how to read better and quicker
I have read 20 books in 2022 [7]:
Greetings friends,
This past weekend marked the completion of me reading 20 books, meeting 50% of my 2022 goal and according to Goodreads, am currently 13 books ahead of schedule.
It’s almost the end of Q1 and so it’s appropriate to share insights I have learned from reading 20 books and exceeding my reading goal at a much faster pace than I had anticipated.
What to expect in this newsletter:
20 books in order of reading
Where I get my books
Seven tips to read faster and retain more information
My top three favorite picks
20 books in 2022:
The Lost Continent - Travels in Small Town America - Bill Bryson
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke
Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come - Jessica Pan
Notes from a Young Black Chef - Kwame Onwuachi
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - Lori Gottlieb
What We Were Promised - Lucy Tan
Know My Name - Chanel Miller
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Homeland Elegies - Ayad Akhtar
Tìm mình trong thế giới hậu tuổi thơ - Đặng Hoàng Giang
The Anthropocene Reviewed - John Green
The Husband’s Secret - Liane Moriarty
Tôi Nói Gì Khi Nói Về Chạy Bộ - Haruki Murakami
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men - Caroline Criado Perez
The Moment of Lift - Melinda Gates
How to Fall in Love with Anyone - a Memoir in Essays - Mandy Len Catron
Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life - Dani Shapiro
Where I get my books
Currently my most frequented sources of procuring books, which are accessible and inexpensive are:
Amazon used books
Audio books (Audiobooks or Audible, you can have free trials at both of these sites)
How to read faster and retain information
I get it, social media and your personal life can interfere with your reading progress. But hear me out, reading doesn’t take that much time if you compare it with the amount of mindless tiktok scrolling and Netflix binging that most of us have in one shape or formed experienced.
Here are seven tips that help me read better:
Pick ‘good’ books
If you want to have a pleasant reading experience, especially when you are starting out or trying to get back to reading, it’s highly recommended to read the better rated books. Why? Because “Life is too short for bad books” - James Joyce.
In all seriousness though, there’s time and space for all books in my opinion. But when time is a scarcity, your attention span is not optimal or you just want to learn about the most relevant knowledge, choose the ones that are highly regarded by the majority first.
Skim over the summary and contents list
Having a sense of what the book consists of can prepare you for the details ahead. Think of your college classes, before any actual materials are taught, there would always be a syllabus week where professors harp on again and again the purpose, expectations and contents of a course.
Reading the summary and contents list of a book works similarly. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail so by priming your brain of the materials it is about to process, you are more likely to finish a book and absorb the content of it better.
Quit murmuring the words
If you are anything like me, you would at some point find yourself reading some words out loud or speaking the word inside your head. This habit is called subvocalization and it slows down your reading speed significantly to as slow as speaking.
A sneaky tip I have learned to avoid this is to put your tongue to the roof of your mouth so you can’t physically say the words out loud. An addition tip is to instead of reading word by word, take in a phrase or multiple words at a time so your brain can’t continue with the inner voice reading.
Carve out specific time to read
Find a time that you have uninterrupted, focused chunks to just read - no distractions from work, family or social media. For me, the best time is either morning right after I wake up or immediately before bed time.
If you struggle to get in reading time, find a designated time to read and speed through it to complete your daily goal.
Set a S.M.A.R.T goal
Specific, achievable and time sensitive!
Actually, you can do this right now, open a notebook, planner or your Goodreads if you have one, and input the number of books you aim to read for 2022. If you barely read a book last year, choose an easy goal of five. If you read 10 books last year, shoot for 15 or 20 this year.
Breaking it down another level, I usually set a micro-goal like the number of chapters or sections to finish in a day, especially with books that are more ‘dry’ or harder to digest. e.g: Finish three chapters of 21 lessons of 21st century by end of day March 13th.
Highlight and take notes
2022 is the year I (finally) began taking notes of all the books that I read. If I don’t take notes or highlight important section: one, I forget the majority of the book’s content days after I finish reading it and two, if I want to refer back to the quotes and key points that I want, I could not find it.
Two tools that have helped me with retaining and checking information from books are Notion and Goodreads Quotes Page. In Notion, I divide each book into sections and note down the key points I find interesting in its chapters.
When it comes to quotes, I rely on the trusty Goodreads quote page for all the best quotes from … well, every book.
Use Goodreads
Goodreads is your one-stop platform for all things books, from tracking reading goal, adding books to your to-read bookshelf, reading book reviews and like tip #6 indicates, finding the best (usually most upvoted) quotes in any books.
I started my Goodreads account in 2018 and hands down, it has been the best decision I have made to read more frequently. In 2018, I read 2 books and last year 2021 I read 28, all thanks to a bit of discipline and consistently use of Goodreads!
The most useful function in Goodreads personally to me is the ability to set a yearly goal, checking off each book as I finish them and see my friends’ progress. I also enjoy writing and rating books, which are stored permanently on the web as an archive to look back.
Top picks of the year thus far:
Know My Name - Chanel Miller
One of those rare books that made me cry - it was written from the perspective of Chanel Miller, the victim of the infamous 2015 sexual assault by Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner. When the media was covering this horror story then, no one knew the real identity of Chanel while the public hyper-fixated on the story of the perpetrator.
Know My Name was written as a post-event reflection, recounting Chanel’s experiences through the trial procedure and navigation of her personal life after the traumatic event. What makes this book beautiful is the fact that Chanel doesn’t harp on the pain and the suffering, even though it’s definitely palpable. She says she tries to “show humanity” and did just that by sharing how her family, boyfriend and the community of women on the internet stood in solidarity after Chanel’s decision to share her story.
Her writing is outstandingly beautiful, detailed and graphic but soft like a light touch. Give it to a friend, your brother, your partner, your father. It’s an essential read.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Evelyn Hugo is as mysterious as she can is glamorous. Evelyn is famous for her beauty, charm and wonderful acting skill in Hollywood, but what makes her truly unique is that she has seven husbands.
I love this book because it moves quickly, you will turn the pages like there’s no tomorrow and if you are anything like me, find yourself highlighting half of the books and slapping your thighs at all the twists and turns of Evelyn’s life. This fiction covers everything: art, fame, love and family. It’s excellent writing and story-telling compacted all in one.
Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez
My personal all time favorite non-fiction that synthesizes numerous researches on gender inequity and how our world can improve lives of women by using more data from, by and for women. I reviewed and provided key insights from the book in last week newsletter here
Thank you for reading and following along!
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Nice sharing. These tips are helpful for me as I am struggling with how to reading effectively. I will start to create my list of 2022 this week