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Today on the podcast, we are talking about 4 steps for creating a reading life. Then, we will talk about ways to find great recommendations for what to read next. Lastly, we talk about my three favorite books from the past year.
S2E16 – 5 Christmas Traditions all about books and reading – A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast
With Christmas right around the corner, we want to make sure we are building traditions that help us to tell the story of the gospel and build a strong family culture. Advent is the perfect time for learning, making memories, and having fun! And, what better way to connect with our loved ones than through books? Listen if for 5 Christmas Traditions all about books and reading.
Read more at the blog post:
https://amorebeautifullifecollective.com/5-christmas-traditions-all-about-books-reading/
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I’m your host, Cayce Fletcher, and you can learn a little bit more about me here.
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Keep creating a life you love, and cultivating your heart for God.
- S2E16 – 5 Christmas Traditions all about books and reading
- S2E15 – What You Need to Know about the Christian Creeds
- S2E14 – Three Ways to Cultivate Gratitude in Your Life Today
- S2E13 – How Routines Calm the Chaos of Life (+ My Stay at Home Mom Schedule)
- S2E12 – Christology: Jesus as Prophet, Priest, and King
Hello and welcome to A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast! I’m Cayce Fletcher and this is Season 1 Episode 14. I hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend! We are gearing up for Thanksgiving and thinking about Christmas. I’m just so excited! The holidays are definitely one of my favorite times of the year. There is so much rich tradition both in cultural and church traditions but also just in my family. Every year, it’s like putting on my favorite cozy sweatshirt and nestling in my favorite place on my couch. Traditions can do that. One tradition that we used to do when I was growing up was reading Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. We would pull out the book a few weeks before Christmas, and read a few pages after dinner each night until we finished it. Another Christmas tradition when I was very young was to read Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.
We all have traditions, and around Christmas, many of those traditions seem to center around books. Whether it’s reading a favorite book, the Christmas story, gifting each other a novel on Christmas Eve as the Icelanders do for Jolabokaflod, or creating a Christmas Advent Calendar out of favorite Christmas Picture Books, Christmas seems to go hand in hand with books.
Last week, we talked all about the habit of reading. We discussed why so many people today choose to be aliterate and why reading itself is something pretty profound and life-changing. We are giving up a lot when we choose to not read – whether that’s the ability to think deeply about a topic or the ability to enter into that Great Conversation of ideas.
Creating a strong reading life is invaluable for yourself and your family because it helps to establish this habit of reading.
How to Cultivate Your Reading Life
But, that is easier said than done. I would imagine that all of us have been told that reading a real book is something that we should do. However, actually making that a habit is trickier. Creating a reading life is something we all have to work on.
Here are some tips to create a reading life:
- Set a Goal.
Reading can seem somewhat unproductive, but we saw that many successful people dedicate time to it every day. The rewards you reap are plentiful as we’ve already talked about. It can be helpful to add some motivation by setting a goal for yourself of what you want to achieve in your reading life.
Every January, I set a goal on my Goodreads account for how many books I want to read. Generally, I say 52. When I was in College, the most I read was around 80 books. When I started working, that number went way down to about 35 with the bulk of my reading being in the summer. For the past couple of years, I’ve done better and better with my reading goal, and now I’m at about 65 books. You could also set a goal of how many pages you want to read a day, though I don’t think this is as effective. There’s something really satisfying about seeing the number tick up on a reading challenge.
Another goal could center around which books you want to read. I have a bookshelf in my house that is dedicated to all of the books that I haven’t read that I own. My goal (eventually) is to read through all of those books. This motivates me to keep reading and helps me not to buy so many books because I see how big the TBR (to be read) pile is. I’ve also participated in a reading challenge – you can find tons of them online. One of my favorites is done by Jami Balmet of the Finding Joy in Your Home Podcast. She has tons of recommendations for all different You could pick one new book on a theological topic per month. Or rotate through a series of topics, like one month read a marriage book, then a parenting book, then a church history book, then a biography. This will help to broaden your reading life.
