How to Read More This Year
Why is it so difficult to pick up a new book? Perhaps it’s not picking up a new book, but actually finishing a single book. Are you the kind of person who starts a dozen books and rarely ever completes one?
For years I made New Year’s resolutions to read more or to read difficult things. I would spend a few days mulling and grousing through a book before I would give up and go back to my Star Trek paperbacks. It was as though once out of a classroom setting or academic environment I had no reason, or no stress, pushing me to read as I ought. So what is the answer? How do I pick up a new book? How do I read more this year?
Developing a System
The key to reading more, or you might say, reading better, is by constructing a personal reading calendar. Like any personal habit, it takes time to develop and adapt to your particular speed and style. But allow me to reveal a bit of my inner workings and maybe you’ll be able to adapt them to your own.
My reading plan began as I struggled to read through John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. I intended to read the two-volume set in a couple of months (which is an arrogant and preposterous feat for any but maybe John Calvin). Before the first month ended, I had no hope of picking up another book.
As someone in pastoral ministry, it is necessary not only to read the Bible regularly but that I keep my brain and heart pumping with theology, teaching, and leadership subject matter. How could I do this and find my own time to read the silly stuff? The first step for me was to realize that Augustine of Hippo didn’t write all of his volumes in a month, so I need not doubt myself when I lacked the ability to read City of God in a month.
Over the last three years, I began using a calendar for reading that has benefited me greatly. A reading calendar is a scheduled list of books you intend to make a priority each month of the year. Perhaps you’re not the kind of person who makes lists or who gets nerdy about how they read. But if you want to read more productively this year, you may consider starting quarterly, even just scheduling four books a year. A well-organized life is well-tuned for conscious gain. Developing a reading calendar is essential, not only to our personal sanity, but to our development as healthy readers.
Systematic Reading means Flourishing Reading
Our best option for curing our poor reading habits is to cease with page counting. It is certainly possible to read like robots, turning pages and counting down the stack, but we do not absorb input like robots. The best reader is the one who can synthesize what they read. A healthy reader is the one who takes time to read and absorb the material; ut not just absorbing one subject of material — we must open ourselves to multiple subjects and cross examine those things we read, which are bound to have practical applications.
For instance, there is something wonderful about finding the synthesis in theology and biography, but you will not see that sort of thing without reading both. There is something peculiar that happens when reading Christian classics and modern or popular-level Christian books; you begin to see the present dialoguing or refusing to dialogue with the past; you see where the roads merge together and where the roads diverge; you learn what authors neglect the fruits born out of history’s progressive journey. In my pursuit of systematizing my reading schedule, I discovered that variety was a key component in my reading growth.
I have found that when I set a specific schedule with multiple categories, I am not hindering my growth as a reader, but widening myself as a conscientious thinker. Rather than blow through the pile of books on my desk, I schedule myself one book a month.
What Does the Calendar Look Like?
My categories, those that fit within my personal reading needs and interests, are as follows; Christian classics, biographies, modern or popular-level ministry books, and theological or educational works. I have four groups wherein I assign myself a total of twelve alternating books for the year, no more and no less.
After I have assigned these categories I plug in other works below my assigned reading, as is reasonable for the rest of the month. I do not start a new book on January 29 unless it is the designated book for February. But if I finish my January book on January 14, then I can happily read whatever else I want! Because I am scheduling ahead and know where I’m going through the year I can pick some weird books I wouldn’t ordinarily read, as well as some books I know I should have already read according to what great thinkers like Harold Bloom label “the Western Canon.”
For instance, last year’s list included the following:
Classic, like JC Ryle’s Practical Religion
Biographical, like Iain Murray’s Amy Carmichael: Beauty for Ashes
Modern, or popular level, like Rosaria Butterfield’s The Gospel Comes with a House Key
Theological, though I include education related material, like James White’s, The Forgotten Trinity
Now, obviously, these categories are not exhaustive, but they pertain to who I am and what I like to think about. Each month I also like to include literary classics to widen my scope as a human. Sometimes I even throw a heretical book in the mix just to be sure I know how to talk to people with whom I disagree. So for you, perhaps it would be prudent to read mystery novels or books on entomology? Whatever the case, you will have twelve books that you MUST read; that’s really not a lot!
One of the things that often happens is that we make our expectations far too high when it comes to the areas we desire to study. I know for me, it was difficult to read all of the theology texts I wanted because I would always buy more and increase the reading pile. At the same time I wound up reading blindly or I would get stuck and confused in the subject matter. I did not have a healthy plan; therefore, my reading was not healthy. The purpose is to grow yourself with a task, not burden yourself with tasks!
Purposed Reading
Reading is not meant to be threatening; if this is your experience, then reassess the purpose for opening the book on your nightstand. Reading is meant to bring us into a deeper conversation. I’ve heard it said that reading into a subject is like entering a dinner party where voices of the past and present are in the midst of discussion. As we open the cover, we stroll through a room and enter the conversation mid-sentence. But we are given the opportunity to join the dialogue with our own experiences and understanding. The written word is a periscope that brings us out of the ocean of self, unto an island with others exploring the same subject.
