30 Ways to Make Your Reading Life More Fun

Does it sometimes feel like your reading life isn’t very FUN?

Lots of readers mention to me that as an adult they feel like they have to read “serious” books – the classics they missed in school or non-fiction parenting books or religious reading only.

But I firmly believe reading should be fun!

(Also, if you don’t let yourself read anything that’s not fun, it’s likely you won’t do very much reading at all – I’ve heard from an incredible amount of people that once they gave themselves permission to start reading books that they loved, their reading went through the roof! Instead of a book every year or two, they were flying through multiple books a month!).

Here are some delightful ways to make your reading life more fun – some of them are big and some of them are very minor!

30 Ways to Make Your Reading Life More Fun

1. Try out audiobooks. If you haven’t tried audiobooks yet, let this be the year! They’re such a delightful way to fit in more reading and there are SO MANY amazing productions now. If you need help getting started, here are some tips for getting into audiobooks.
2. Use a reading log. It’s a delight for many readers to track their reading and see all the books they’ve read over the past months or years in one place! Print out a copy of this free reading log and put a small copy in the front of your planner or a big copy on your closet or pantry door!
3. Cast the book characters. I borrowed this idea from the inimitable Lazy Genius who loves to pick actors to play the parts of the characters of her favorite books!
4. Stop reading books you aren’t enjoying. A book you don’t want to read is doing you no good – put it down and pick up something you actually want to read. I’ll die on this reading hill (and here’s a post about why you should give up books you’re not enjoying).
5. Make a recipe from a book or try a food/dish mentioned. 30 years later and I’m still dying to pour some maple syrup into the snow and see if it really makes a delicious candy like Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in Little House in the Big Woods.
6. Read a book that correlates to your travels. If you’re going on a trip to New York City, read a book set there. Or pick up a non-fiction book about WWII before you visit Paris. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, history or contemporary, this is a really delightful way to amp up your reading life!
7. Read fiction and non-fiction titles about a certain subject. I love reading multiple books about the same topic or theme and reading them back-to-back makes for a really special reading experience.
8. Tandem read a book with a friend or family member and text (or Marco Polo) back and forth as you read. When I asked for suggestions about how to make your reading life more fun, this was BY FAR the most popular answer! It’s also a great way to keep in touch with someone who lives far away and have a fun reason to contact them frequently.
9. Join a book club. For many people, a book club is a terrific way to read new books and have deep conversations about reading with other book lovers! I always come home from my book club meetings with 10-15 new books on my library hold list!
10. Listen to a curated book playlist. If you’re a music lover, making a playlist to go along with your reading can be a real delight. Or some books have a playlist by the author or a fan to go along with them – do a quick Google search or check Spotify!
11. Buy yourself a fun bookmark. After decades of using whatever scrap of paper was handy, I’ve switched to real bookmarks in the last couple of years and I LOVE it. I have a post here with some of my favorites.
12. Read with the seasons. This is new to my reading life in the last few years and I absolutely love it! It’s so delightful to curl up by the Christmas tree with a holiday romance or read a spooky mystery in October!
13. Read a book and then watch the movie version. This is an especially fun activity with a friend – both read the book and then go together to see the movie (and then you can complain together about all the things that are different!)
14. Listen and follow along with a paper copy. There’s something so comforting about following along in a book while a professional narrator reads it aloud to you – it’s like being a kid again, in the best way.
15. Stock up on special reading snacks. Sign me up for this one! Whether it’s a tea you love or a fancy chocolate bar or just some good old potato chips that you don’t have to share, this is a fun way to make reading feel like a true treat.
16. Join a reading challenge. My library does seasonal reading challenges or you can do this one designed by Modern Mrs. Darcy!
17. Read multiple books at once. Sometimes I feel like a few pages of non-fiction. Sometimes I want a witty love story! Having several books going at once means there’s always something I’m in the mood for. And if one book is a bit slow, it won’t clog up all my reading!
18. If the book mentions a song, look it up and listen to it. This is such a simple way to add a little more richness to your reading experience! Plus, it’ll probably make you think of that book whenever you hear that song again!
19. Do a book swap with a friend. Have a friend choose a favorite book for you and you do the same for them!
20. Pick a blind date book. Lots of libraries and bookstores do this (and if your library doesn’t, suggest that they do!). Pick up a book with the cover hidden, based on just the description!
21. Use a bookmark that matches the aesthetic of the book. This is such a fun and simple idea that adds a little something extra to your reading life! Plus a good excuse to buy a pretty new bookmark!
22. Add in some middle grade or young adult books. There are so many phenomenal middle grade and young adult books out there – don’t miss out just because you’re a grown up! (Two of my favorites: Lovely War and Defy the Night)
23. Set a Goodreads challenge. I do this every year (last year I was WAY ambitious with 200 books – I didn’t even get close!).
24. Buy yourself a pretty Kindle case. I have a plain black Kindle case so maybe this one was meant for me! How gorgeous is this one?
25. Schedule a reading date with yourself. It’s easy for reading to get pushed to the bottom of your list, so block out a time and put it on the calendar!
26. Re-read a childhood favorite. There is something so nice about going back to a book you loved as a child – it really feels like a special treat. (Or read a favorite from adulthood!).
27. If you’re buying a book, choose the prettiest cover. I love a beautiful book AND I’m also bad at spending extra money, so this is a good reminder to spend out a bit on a copy that will delight me every time I see it for years! Not a bad use of 4-5 extra bucks!
28. Read a book you already own. Do you keep buying new books or checking them out from the library even though your shelves are bursting with unread books? Me too. Pick up one of them and read it! Or set a goal to read one book a month that you already own.
29. Post about your reading on Instagram. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but a quick snapshot of a book you’re reading or just finished is a fun way to mark the books you’ve read and find out who in your life is a book lover too!
30. Have a book date with a friend, partner, or child who read the same book.  Read a book with someone and set a date to go out for a little treat or lunch when you’ve finished and chat about it. Bonus that a scheduled date will keep you on track to finish in a timely manner!

Any other recommendations for how to make your reading life more fun? I’d love to hear your best tips!

If you liked this post about how to make reading life more fun, you might like these posts too: 

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