Find Time To Read In College (For Fun!)

My stack of books to read just
keeps getting bigger!

This week my friend Mary Jo is going to tell you how she finds time to read (for fun!) in college. I'm excited to be getting another prospective on my blog and this is a great topic for anyone who misses reading books that aren't going to be torn to shreds by your professor! You can find a link to her awesome ya book review blog below, so be sure to check it out!

 

Hey there, readers! I’m Mary Jo, and Allison has been kind enough to offer me the chance to do guest post. You can normally find me at http://yapagebypage.blogspot.com/ where I review quality books intended for teen and young adult readers, because teen readers are capable of critical thought, too. Head on over to read Allison’s guest post on The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson, and hopefully you’ll stick around! J

So, fellow almost-adults, I have a confession. As an English major (especially one who runs a book review blog), I am terrible at keeping up with reading. Not reading for classes (Although, yeah, that is also a thing…) but reading for fun. Since enrolling in 2010, I’ve maybe read about… 15 books for pleasure. In high school, I read that much in a month.

But between classes, papers, and assigned reading for class there isn’t much time. I remember a professor asking my critical theory class what the last novel we had read in our spare time was, and everyone was silent. It had been so long since anyone had picked up a book in their spare time, we had to wrack our brains and it was still difficult to remember the last book we had read.
And that is the trouble. What is “spare time”, and I where can I get some? Waiting until you are free to read means waiting until classes are out. That’s what happened to me, and by the time break rolled around, I had gotten out of habit. Which was terrifying.

It sounds silly, but bear with me for a second. Reading was always a big part of my life. Until college, I was always reading, the gaps between books was practically nonexistent. And, yeah, I will probably pay heavily for this escapist behavior in therapy bills later in life, but reading was second nature.

The fact that something so fundamentally “me” had changed because college got in the way.
Cue mental breakdown.

I needed to change this. I discovered one of the best ways to combat not reading was… not reading. Try listening instead. Go to your local library and pick up an audio book. I currently have a ton of John Green books (er… CDs?) sitting on my desk right now. Put them on in your car to listen as you drive to class or run errands, to make sure you get your literary fix.

Or go to http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/ to download free audio books. This is a great site. The audio books are strictly books that are in the public domain, so while they may not be recent bestsellers, there is probably crossover from you required reading for classes. Personally, I listened to Jane Eyre at the gym when I was taking Brit Lit. Running on the treadmill really put her aimless wandering in the countryside into perspective. The files show up in iTunes as podcasts to you can take them with you wherever: the gym, the walk to school, to work, or as my roommate does, listen to it before you go to sleep as a way to help wind down your night and get ready to rest.

Something that I’ve missed most is reading right before bed. What happens instead is I will end up doing homework till 2 am and then crash. So, treat it like the reward it is. Finish your allotted homework quota for the night- that way you can savor your book with a steaming mug of tea. Or Cocoa. Or… whatever you like to drink while you read, no judgment here.

Cheers! And thanks again to Allison for letting me take over for a day J
Mary Jo