Great Tips to Spend More Time Reading in 2024

Congrats on taking the first (and very important) step of the 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge: signing up! By joining, you've committed to reading this year—we give that goal 5 stars! We'd also like to give you a head start on your resolution by sharing these tried-and-tested tips for setting your goal, increasing your reading, and discovering books to read.
(Haven't signed up yet? There's no time like the present—join below.)
Pro Tips for Reaching Your Goal
Plan Accordingly
Make it easy to pick up a book to read. Habit experts will tell you that the easier you make it to do something, the more you will do it. Place a book right by where you’ll be reading (bedside table, couch, in your backpack for your commute), so you don’t have to think about picking up a book.
Push yourself, but be realistic. Avoid the dreaded reading slump by committing to an achievable goal. You can always increase or decrease your goal throughout the year, especially when life gets in the way. No pressure from us if you need to adjust.
Trying to figure out a goal? Use the calendar as a guideline: 12 books (one per month), 24 books (two per month), or even 52 books (one per week).
Trying to figure out a goal? Use the calendar as a guideline: 12 books (one per month), 24 books (two per month), or even 52 books (one per week).

Boost Your Progress
Rereading a book counts toward your goal, and avid readers recommend it as a way to get out of a reading slump. Sometimes you just don’t know what you want to read, and the comfort of a well-loved book can get you back into reading.
Audiobooks count! Listening to a book while driving, cooking, cleaning, exercising…you name it…will help you enjoy great stories. Mixing it up between audiobooks, print books, and ebooks will help you find more ways to read. Check out these great listens to get resolution ready!
Use your Want to Read shelf to help keep track of what you'd like to read next.
If you haven’t already discovered the ability to put books on hold at your local library, now’s the time to start! Build up a stack of books that you’re interested in reading, and get notified when they are ready for pickup.
Audiobooks count! Listening to a book while driving, cooking, cleaning, exercising…you name it…will help you enjoy great stories. Mixing it up between audiobooks, print books, and ebooks will help you find more ways to read. Check out these great listens to get resolution ready!
Use your Want to Read shelf to help keep track of what you'd like to read next.
If you haven’t already discovered the ability to put books on hold at your local library, now’s the time to start! Build up a stack of books that you’re interested in reading, and get notified when they are ready for pickup.
If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you have access to a selection of Kindle Unlimited eBooks and audiobooks at no extra cost to you. Go to www.amazon.com/primereading and find amazing reads included with your Prime membership (available in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the U.K., Germany, Spain, France, Italy, India, Japan, China, and Australia). Or check out Amazon First Reads to get one free, pre-release Kindle book a month (available in the U.S., U.K., and Australia).

Find More Books You'll Love
Read books you enjoy. This sounds simple, but sometimes we start reading a book that's just not the right fit. You feel like you should continue reading it, but can’t find the motivation to pick it up again, so it starts to block you from reading. We say cut your losses and move on—there’s no rule that you have to finish a book. There are so many amazing books out there, so choose another one and keep your reading habit going. Need some inspiration? Browse the books that other readers have been loving in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards or Goodreads members’ most anticipated books of 2024.
Read more than one book at a time. Not always in the mood for the same genre? Like more cerebral books during the day and lighter books in the evening? Consider reading a few books at the same time so you can choose the one that fits your current mood.
Read more than one book at a time. Not always in the mood for the same genre? Like more cerebral books during the day and lighter books in the evening? Consider reading a few books at the same time so you can choose the one that fits your current mood.
Browse through Goodreads, including our user-generated reading lists or most popular new books of the month. Goodreads staff members have also shared their recent favorites.
Discover new books in your favorite genres, including romance, mystery & thriller, speculative fiction, and young adult.
Wishing you all a wonderful year of good reading! Tell us in the comments how many books you aspire to read this year!
Discover new books in your favorite genres, including romance, mystery & thriller, speculative fiction, and young adult.
Wishing you all a wonderful year of good reading! Tell us in the comments how many books you aspire to read this year!

Comments Showing 101-150 of 298 (298 new)
message 101:
by
Anuradha
(new)
Jan 31, 2024 08:31PM

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Have read 11 so far but can't read much when things get busy.
Books of different genres piled up on the bedside table and others loaded on the mobile phone...



Always reading a few books at the same time, it is good to switch books at times to fit my interests and reading mood.







I do read multiple books and have a vast personal library. Every January I ask through my social media for everyone to suggest a book to read and get very good leads to great books. Additionally I think it is important for everyone to include a few books on health and a few books on personal development in their planned reading. Health can be a primer on an organ. Personal development can be a book on organizing closets. Those two subjects allow real growth.
Happy reading!


I have about seven or eight books going at a time: always have one “slow down & savor” novel (naturally a fast reader; this winter it’s Proust), a faster-paced novel that I carry everywhere (also reading Cormac McCarthy for the first time), a book of poetry, at least two art theory type books (currently two books on color), & a nonfiction book (fave so far this year is the books of delight essays by Ross Gay).
I like slowly building up my physical shelves of TBR books, to see them easily there. also, new to goodreads & enjoy seeing what friends here are reading to inspire me!
cheers, bibliophiles! 📚♥️





You can always edit your goal to more if needed. Happy Reading!!



I enjoy the encouragement to meet a goal rather than getting sucked into distractions, but it's all for fun, really.


I think the DNF-ing is an age thing. When I was younger, I couldn't bear not to finish a book, even if I hated it. But a few years ago, I looked at the number of books I read every year and multiplied them by the number of reading years I have left assuming I keep reading at the same rate and live to the 'average' life expectancy for my age. Seriously, people, it's far fewer books than you think, especially if your annual book total includes a fair few rereads. So now I am ruthless - so many books, so little time, I'm not wasting reading minutes on the duds!
And I've ALWAYS read multiple books at the same time. My OH thinks I'm crazy, but if I have several part-read books scattered around, then I can grab a few extra minutes reading-time by not having to go in search of the only book I'm reading. As long as the books are different enough, it works. (So I wouldn't read a Jane Austen biography at the same time as Pride & Prejudice, but one on Charles Dickens would be fine).









For me, I love quirky novellas - it can be hard to maintain an unusual tone for 100s of pages - so I find short quirky stories I really enjoy. As for longer novels, I love the writing of some authors, so I drill down into their catalog.
Even for non-fiction, if it isn't rewarding, consider another author.



Isabelle, I'm a writer of those books you don't want to read and I can tell you I go through that myself. Mostly, that happens because I'm distracted by something else--illness, schedule conflicts. Once I hated my job and all I would do is read. It was an escape until I figured out what I needed to do which was change my perspective on a problem at work. Sounds easy, but it wasn't. I hope you return to reading books.

Hi ladies, discernment. It's important. I, as a writer, want you to have it. I want you to demand that I interest you, the reader, inside very few pages. You keep me on my toes, ladies. Thank you!
