How To Read Novels Even if You Don’t Have the Time

I didn’t read novels for something like a couple of decades. These days I have stacks of great novels I’ve read in recent times. Here’s how I do it.

I’ve always aimed to be a well read person. Long before the Internet I was an information sponge. I would go to a public library for a couple of hours at a time at least once a week and literally cruise the information there to suit my thirst for knowledge in much the same way people cruise the web now. I often would absorb a non-fiction book in half an hour. But novels have to be read linearly-- from front to back. I like to take the time to visualize and consider a story as I read it, too. The idea of speed reading a novel is not appealing to me at all. With novels I like to savor the words and enjoy the ride.

While I read novels with some frequency when I was in school and during my 20s, busy-ness as an adult sort of led to my putting novel reading aside for long periods. For a very long time pretty much all the fiction I took in came from television and movies, though I’ve always been a big fan of those mediums. Then on TV I caught an interview Whoopie Goldberg did with actress Christina Applegate. Christina admitted that she didn’t do much reading of books because she didn’t have the time. Whoopie said the trick is to put the book in the bathroom. That made sense to me. I’d always been something of a toilet reader. Like many people I kept a magazine or a newspaper or a catalog in the bathroom for those several minute visits. I even dabbled in Saturday morning bath time newspaper reading for a long while. For some reason I rarely read books in the bathroom, though. So I decided to give it a try-- and worked out some methods.

First, the book needs to be stored in the bathroom. You’ll forget to bring it in if you store outside it. I suppose if you must use a public toilet a lot you could keep the book in a handbag or something. This book will be for bathroom reading only. I have a big towel cabinet in my bathroom and things stay perfectly clean and dry in there no matter how steamy the bathroom gets. I keep my books there.

I don’t read in the bathtub-- the steaminess will destroy a book there and I like to use bath time for mental processing, anyway. I only read when sitting on the throne (In fact I’m currently reading Game of Thrones). I have mastered the art of one handed reading. Actually, you can handle the book with both hands until it’s time to-- well, clean up. After that I hold the book only in my left hand and can change pages one-handed if necessary. Some trips I only read a couple of pages. I use my bookmark not only to mark the two page spread I’m on, but the individual page where I stopped. Most bookmarks have a printed side and a blank side. I always face the blank side toward the page I haven’t yet read. I try to almost always stop reading at the end of the paragraph that continues on the next page. When I get up, I use my left hand to put the book away in the cabinet. It’s a simple as that.

By doing this I’ve gone from being a non-novel reader to having read a surprising number of books, though not in any short amount of time. Game of Thrones is over 800 pages. I started it in November and I’m close to the end now in mid-February. An average length novel normally takes me a couple of months to read in the bathroom. That’s plenty for me. I have patience. If the story hits a compelling spot I may linger in there awhile, but I never bring the book out. It stays in the bathroom.

I’ve yet to buy a Kindle reader, but if I do I suspect I’ll have to keep it in the bathroom. Maybe I’ll buy two. So, anyway, you do have time to read novels. You just need find the right place and time.