Falling Back in Love with Reading

March 7, 2025

How I Fell in Love with Reading (aka An Introduction to a Life of Social Climbing)

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been an avid reader.

I wish I could attribute this love affair with written word to an inherent intellectual curiosity or appreciation for language. But the truth is I was driven to books at the start for one reason only: An unbridled, unadulterated need to social climb.

At Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School, the library was siphoned off between “General Access” and “Advanced Selections”. The entirety of the student pop could check-out General Access literature (naturally); however, for those under third-grade to access the Advanced Selections, you needed to have the coveted “green dot” on your credentials, indicating you were an inductee into the “Accelerated Reader” program. Yes, my suburban Chicago public school ran its library like a 2016 Lower East Side SoHo House, and I was a dogged six-year old yearning for exclusivity and status via invite-only membership.

I tore through the requisite volume of titles and post-reading comprehension quizzes at lightning speed. The enticement of access pushed me to not only move at quite the clip, but also to learn how to understand and retain what I was taking in.

And then, one glorious day, it happened: The green dot was placed on my library card. While it may have been the catalyst for a lifelong ragged pursuit of the finest, best, and most limited associations, no Amex Black card, country club membership, or secret society will ever give me the high of that sticker on my laminated plastic, displayed for all my peers to see.

My Tips for Falling Back in Love with Reading

And look at me, twenty-three years later! It stuck (both the yearning for exclusivity and the way I recklessly pour myself into novels over and over again).

In all seriousness, as the years go by, reading has truly always been the most restorative form of relaxation for me. Whether I’m on a tropical vacation, in bed at night, or sitting at a solo table with bubbles in hand, there is no better way to escape, recalibrate my mind, and become curious about the world we live in and the people who surround us.

I read about 50-60 books a year, and I am often asked by friends and family - how?

First, I relish in their admiration and approval (see beginning of this essay). Then, I share with them the following tried and true tips that I believe keep my practice of reading buoyed.

Tip #1: Get a Kindle

I know, for many this piece of advice is sacrilege. However, the ability to nearly always travel with your book, especially if you invest in the relatively affordable Paperwhite, will absolutely provide further opportunity and ease in reading. I also find this technology to be great for bedtime, as I can easily hold my Kindle while laying on my side or utilizing the backlight if Carter has already turned off the lamps for the night.

I still enjoy the occasional “analog” book, too. No one is saying you have to choose one or the other!

Tip #2: Skip the Scroll

This tip started out as a New Year’s Resolution for me back in 2023 and ultimately transformed the way I read (and honestly how I navigate a lot of my life).

When we find ourselves in brief periods of pause throughout the day - in the dentist’s office, waiting on a friend at a bar, sitting having lunch in the office - the natural inclination is to pull out a phone and mindlessly scroll. However, those precious five or ten-minute intervals can really add up, so why not use them as a mini-meditative break and pull out your book instead? I can honestly say this little hack has helped me speed through so many novels, and I also find that these brief escapes into literature refresh me for my next “to-do” more so than any updates on a social media feed ever will.

This most pragmatic way to take these “on-the-go” reading breaks is to use a Kindle (mine fits in my clutch I carry standalone but also always keep in my workbag), but you can also download the Kindle app for your phone and read right on there, too.

Tip #3: Join Your Local Library

Turns out, books aren’t cheap. A lot of titles will run you about $20, so multiply that by my 50-60 a year, and you’ve got yourself a pair of Louboutin heels. My cost-conscious solution? Get your books for free!

I am a romantic for the local library. I remember my Mom taking my brother and I as little kids and us coming home with hauls, running straight up to our rooms so we could begin to dive in to our next stories. I still get the same tickle of a shopping rush when I take a few physical books off the shelf and head to the checkout (without spending a dime!).

And my tip-within-a-tip (tipception)? Download the Libby app. Almost all major library branches are affiliated with this platform (Fulton County Library System is!), and it allows you to borrow nearly any title digitally and have it delivered straight to your Kindle or other online reading platform.

Tip #4: Adopt a “Loose” Definition of Reading

Don’t be too precious about it - you don’t need to exclusively select titles from the Literary Canon or the New York Times Bestsellers List to be a bona fide “reader”.

As much as I love a Jane Austen re-read or the buzzy book of the season, I also devour the Queen of Beach reads all year long, any multi-narrator tale set in London, and detective mystery fan-fics starring the late Queen Elizabeth II (yes, this is a legitimate five-novel series).

If you are interested in it, curious about it, or enjoy it - read it. Or listen to it. Audiobooks count in my book (pun intended)! So do magazines! Or digital essays! I am tremendous fan of Hannah Connolly’s Substack, which features snackable, beautiful stories about romanticizing even our smallest moments.

To me, the exercise of reading is about contemplation, engaging intimately with the perspectives of others, and finding harmony in cerebral relaxation. What doesn’t matter is how you consume those words.

Tip #5: It’s a Muscle

Reading is truly a muscle, and, as a lawyer, I am conditioned to read thousands of pages of often dense text a day, so I am in peak fighting shape! That being said, you don’t need to pour over deposition transcripts or lengthy court filings day-by-day to get your reps in.

Even if you just read a few pages, consistency will truly make a difference in your habit-building and pace.

The Books That Will Make You Fall Back in Love with Reading