Becoming the Reader You’ve Always Wanted to Be

Written by Lauren Smyth

An avid bookworm is packing for college. Before she arrives on campus, she’s given a reading assignment. No problem, she thinks: two books should be one cozy week’s work.

She heads for the bookstore and discovers that these are dense tomes, requiring annotation, study, rows of colorful Post-It tabs, and occasional references to a rarely used dictionary. It’s not the latte-and-fuzzy-blanket material she’s used to. Still, she completes the work—getting only slightly out of breath—and heads to college.

Now, suddenly, there’s more. So much more. Five classes’ worth of more. Lattes and blankets forgotten, she holes up in survival mode. Before she knows it, months have passed without a single page turned that wasn’t part of a required reading list. Just looking at a book is enough to kick up her blood pressure. Whatever happened to “avid bookworm?”

That’s the true story of how I ended up with an entire shelf of unread novels, glaring at me from their heights and wondering: Why don’t you just sell us on eBay?

There’s an art to reading for pleasure. It’s habitual for some, but even the best-laid habits of mice and men can be jarred by the transition to college. For others, the delight of reading must be acquired. There are other things you’d rather be doing—maybe a whole lot of other things. Reading may never make it to the top of that preference list, but it can at least get closer.

Believe it or not, reading can be fun for its own sake. It’s an opportunity to relax, to kick back in a quiet corner and let your mind take over for your muscles. And it’s like exercise. At the end of the day, we all love to see our gains—but the acts of running, rowing, swimming, dancing, competing, and other exertions can be inherently enjoyable even when the end goal is temporarily forgotten.

Read quickly. A slower reading speed doesn’t necessarily equate to better understanding. In fact, if you’re reading long sentences, it’s easy to forget where you’ve come from if you’re focused exclusively on what’s in front of your eyes. There’s no “correct” speed, but if you catch yourself nodding off mid-sentence, or if you reach the end of a transcontinental clause with no idea what happened before the period, you may need to speed up.

So-called “speed reading” is a rarely taught skill, probably because no one seems to agree on whether it’s actually a skill, pure luck granted to a select few, or the wishful pipe dreams of an agonized student’s sleep deprivation. I believe the best way to become a fast reader once you’ve got the basics down is not to study unfamiliar methods, but, quite simply, to read. A fun way to do this is to take reading tests, which calculate the reader’s words per minute (WPM) and check comprehension with simple questions.

A skilled reader can maintain comprehension up to about 600 WPM, according to some sources. This suggests you could learn to complete that 100-page assignment in a little over an hour—and actually remember what you read.

Pay attention to how you’re reading. Forget speed reading, for now. There are techniques to regular reading, just like there are techniques for golf, handwriting, lawn care, painting, and more. Your eyes move a certain way. Your hands turn pages, or touch the screen, in sync with how your brain picks up the words. If you’re not happy with your automatic habits, spend some time researching ways to improve. Your future self, given a 100-page assignment due over the weekend, will thank you.

Keep the end in sight. Why are you reading this? Because the professor said so. Why do you listen? To pass the class. Why pass? Academic pride, of course—but there’s also everything you’ve planned after college. Every goal, every activity, every new skill, is furthered by your studies now.

Enjoy the view. There’s a reason why the “reading aesthetic” is a Pinterest hotspot. Lean into the beauty of your activity. Choose a spot to read where you feel like a reader. No matter your specific association with the term, you’ll surely find a cozy corner that sets the mood.
Remember Pavlov. You’re more easily trained than you think. If you have a place, time, playlist, or drink dedicated to reading, you’re much more likely to slip into the headspace that will let you focus on your work.

These associations can be formed intentionally. Some ideas include:

A blanket
A specific flavor of latte or tea
A table in the library
A cozy sweatshirt
A pen, pencil, or highlighter (that doesn’t bleed through pages)
A certain genre of music or playlist
A study partner who’s also reading
Read with a pen in hand. See a sentence, think a thought? Write it down. Annotation has been shown to improve your attention and ability to remember what you’ve read. There’s no “right way” to annotate. Interest, snark, annoyance, ideas, inspirations, and other reactions may be worth recording if they jog your memory or force you to think more deeply about the topics.

If you prefer to sell back your textbooks at the end of the school year, consider purchasing clear sticky notes for your annotations to avoid marking the pages.

Be on the lookout for humor and clever phrasing. Even the driest of scientific papers can make you laugh—if you’re paying attention. Humorously long words, quick turns of phrase, and other small attempts at humor can be easy to miss but rewarding if spotted.

Take advantage of free library books. Reading doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby. If you’re craving that novel but don’t feel like paying for shipping, check the library first.

Keep a reading app on your phone. If you’re like me—or if you count yourself in the 40% of young American adults who self-report a social media addiction—you’re probably fond of your phone. Why not install an app you can enjoy anytime, anywhere, guilt-free?
All reading is reading. If you’re training yourself to read for fun, don’t read what you don’t like. Don’t finish a book just because you started it. Don’t force yourself to read a novel if you’ve got a hankering for poetry. Don’t restrict yourself to the nonfiction section if you’re craving a child’s chapter book. Don’t read only one book at a time. Do what fits you.

With these tips, you’ll be reading smarter and faster. You may even find yourself substituting a technology addiction for real ink-and-paper pages—and that’s a victory for everyone, whether in high school, college, or beyond.

Looking for more time-management tips? Here are some ideas to make your first (or last!) semester at college a little more stress-free.

Lauren Smyth, ’25, is an economics major and journalism minor. Outside of starting arguments in philosophy class, she enjoys curling up on a bench outdoors (sun, rain, or snow) to write novels or articles for her blog, www.laurensmythbooks.com.

Published in June 2024