If you’re studying a subject like English literature at university, it’s likely that one of your top reasons for this choice was your love of reading. Even if you’ve chosen a completely different subject, you may still start your studies absolutely adoring reading. However, as you go through higher education – with all its pressures and pleasures – you may feel your love of books waning.
So here are a few ways to ensure you keep your love of reading constantly kindled.
1. Get essential reading out of the way early
Before you start university, you will probably be sent a list of books you will be studying in each module. When you’ve just finished your A-Levels, the beginning of university can seem an incredibly long time away. You just took a load of exams; you don’t want to read all those boring-sounding books! (No matter how much you love reading, it’s inevitable some will be boring.) However, the sooner you get started, the better your first year will be. Not only that, you will then have time to read for leisure throughout the year, instead of struggling to complete your weekly reading for each module.
2. Read what you enjoy
There can be a temptation to overwhelm yourself with books you feel you ‘should’ be reading. Nonsense, I say. If you are reading for leisure, then you should be reading whatever takes your fancy, not difficult and complex books that you dread picking up. It is likely you’re already reading those kind of books for your degree, so you need to have a rest from them. A dash of modern fiction amongst ancient texts is certainly refreshing.
3. Make use of your journeys
Whether you take the bus, train or tube to university, these are all opportunities for you to do some reading. If you can’t carry a book with you, then get yourself a cheap e-reader. Journeys are golden opportunities to lose yourself in a gripping novel, even if you are surrounded by traffic and crowds. Reading makes for a happier journey too! Instead of becoming frustrated with rush hour, simply take pleasure in having more time to read.
4. Put that phone down
We all know we spend far too much time browsing the net on our phones. The time we spend endlessly trawling through our newsfeed waiting for something interesting to pop up or reading celebrity gossip could be better spent on delving into our favorite novels. A lot of the time when you are at university, you will tell yourself you do not have enough time to read for leisure, but the fact is, we just don’t use our time in the right way.
5. Try out new authors
The general rule is that the reading you do for leisure should be something you look forward to, something which runs through your mind during the rest of the day. This won’t happen if you don’t update your reading list. Trying out new authors allows you to be thrilled by different styles of writing, which makes you look forward to getting back to your book. Automatically this will have the effect of making you seek out more times in the day in which to get some reading done.
6. Never give up!
I’ll end by saying that one of the most important ways to nurture your love of reading is simply to keep at it. Even if you feel your day is tremendously busy, aim to read for at least 10 minutes. We all know that if we do this, 10 minutes soon becomes too little, as we become more eager to complete the book. One of my A-Level teachers gave me an important piece of advice: the amount of writing you are spewing out into essays and exams, you need to replenish by reading. When it comes to university, we all do a huge amount of writing, but do we ensure our brains are fed too?