Every November, social media fills with reading challenges. "Read 52 books this year!" "Join our 100-book club!" And every February, most of those challenges are quietly abandoned. I know because I used to be one of the abandoners.
Here's what I've learned after years of working at a bookstore and talking to hundreds of readers: the people who read the most aren't the ones with the most ambitious goals. They're the ones who've made reading so seamlessly part of their lives that it doesn't feel like a goal at all.
Why Most Reading Goals Fail
The problem with book quotas is that they turn reading into a numbers game. When you're racing to hit a target, you start choosing shorter books over longer ones, easier reads over challenging ones. You skim instead of savour. You finish books you're not enjoying just to add them to the count.
Worse, when life gets busy and you fall behind schedule, the guilt becomes demotivating. The very goal that was supposed to encourage reading becomes a reason to avoid it. You've failed, so why bother?
Reading shouldn't feel like homework. It shouldn't be another item on your to-do list, another metric to optimize. The moment it becomes an obligation, it loses much of its magic.
Habit Over Goal
Instead of setting a book quota, focus on building a reading habit. A habit is something you do regularly without having to decide to do it each time. It's automatic, effortless, woven into the fabric of your day.
The key is consistency over intensity. Reading for fifteen minutes every day is more sustainable than reading for three hours every Saturday. Daily repetition creates neural pathways, and soon reaching for your book becomes as natural as reaching for your phone.
To build this habit, attach reading to something you already do. Read during your morning coffee. Read on your commute. Read for ten minutes before bed. Find a trigger — something that happens every day — and let it become the cue that prompts you to read.
Create the Right Environment
Environment matters more than willpower. If your phone is within arm's reach and your book is across the room, you'll reach for the phone. Make the desired behaviour easy and the undesired behaviour hard.
I keep a book on my coffee table, on my nightstand, in my bag. There's always a book within reach. Meanwhile, my phone lives in a drawer when I'm home. It's a small friction, but friction adds up. The path of least resistance should lead to reading.
Consider your physical space too. A comfortable reading chair, good lighting, a cozy blanket — these things aren't frivolous. They're invitations. They say: this is a place for reading. Making your reading space pleasant is an investment in your habit.
Permission to Quit
One of the most freeing things I've learned is that it's okay to abandon books. Life is too short to read books you're not enjoying out of some misplaced sense of obligation. If a book isn't working for you, put it down. Maybe you'll come back to it someday, maybe you won't. Either way is fine.
This doesn't mean giving up at the first difficult paragraph. Some books require patience, and the reward is worth the effort. But there's a difference between a book that challenges you and a book that simply isn't for you. Trust your instincts.
When you give yourself permission to quit, you free yourself to take more chances. You can pick up that experimental novel, that genre you've never tried, that intimidating classic. If it doesn't work out, no harm done. This openness often leads to discovering books you never would have found otherwise.
Read What You Want
There's a snobbery in reading culture that says some books count more than others. Literary fiction is worthy; genre fiction is guilty pleasure. Classics are impressive; contemporary novels are lightweight. This is nonsense.
Read what genuinely interests you. If that's romance novels, read romance novels. If it's business books, read business books. If it's comic books, read comic books. The "best" book is the one that gets you reading. Full stop.
That said, occasional stretching is healthy. If you only ever read one type of book, you might be missing out on something wonderful. At Book Island, we encourage customers to follow their interests while occasionally venturing into unfamiliar territory. Think of it as exploring — you might find a new favourite neighbourhood.
The Social Element
Reading might seem like a solitary activity, but there's real power in making it social. Joining a book club, following book-focused accounts on social media, talking to friends about what you're reading — these connections create accountability and enthusiasm.
When you know someone is going to ask what you're reading, you're more likely to have an answer. When you see others excited about books, that excitement is contagious. Reading becomes not just a personal habit but part of your identity, something you share with a community.
This is one reason we host so many events at Book Island. Reading together — even if "together" just means reading the same book and discussing it later — transforms a private activity into a shared experience.
Starting Today
If you want to read more, don't wait for November 1st. Don't announce a grand challenge. Just pick up a book today, read for ten minutes, and do the same thing tomorrow. Keep it simple. Keep it sustainable. Keep it joyful.
The goal isn't to read a certain number of books. The goal is to become a reader — someone for whom reading is a natural, pleasurable part of daily life. That identity shift matters more than any statistic.
And if you're not sure what to read next, come visit us. We love nothing more than helping people find their next great book.
Jamie Wilson is the Events Coordinator and Bookseller at Book Island. They read approximately 60 books a year but insist they don't keep count.
