Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to quit any books that you are
Speaker 1: no longer enjoying. Doing so will actually help you read
Speaker 1: more books in the long run. Over on Twitter a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, a gentleman posted that he found himself
Speaker 1: abandoning more books than usual, and he wondered if this
Speaker 1: was just part of growing older. I replied that it
Speaker 1: might be, but for this reason. Eventually you realize that
Speaker 1: you are only going to read so many books. If
Speaker 1: you read fifty books a year, which is a lot,
Speaker 1: and live for fifty more years, which is kind of
Speaker 1: an optimistic assumption for many of us. That is only
Speaker 1: more books, that is it. So it is really worth
Speaker 1: asking if any book you are reading deserves to be
Speaker 1: in that now. Of course, you don't actually know when
Speaker 1: you start out if something is going to be worth
Speaker 1: including in the cannon. I mean, for some books you
Speaker 1: might have a good idea. Yes, you should listen to
Speaker 1: English teachers everywhere and read The Great Gatsby. I Love
Speaker 1: Jazz by Tony Morrison. There's a reason for her reputation.
Speaker 1: I'd even recommend war and peace be part of your books.
Speaker 1: It's far more readable then you are probably assuming. But
Speaker 1: sometimes even really great books are maybe not for us.
Speaker 1: I confess that I have yet to make it all
Speaker 1: the way through Pride and Prejudice. I've read parts several times,
Speaker 1: but never the whole thing. I love most Virginia Wolf novels,
Speaker 1: but not all of them. I'd say put to the
Speaker 1: lighthouse in that. But I think you can skip the waves.
Speaker 1: If you are reading something for school or for work, well,
Speaker 1: by all means power through. But if you are reading
Speaker 1: for pleasure, then make sure reading is a pleasure, and
Speaker 1: that means only finishing books that you find engaging enough,
Speaker 1: or fun enough, or meaningful enough to continue the problem
Speaker 1: is that when we think we need to finish our
Speaker 1: books but we're not enjoying a particular book, we start
Speaker 1: cutting back on reading time. Next thing, you know, you're
Speaker 1: looking at gardening photos on Instagram during that hour before
Speaker 1: bed instead of reading. You start slipping down from that
Speaker 1: fifty book a year mark, which means you won't even
Speaker 1: make it to because of this misplaced book loyalty. Give
Speaker 1: a book up, though, and you can start on a
Speaker 1: new one, which you might like more. When you enjoy reading,
Speaker 1: you'll find more space in your schedule to read. You'll
Speaker 1: start bringing your book with you and reading before phone
Speaker 1: calls or while you're waiting in the car pool line.
Speaker 1: You start finishing books more quickly when you read more,
Speaker 1: and that keeps you on track for those books or
Speaker 1: maybe even more than that. To be sure, sometimes we
Speaker 1: can feel bad if we bought a book and we
Speaker 1: decide we don't want to read it. Money down the drain, right.
Speaker 1: There are a few ways around this. First, use your library.
Speaker 1: If you're not sure, bar the book, and if you
Speaker 1: love it, you can buy a copy. Also, Amazon lets
Speaker 1: you download a free sample of many e books to
Speaker 1: your Kindled app. You could probably tell in the first
Speaker 1: twenty pages or so if you think a book will
Speaker 1: be interesting enough to keep reading. I mean, sometimes we
Speaker 1: do abandon books more than halfway through, but usually not.
Speaker 1: In any case, it helps to understand that just because
Speaker 1: a book isn't right for us doesn't mean it isn't
Speaker 1: right for someone else, maybe lots of other people. I
Speaker 1: once did a giveaway on my blog of books I
Speaker 1: had abandoned. People wrote in with which of the titles
Speaker 1: they wanted to read and I found good homes for
Speaker 1: several titles. Ask around among your friends and you can
Speaker 1: probably do the same thing. But ultimately, we need to
Speaker 1: remember that life is short. We are only going to
Speaker 1: to read so many books. If we commit to finishing
Speaker 1: what we've started, we are inevitably going to finish fewer
Speaker 1: books then if we only finish what we love. Personally,
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of reading more, so try broadly and
Speaker 1: abandoned liberally. You'll probably be happier as a reader in
Speaker 1: the long run and more likely to read at least
Speaker 1: more titles in your life. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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