I recognized that I was failing in my reading not only because I had the wrong intentions, but I was secluding myself in my own little submarine. When I added biographies to my reading plan, a subject I hadn’t too much interest, I began to make sense of both theology and biography. That led me down the road of historical theology and eventually Puritan treatises, which are now on my list of preferred reading!
Four categories certainly sets up more variety month to month and it gives us, the reader, enough room between readings to amass a nice collection of subjects. Three times a year you are exploring four different realms. A well-read person has a more enjoyable time reading, simply because they have created a means to explore more terrain, synthesizing more connections as they absorb new ideas.
As you develop your reading calendar this year, give consideration to these four items:
Variety: Incline yourself to keep variety — reading the same kind of materials will likely stunt your reading capabilities, but worse, stunt your conversations in other subject matters!
Time: Give yourself time for the journey; time to absorb the material and time to spend doing other things beyond reading. Reading is a journey in conversations, not a feast for self-gratification.
Accountability: The purpose of reading is exploration, conversation, and synthesizing seemingly divergent subjects. This purpose is meant to be enjoyed with others. Find people to go along with you on the journey! Help bring others to the island, and spend time there.
Biblical Priority: Always make time for reading the Word. As Charles Spurgeon famously quipped, “Read many books, but live in the Bible!” What’s the point of synthesizing information if it’s not to glorify God and make intellectual use of the imagination He has given to us?
Benefits
One of the benefits of making a reading calendar is that you know what you have or have not read within the year. You are able to go back and find authors or subject matter that you want to revisit or recommend. You are also able to see the amount of books you’re capable of reading within a year and the following year you wont make the mistake of setting too high of expectations upon yourself.
Remember the proper mindset, reading more out of a single book will always help you grow in reading more books. As soon as I read my monthly pre-selected option, I gravitate toward something divergent. I started the year by reading King Lear (from my 2019 list) and now, I cannot imagine someone making a connection between King Lear and Gregory of Nyssa’s The Life of Moses, but I suppose I’ll be contemplating that connection as I’ve completed both!
My Calendar So Far
To give you an example of what a reading calendar might look like, I am sharing mine so far. Perhaps this will spark some ideas or help visualize what you just read. Not included in the calendar is my annual journey through a theology tome (in 2017 I actually managed to read through Calvin’s Institutes and I’m not ashamed that it took me a full year!) and my annual Bible reading plan. This year I plan on reading the Old Testament utilizing Lexham’s English Septuagint and New Testament utilizing a 1910 ASV cross-reference Bible that I found in an old church closet. If you can schedule reading of any kind, the Bible better be included!
Key:
(C)hristian Classic; (B)iography; (M)odern; (T)heology or Teaching/Education
January:
(C) Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses
Shakespeare, King Lear
Alexander Pushkin, (The Uncensored) Boris Godunov & Essays
Joel Beeke, The Soul of Life: Piety of John Calvin
Robert Schumann, Schumann On Music
February:
(B) Margaret A. Coombs, Charlotte Mason: Hidden Heritage and Educational Influence
S. S. Laurie, The Life and Works of Comenius (this is dense enough to last all month!)
Samuel Renihan, God Without Passions: A Reader
Amy Carmichael, Rose from Brier
March:
(M) Gene Edward Veith Jr., Post-Christian
Robert Littlejohn, Wisdom and Eloquence
April:
(T) Douglas Wilson, The Case for Classical Christian Education
Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
May:
(C) John Howe, The Redeemer’s Tears
Shakespeare, King Henry IV
June:
(B) George M. Ella, William Cowper: The Man of God’s Stamp
John Cassian, Conferences
July:
(M) David Shariatmadari, Don’t Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth about Language
August:
(T) Estep, Anthony, Allison, A Theology for Christian Education
September:
(C) Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule
October:
(B) Austin Walker, The Excellent Benjamin Keach
November:
(M) Elliott Clark, Evangelism as Exiles
December:
(T) Lanfranc, Monastic Constitutions
Final Thought
By next month, I know there will be several books lined up under each of these assigned readings, but the priority is already expressed. By November there will be dozens of extra books I still haven’t read. But I won’t feel guilty because I will have completed my 12 selected books and at least a couple dozen extra.
As you create your reading calendar there are several things to contemplate. What areas are you looking to grow in your spiritual life? Who might benefit from what you read? Who might join you in some of your readings? In what subjects are you deficient but actually want to grow in? But all of that comes later. The first step is to set your heart aside and meditate on why you want to grow in your reading. It’s not about reading more books, it’s about reading more into the world God has given us — joining the conversation that we might eloquently proclaim His glory all the more.
It’s time for you to make your list and start reading!