this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
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GENERAL BOOK/READING THREAD sankara-salute

How do you find time to read lotsa books ? Anytips +input. I dont really wanna cut into my little game time and time for painting. But I also wanna read more books. Atm I have read 5 to 6 short 300-400 page books a year which is good if I compare it to the fact that I read 0 books in some years before.

I "think" I could up my yearly books to 7-8 but 10 would prolly feel like im pushing it (if we talk about 300-400page books on average)

Gimme your thoughts or praise (for being a good boi who reads books) I know its not theory just ficiton but I just really started to read again in the last 3 years so Im easing myself into it by reading 40k novels. Its chill and mostly simple I also read some Brandon Sanderson fantasy novels. I know not high art but you gotta start somewhere.

EDIT : Good thread. Thanks for everyone who participated

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[โ€“] trinicorn@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I don't lol

I read a few books a year and besides maybe like 10-20% of my IRL comrades who are bookheads I'm still usually the person in the room who reads the most.

I basically just read when I'm procrastinating other things, committed to do it to an IRL friend or comrade, or have like a whole free day (rare occurrence) and can spend a couple hours of it reading at the coffee shop or in the park. My interest comes and goes in waves so it's usually like, read a book in 2-3 sittings and then don't read any for weeks.

Getting them from the library helps since there's a deadline, but sometimes I just have to give up and return a book I haven't finished and finish it as an ebook which can be a little demoralizing.

I do read a fair amount of long form essays and such on the computer as well, but its really not the same.

I'd echo everyone saying that some reading time could probably come out of gaming time, especially if you can find some way to still make it social. "body doubling" with someone else also doing a stationary activity might help, and then you can take breaks to chit-chat. And honestly I find even talking to mostly uninterested friends about what I'm reading is still engaging if it's something I am super interested in. Often not wanting to read it with you doesn't mean they would mind hearing your take or summary on it.

I'm going to try to increase my reading, mostly by cutting down on youtube and hexbear time in all likelihood

"Body doubling" is such a good approach. It's also one of the best ways to get me crafting again, just being next to someone else who's also working on something less instantly gratifying and more patient.