Every few years, I like to spend a week tracking the time I spend reading to see if I notice any trends or changes I can make to my reading life. I did this for the first time in 2014, then again in 2018, and I spent last week tracking my reading time to see how things have changed. Here are some things I noticed that I used to do to get extra reading time throughout my day that I no longer do:
- I used to read whenever I was in the bathroom. This is probably TMI, but this is a habit I picked up as a kid (I used to keep a library book on the back of the toilet and would only read that book when I was in the bathroom) and only when looking over my 2014 post did I realize I stopped doing that.
- I used to read on my lunch break, but now I either take a nap, do chores, or fall down Internet rabbit holes.
- I don’t always read during my bubble baths, which is something that used to be a staple for me. Usually, I’ll play Candy Crush while listening to a podcast.
Another change I noticed from this experiment is that I read a lot less on weekdays. I’ve actually become one of those adults who only reads right before bed now. (I’m so sorry, Younger Steph, who shuddered at being a boring adult who had actual RESPONSIBILITIES and couldn’t read copiously throughout the day.)
So, without further ado, here is how the week shook out for me:
Monday, June 14
- 9:11pm-9:54pm: Malibu Rising (49 pages), The Count of Monte Cristo (1 issue)
Total reading time: 43 minutes
Thoughts: The only reading time I managed today was right before bed, but I was able to get in an issue of TCoMC as well as knock out almost 50 pages of Malibu Rising, so I’m considering it a win. I try to read at least 50 pages per day on weekdays!
Tuesday, June 15
- 11:01am-11:56am: Glass Houses (10%)
- 12:25pm-12:54pm: Glass Houses (5%)
- 9:38pm-10:12pm: The Intimacy Experiment (42 pages)
Total reading time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Thoughts: I started an audiobook today (Glass Houses)! I was able to listen to 15% of it during my day: while I was doing a brainless work task, while making lunch, and when I took a quick break to put together a shelf that just got delivered (one of those Target cube bookshelves; this is the fourth one I’ve put together and I’m an old pro at them now.) The only other reading I did was right before bed, so if I wasn’t listening to my audiobook, that would have been the only reading I got done that day! Praise be to audiobooks. (Typically for audiobooks, since I also love listening to podcasts and always have a very full queue, I try to listen to at least 1 hour a day of the book—sometimes 2 hours, if it’s a longer audiobook like Glass Houses was. I listen on 1.75x speed, though, so it’s never a full hour. For example, today, I listened to 2 hours of Glass Houses but it amounted to less than an hour-and-a-half of reading time.)
Wednesday, June 16
- 10:59am-11:08am: Glass Houses (2%)
- 11:12am-11:18am: Glass Houses (1%)
- 11:31am-11:36am: Glass Houses (1%)
- 12:30pm-12:41pm: Glass Houses (2%)
- 1:07pm-1:15pm: Glass Houses (1%)
- 6:18pm-6:35pm: The Count of Monte Cristo (2 issues)
- 9:06pm-9:34pm: The Intimacy Experiment (17 pages), Malibu Rising (21 pages)
Total reading time: 1 hour, 24 minutes
Thoughts: I ran some errands today during my lunch break and I listened to my audiobook while driving around town. I only got through 4% of my book but that’s 4% more than I would have otherwise! I also listened to my audiobook while playing Happy Color on my phone (still obsessed with this app!) and tidying up my apartment during a work break. And then the only other reading I did (other than TCoMC) was at night! I switched between my romance (The Intimacy Experiment) and my fiction book (Malibu Rising).
Thursday, June 17
- 6:52am-7:27am: Glass Houses (6%)
- 8:04am-8:21am: Glass Houses (3%)
- 8:49am-8:55am: Glass Houses (1%)
- 10:10am-10:27am: Glass Houses (3%)
- 5:16pm-5:31pm: The Count of Monte Cristo (2 issues)
- 9:13pm-9:28pm: Malibu Rising (21 pages)
Total reading time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Thoughts: I got in a lot of early-morning audiobook time, as I went for a walk this morning. I also listened while showering, getting ready for the day, and puttering around (making breakfast, feeding the girls, doing my skincare routine, etc.) And tonight, I was exhausted so I only read for 15 minutes! Yet again, audiobooks FTW because without them, I would have barely gotten any reading time in today!
Friday, June 18
- 6:39am-7:22am: Glass Houses (8%)
- 2:32pm-2:52pm: The Intimacy Experiment (25 pages)
- 7:09pm-7:45pm: Malibu Rising (50 pages)
- 9:02pm-9:15pm: The Count of Monte Cristo (2 issues)
- 10:37pm-11:11pm: The Intimacy Experiment (46 pages)
Total reading time: 2 hours, 26 minutes
Thoughts: Another early morning of audiobook listening. I’ve started waking up around 6 on Fridays so I can get started on work a bit sooner (and since I get to take a nap every Friday, it’s no biggie!) I spent the morning puttering around my apartment, eating breakfast, and playing games on my phone. I read for about 20 minutes in the afternoon before taking a nap and had a reading date with a friend in the evening! We ended up spending more time chit-chatting than reading, but that’s never a bad thing! And then there’s my usual evening reading: some issues of TCoMC and my “before bed” reading time.
