regrets. Getting comfortable with prioritising reading over socialising is simply one of my ways of carving out time for the books I love.