As the pandemic strengthened its hold on our reality, reading patterns varied. I found myself unable to read at first, an unpleasant situation thankfully remedied by doses of Ottessa Moshfegh. I found readers on the internet unapologetically elated at the prospect of more time read while staying indoors. I read about others finding it distressing to read and literary critics feeling challenged in these times.This left me thinking about how reading–a routine activity for many of us–can be impacted by the uncertainty in our daily lives. I found myself reading about others’ reading habits, books that authors are loving in lockdown and trying to come up with magical tips for reading in a pandemic. Tips that actually work.
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Practical Tips for Reading in a Pandemic
Here are some ways you can rethink your reading sessions and perhaps get the mojo back.
1.Read what you enjoy
This is a golden rule for all times, not just now. Life is too short to read bad books. If you don’t enjoy a book, it doesn’t mean you lack something as a reader. It only means the book isn’t a good fit for you. Abandon books with no guilt. Search book lists for titles that surprise you. I found my saviour in Moshfegh, as I mentioned. You will find yours too.
For starters, you might enjoys books on obsessions and scams, or maybe Asian books that are smashingly fun to read. Or how about some new short stories if work-at-home is leaving you exhausted with little time to spare?
2.Try a different format
When a pandemic hits, it is a big change in your life, whether or not it directly affects you. You are working from home, seeing less of friends, getting anxious for your grocery runs and looking forward to (or dreading, like me) phone calls. It always helps to try something new because your usual comfort zones are trampled upon. Try listening to an audiobook (I recommend The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid if you are new to audiobooks). My friend who swore she will never ever love a Kindle but only physical copies has found a newfound love in reading e-books, going at a break neck speed buying, reading, indulging.
Where to get good audiobooks from
I love both audiobooks and e-books for different reasons. Audio is super useful to get some reading done while doing chores or when my eyes are too tired after a whole day working on the laptop. I recommend Scribd for getting your hands on new releases in both audio and e-book formats (plus they have added benefits of Mubi, Curiosity TV etc for FREE). I’ve been using it for years and find it very useful. There’s also Audible by Amazon where you are guaranteed to get almost every book, buzzworthy or not. The paid services are great for their production quality and choice of narrators. For free audiobooks, there’s Librivox on which I’ve loved listening to classics before discovering Scribd. Remember to try the many versions to find the best narrator for each book on Librivox. Netgalley has recently introduced advanced audios of upcoming books to book reviewers.
Use my link to avail TWO months of Scribd for FREE.
3.Revisit a children’s book
I was delighted to rediscover my love for children’s books. I no longer gravitated towards the new and shiny books but to the comfort of middle grade fantasy. Straight plots, conflicts, all resolved by the end and a happily-ever-after. Maybe that’s all we need from books. And who doesn’t love princesses, talking animals and crazy adventures forbidden by parents.
4.Find comfort books
Calming reads and comforting books are the need of the hour. This doesn’t mean you need they need to be light reads of happy books only. I found strange comfort in watching zombies and bloodshed in Kingdom on Netflix. It gave me a sadistic pleasure in knowing I was unaffected by the Joseun era Korean zombies but also made me hopeful that there is always a cure. Maybe the Fonda Lee’s series—Jade War and Jade City— about gangsters and powerful families that fight for magical jade is what you need. Or an escape to 14th century Russia with a girl and a horse.
5.Make notes
We are easily distracted by news and stats. My stress levels have been very high seeing the spikes in deaths and infected people. Making notes while you read can help stay focused and pay attention to the page. It is one of the best tips for reading in a pandemic effectively. I made ample notes while reading Daisy Johnson’s fabulous horror novel, Sisters (about two sisters and a kind-of house that’s alive in a creepy, stunning cover) and it nearly killed me as it climbed its way to my favourites of 2020.
6. Abandon challenges…or Make a challenge
If you have written down plans for more reading challenges than you can handle, strike them off. You don’t need the pressure to read a fixed number of books right now. Let your mood be your guide. Put the Goodreads challenge on hold. If you clock zero books this month, that is okay.
On the other hand if you feel you are unfocussed and allowing yourself to read books might give you peace, jump into the many reading challenges available. Some nice challenges to take part in are The Reading Women Challenge, find books by black authors or participate in month-wise challenges (for example, June is Pride Month, August is Women in Translation Month) which are more about reading a particular kind of book than focusing on the numbers. Challenges give you a sense of company because readers all over the world are reading similar kind of books. Reading together while feeling lonely is an excellent antidote.
Or make yourself a challenge. Maybe The Secret History that you’ve been putting off for many years? Maybe you wanted to listen to a classic being read out? Maybe you thought you’ll never have the time to pick up a new release but now you realize you do?
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The key tip for reading in a pandemic is that there are no tips. You know yourself better than anyone else. Don’t want to read any books? Fling them aside and curl up with Netflix. Want to make sourdough bread for Instagram? Do it.
Such great tips in here. I have actually found myself getting into audiobooks where I had previously struggled with them, listening to them on walks and whilst doing things around the flat (it’s never been cleaner!)
They are perfect for walks and chores
I found myself re-reading like never before.
Audiobooks have been of great help too 🙂
Re reads have been helpful to me. And audiobooks are so great because someone is doing the work of reading them. And you can just relax listening to them