Saturday, June 19
- 8:18am-9:01am: Glass Houses (8%)
- 9:36am-9:58am: Glass Houses (4%)
- 10:49am-11:06am: Glass Houses (3%)
- 11:07am-11:46am: The Intimacy Experiment (54 pages)
- 11:55am-12:02pm: Glass Houses (2%)
- 1:10pm-1:33pm: Malibu Rising (36 pages)
- 9:34pm-10:06pm: Malibu Rising (58 pages)
- 11:00pm-11:40pm: Malibu Rising (70 pages)
Total reading time: 3 hours, 43 minutes
Thoughts: Busy reading day! I love weekends. A lot of this was audiobook time: I listened while making breakfast, playing games on my phone, going on a short walk, showering, getting ready, doing some chores, etc. I also finished up The Intimacy Experiment while lying on the couch after I took a shower. And the rest of my day was spent finishing Malibu Rising! I read some of it before I took a nap, and then laid on the couch reading while waiting for laundry to finish washing so I could transfer it to the dryer. Then I did my nighttime routine and snuggled in bed to finish Malibu Rising!
Sunday, June 20
- 12:04pm-12:36pm: Glass Houses (6%)
- 12:45pm-12:56pm: People We Meet on Vacation (12 pages)
- 10:07pm-10:40pm: People We Meet on Vacation (19 pages), The Count of Monte Cristo (2 issues)
Total reading time: 1 hour, 16 minutes
Thoughts: I usually read a lot more on Sundays, but that was not the case today! Maybe it’s because I started a new book? Anyway, I got in a bit of audiobook-listening time while unloading my groceries, doing laundry, and tidying up the apartment. Then, I read a bit before I took a nap and again before bedtime. Nothing too crazy to report here!
***
So that’s a regular week of reading for me in a nutshell! All in all, I spent more than 13 hours reading: 6 hours of that was audiobook listening and 7 hours (and 13 minutes) was reading physical books/ebooks. My longest reading period was the 55 minutes I spent listening to my audiobook (but I was working, so I can’t say I was fully engaged, haha). My longest non-audiobook reading period was the 43 minutes I spent reading before bed on Monday.
In my previous reading updates, I was someone who spent a lot of time reading in short periods of 15 minutes or less, but I find myself doing that less frequently now. Now, if I have 10 minutes to myself, I’ll probably just get my phone and open Happy Color and my latest podcast episode. Is this a problem? Should I start limiting how much time I spend playing games on my phone? (Probably; those screentime reports are always embarrassing.) One thing I have restarted is reading a book in the bathroom! (Sorry to get TMI again.) It’s nice to read a few pages of my book throughout the day, rather than being on my phone. And maybe I’ll get back to lunchtime reading again. It would be much more refreshing to sit on my patio and read for 30 minutes, rather than scrolling through Reddit. I know the cats would be happy about it! And I really do miss sneaking in reading time throughout the day. It just doesn’t feel natural to me to only read before bed!
This experiment was fun to do and who knows, maybe I’ll do it again a few years from now, and my reading life will look entirely different again! That’s what’s so fun about doing these posts. 🙂
Where/when do you get most of your reading done?
This is an interesting post! I have never really tracked my reading in this way. But nearly all of my reading happens at bedtime on weekday, or when nursing Will at bedtime/when he wakes for the day. Unless I”m too damn tired like when he woke for the day at 5 freaking am today. But I was hoping he’d fall back asleep so didn’t want to read as then I’d be less likely to fall back asleep. But he would not go back to sleep. womp womp. I will sometimes fit a non-fiction chapter in during a quiet period of the day but that hasn’t happened in the last week or so, hence the reason it’s taking me forever to get through the 2 non-fiction books I started this month. I did finish one last night and just have a chapter left of the other one!
My favorite thing about my kindle is that I can read while I blow dry my hair. I have long, thick hair and it takes me around 20 minutes to dry it, so that’s a good chunk of reading I can get done!
That’s such an interesting way to look at reading! I generally have three books going at any given time. There’s a book I read before bed – generally this is a romance or something else lighthearted. There’s a book on our table that I read during meal and there’s a book in our living room that is my “main book.” I read my “main book” every second that I can (kind of like how other people watch television, I think), but I’ve never tracked it by page/time like this!
I really don’t think it’s a big deal if you are spending small amounts of time to decompress on your phone like that. It would only be an issue if it made you feel crappy or if you were supposed to be doing something else!
I know you’ve looked at this before, but I bet audiobooks have had a huge impact on your reading style vs when you started tracking in 2014. Or maybe you were doing a ton of them then? It just seems like a huge chunk of reading this week was audio and allowed you to get stuff done while you listened so you weren’t just reading before bed!
I am just reading before bed now. I used to read in the bath too, but now I do Reels then. LOL!
That’s an interesting look at your reading…. I definitely feel like I have to have a chunk of time to dive into a book. I hate starting a chapter and not being able to finish, because I ran out of time… so most of my reading is done in the evening or on weekends, when I can at least “finish” a chapter before doing something else.
Oh, and I read when I am in a waiting room or in line somewhere. Oddly, it doesn’t bother me when I have to stop because it’s my turn.
This is fascinating! I read primarily at night. My challenge is that I read the paper on my phone, so while I COULD read a book while on my stationary bike (no running right now….) I am typically trying to get through some of the paper (Washington Post). And then during the day, it’s work, and during meals, I read blogs. Hence why I am always behind! Evenings are for reading BOOKS though, but I don’t get even an hour a day. Again, why I’m always behind!
I envy you your ability to “read” audiobooks. They only work for me for certain types of books, and I don’t drive much, so I listen to them sporadically. I’m finding they’re not worth it for me, but I love that they work for you!!!