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- Make it easy.
I can’t talk about creating a vibrant reading life, without talking about how to create the habit of reading. Like all habits, you want to make sure that you pay attention to a few things as we talked about in episode 2 of the podcast.
First, make sure you make the habit of reading as easy as possible. Part of this is taking the time to think through when you will add this routine to your life. If you have a long commute, you could download a few audiobooks to listen on your way. I love listening to podcasts though, and I prefer to read physical books. So, I make sure I have books accessible everywhere I go. This means I have a book in the car, by my bed, and in my living room. I even take a book outside with me every time I take my kids outside to play just in case I have a spare minute to read.
It’s important that you recognize that a couple of pages here and there will ultimately result in you finishing a book. Too often, you sit down with a book and try to ‘cram it’ like you might have done with school in the past. You feel like you’ve ‘failed’ at your reading habit if you didn’t read a whole chapter or 50 pages. But, it is so much easier to read a lot if you use those pockets of time that you would spend looking at your phone to read instead. This will help you get closer to making a strong reading life.
- Keep it interesting.
Another bad reading habit that you may have caught from school is the tendency to stick with a book even if it kills your reading habit. Like I said before, I always have a book nearby so that I can read a few pages when I have a chance. This means I’m at least in the middle of 3 books. But, generally, that number is more like 20. I like to read whatever I’m in the mood for or whatever I’m interested in. Occasionally, I’ll get tired of being in the middle of so many, and I’ll try to finish all the books I’ve started (another mini-goal for motivation). But, I like having the variety. Now, not all of these are novels; most are non-fiction which makes it easier to switch back and forth between them.
In fact, I recommend that you have this variety in the types of books that you read.
A Stiff book is a book that is challenging to read and challenging your thoughts. This might be a dense theological book, a classic, or maybe one of Charlotte Mason’s volumes herself. Reading a difficult book will stretch and strengthen your reading abilities. But, if this is all you are reading you won’t read that much and you may get into a reading slump. What I’ve found works for me is to tack on a few pages in a stiff book after I read my Bible in the morning. I literally just read 3 pages, but that means I’m still working through some more difficult books without them taking up all my time. This is a great way to read some of the books that are beautiful or central to some of the great thoughts of our time. I’m thinking of Augustine’s Confessions, Plato’s work, or some modern philosophy, like Nietzsche or Freud. Now, obviously, I wouldn’t agree theological or philosophically with all of those works, but they are central to culture today. Knowing about them helps you to ‘get back to the source’ and understand what the original source of these modern and post-modern ideas are. It helps you to understand the ‘why’ behind culture.
An Easy book is exactly what it sounds like. It is a nonfiction book, biography, or maybe a self-help book that’s helping you learn and grow but is a quick read. I’ve always found that if I’m interested in a new hobby or topic reading a lot about it will help me jumpstart what I’m trying to do. Case in point, when I wanted to declutter my house, I got Marie Kondo’s book and another book called The Clutter Fix. They helped motivate me and gave me tips to get started and what I needed to do. There are so many books about literally any topic that you could be interested in. So, pick one and jump in! Generally, these books will take you a few days to a week to finish, but they help round out your knowledge and keep you learning. One highly recommended reading habit is to regularly read biographies of others, especially strong Christians. Reading through their life experiences – whenever they face trials or successes – can motivate and inspire you in your Christian walk.
Lastly, we have novels. Now, as a reader, an English major, and former reading teacher, novels hold a special place in my heart. It’s funny though – some people think that novels aren’t really reading. Others think that reading novels is the only way to read and don’t read anything else. If our goal in life is to learn and grow, novels can help us do that, but you have to be discerning in what you read. Some novels are trashy entertainment and can be fun to read – but you just have to accept that’s what you are doing – you are being entertained. I love YA Fantasy, but I’m not really expanding my mind when I’m reading that. However, some novels can truly change your life because they put you in other people’s shoes and make you realize deep truths about humanity. Reading through the classics or even some of the contemporary literary fiction of today can help you to grow. And let’s admit it – it’s just plain fun. A good thriller can pull you out of your reading slump. And, for those of you who say you hate reading and think it’s a waste of time if I put the right novel in your hands, I bet I could get you to love it.
