How to Make Time for Reading

(Spoiler: you don’t need more time)

written by:

lauren

July 9, 2025

I was looking through my “currently reading” section of Fable (a reading app I am testing out) and I realized that there are at least 3 books on the list that I haven’t picked up since June (and it is August…). I remember really enjoying these books when I first started reading them, but I just can’t quite figure out why I haven’t opened them back up. Maybe it was the month of traveling and vacation I took? I think it’s that I just don’t make time for reading.

I am also battling feeling guilty for buying four new physical books and at least 12 audiobooks since then… And I want to read these books that I’ve started and haven’t finished. I just find myself thinking “maybe I’ll pick it up later” or “I’ll get to those… another day.”

It’s not like I haven’t read anything since then. In fact, I managed to read 14 books in July… and not all of those were amazing. In fact, I gave my first ever .25/5 stars (because I couldn’t give a 0 star rating).

Making books a part of your actual, real, imperfect life just sometimes looks like having 24 tabs open (and you can’t figure out which one is making noise). Here is my commitment to you:

In the month of August, I will finish reading the following books that have been on my “currently reading” list since before July (in no particular order, because I’m way too disorganized for that):

• Wildfire, by Hannah Grace (as of August 6, 2025 this is a Kindle Unlimited book!)
• First Lie Wins, by Ashley Elston
• Leave Me Behind, by K.M. Moronova (as of August 6, 2025 this is also a Kindle Unlimited book!)

This post isn’t about curated reading nooks, aesthetic bookshelves, and 70-book-a-year goals. This is about finding joy, peace, or escape in five-minute bursts. And doing this even if you’re holding your phone in one hand and a juice box in the other.

Let’s talk about how to actually make time to read, even when your life feels like it’s on fire.

What’s Really Getting in the Way of Reading?

Spoiler alert: it’s not “not having time.”

Your calendar may be full… kids’ sports? after school activities? volunteering at the snack stand? running errands? But you know what else is full?

Your mind. Most of us aren’t skipping reading because we are lazy or too dumb to read and understand what we read. However, after grading 100 papers in a weekend, I definitely feel like this could be my reason?

We are overwhelmed. We experience major decision fatigue when we get home from work. Social media scrolling takes up quite a bit of our time. We never get the perfect quiet time to read… and we are sometimes just scared to start.

What if I start a book and end up hating it after the first chapter? I just wasted 30 minutes of free time!

What if I love the book and can’t put it down? And then I forget to take dinner out of the oven. That is, until someone is yelling at me from the kitchen that “something is burning.” I’m *totally* not speaking from experience… oh wait, yes I definitely am.

Let’s give ourselves permission to ditch the guilt and jump over our reading blocks. Let’s start right where we are with the time, attention, and what little energy we actually have.

Realistic Ways to Make Time for Reading

You don’t need a cottagecore reading nook like that BookTok girl who makes reading every day look effortless. You don’t need to hire someone to care for your kids and clean your house.

Ditch the Rules. Read Your Way.

Somewhere along the way, we got it into our brains that we have to finish every book we pick up. And based on some of the high Goodreads ratings I’ve seen on some 1 star books, we also have believed the idea that we have to like everything we read. If we’re making time for reading, it is inevitable that we will find books we do not like!

News flash: it is okay to quit books you are not loving.

I don’t know how many times I got so excited for a book that I heard about on BookTok or Bookstagram or from a student or from a friend, but when I went to read it, I was very much not impressed by the first few chapters, the first half… heck, sometimes the whole book. But I would keep reading because there must be some redeeming quality in there somewhere (much like my past dating experiences… ugh why did I stay with Patrick for so long?) anyways…

You also don’t need a “deep” or “redeeming” book, or even one of “literary merit” as the AP English teachers of the world like to say. If that’s your jam, take that knife out and spread it on your toast. But for most of us? Romance and fantasy count as reading just fine, thank yew.

In fact, those are such popular genres that it is now being called “romantasy.” Ok and also, for the record, smut counts, too. You do you, girl.

In school, I think we learn that you have to speed through narratives, understand every aspect of the book, or else you should feel guilty or shame. But this isn’t high school literature class. We are learning how to enjoy reading again, here, so we can read one chapter a week and still call that progress.

I promise that if you “only” finish one chapter in a week, your 7th grade English teacher, Mrs. McElligott, isn’t going to show up on your doorstep to remind you that you need to finish two more chapters this week or else you’re going to have to get your parent’s signature on your demerit slip (anyone else have Catholic grade school horror stories, or was that just my middle school experience?).You don’t have to “earn” the title of “reader.” Whether you read one chapter or 100 books this year, you are a reader, simply because you read.

Make Reading a Part of Who You Are

I don’t mean for you to add “read” to your to-do list. Lord knows I don’t need one single thing added to my to-do list this week (I have to start back at school on Wednesday, which is in less than 7 days, so I’m *slightly* panicking. Say a prayer for me, friends). Because reading isn’t a chore to check off.

Reading is something to come home to.

Here are some small things to start doing as a real life reading routine:

• Snap pics of what you’re reading and share it on your Instagram or Facebook story (or just keep it for yourself… no one is judging here)
• Annotate in the margins (even if you’re just drawing hearts every 4 lines).
• Join a book club, even if you never finish the book. Not sure how? That post is coming soon… but you could maybe text someone about the book you’re reading.
• Make a secret / private Goodreads account and keep track of your wins, no matter how “small” you think they are.

In other words, make reading your tiny act of rebellion against burnout. The goal here isn’t to impress anyone (although if you do end up talking about it on social media, please tag me @bookclubteacher so I can cheer you on). The purpose of having a “reading lifestyle” is to reconnect with you.

You Deserve to Read—Right Now, As You Are

I want to give you some encouragement: you don’t have to “fix” your life to read a book. Come as you are, show up when and as you can, and I promise you that by continuing to make reading a part of your life, not just an escape from it, you will have read more by the end of the year.

And remember – you are allowed to read in 5-minute chunks. You are allowed to love trashy, smutty books. You are allowed to read and then do the dishes (or say fuck it, and not do them…).

So go grab that “guilty pleasure” book and just start reading.

Because here is the real secret: you’ve always been a reader. Now, you’re just remembering the reading girl you once were.