If you find that there is a book that you just can’t get through – especially an easy book or a novel that just turned out to be drivel or not what you were expecting, you don’t need to feel like you have to finish it! Life’s too short to read bad books!
Here’s a link to the podcast on dangerous books from a Delectable Education. For more discussion on what makes dangerous books, listen to the podcast for this article wherever you listen to podcast.
Reading widely can help to get you consistently reading. This will help to develop your reading life.
- Talk about what you read.
The best way to go through this process is in community. You can join a book club, gather some friends to discuss books, read through a book with your spouse, or talk over a book with your children. You can even choose to start a blog or write online about what you are learning and reading.
Choosing to talk about reading helps reading to become a lifestyle instead of just a thing you do. It helps you to create a reading life.
Once you have read something that really interests you and you think is worthwhile, pass that reading recommendation to someone else. Let’s say you read a book on parenting that has helped you to be more committed to your kids and a better parent overall. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone you knew also was able to go through that change? By creating a group culture that values learning new ideas and pointing others in the right direction you are lifting your whole community up.
The Next Step for a Strong Reading Life? Finding your next great read.
Once you’ve created the habit of reading, the next step to create a vibrant reading life is to find your next great read!
Checking out popular book lists will help to build out your TBR list and your own personal library. I keep a running list of books on Amazon to either purchase or get on hold from the library. Don’t neglect to use your library as a resource! Where I live, I can access basically any book that I could ever want at the library. Our library lets us check out 20 books per person and doesn’t do fines. I even find that I read more when I use the library because I’m getting books that I’m interested in at that moment (rather than those that I finally saved up money to purchase) and I have a deadline to return them. After going through and weeding out my personal library, I view it as a resource library and a place to house the best of the best. If I own a book, I think it’s valuable – whether because it was a favorite to read or the information is just so good.
Social Media can also give you some great recommendations for your next read. I’m a member of lots of groups on Facebook. Frequently, people ask for recommendations on books about a certain topic. These are a great way to look through reviews and get feedback from real people. Again, don’t just limit yourself to novels – read books about topics that you are interested in. That will help you to get into a reading habit.
I have a few posts on the blog on great books to read on developing habits and a strong, Christian family culture. You can check those out for more recommendations.
Find a book that you love and jump into reading to help create a strong reading life.
My Reading Life: My Top 3 Books for the Year
So after checking my GoodReads challenge, I am at 71 books for the year! One reason I love keeping track of my reading is that I can look through all of the books that I’ve read because it’s easy to forget.
Here are the three best books I’ve read this year:
This is an older book, but it is so good! I can’t believe that I am just getting around to reading it. It is a novel that takes the story of Hosea and places it in the late 1800’s California. It is so good, and I can’t recommend it enough.
I love Sally Clarkson and I’ve talked about her in a few of the podcasts here. Desperate is a great book for gospel-centered parenting and grace-filled mothering. It will inspire you to build a home that shows God to your children. I talked more about it in my podcast on homemaking (episode 6).
This book was the basis for our last podcast. It goes through how technology shapes and changes our brains and ultimately rewires them. Then, it looks specifically at how the book changed our brains, and how the internet might change it in the future. It is a fascinating read.
So, what are some goals that you have for reading this year? Did you have a favorite book that you read in the past year? Creating a strong reading life is so valuable to improving yourself in all areas of your life. Head on over to Instagram or Facebook to join in the conversation. And, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review wherever you are listening to help others find the show. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I hope you’ll join us next week!
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