Read More AND Read Better in 2025: Five Practices that Transformed My Reading

[@brenboothjones]

To try everything Brilliant has to offer-free-for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/BrenBoothJones/. You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

Best wishes with your plans for 2025. Here's to some great reading!

[@TheLinguistsLibrary]

Your house plants are everything! Multiple books at a time is my way to never stop reading too🥰

[@brenboothjones]

Have to give my wife the credit there about the plants. She’s a plant whisperer I swear! 😃

[@ChrisSenM]

So glad I've found you. You've given me a lot to think about.

[@brenboothjones]

Welcome! I hope you enjoy the back catalog.

[@Sopranistineberhard]

Excellent video! Some ways I try to become a reader are that like you, I have three reading “spaces” for ritual reading and I always have a book with me. I often read in more than one language, which I find challenging but also immensely valuable. I read anywhere from 3-5 books at a time and I also take part in book reading clubs. I also give myself permission to put a book away if it’s not the right time for it and to never beat myself up! The past few years have been filled with a love of books and I only intend to continue that in the future. Thank you again for your honest and intelligent content!

[@brenboothjones]

Multiple languages! Very good point. I do this too. It’s very stimulating. And I agree that one should not torture oneself if a book is too much of a drag. It’s okay to give up on a book. Unless it’s something you really want to have an in-depth opinion of-then you have to suffer through it to the end, like climbing a mountain for the sake of saying you’ve climbed that mountain and can tell people what the expedition was like.

[@brenboothjones]

But also, like you said, you can put it aside and come back to it when the moment is right! I’ve done that many times.

[@Sopranistineberhard]

@@brenboothjones I challenge myself with “top of the mountain” books every year but I have to make sure they are spaced out with a lot more accessibility or I will burn out! It is fascinating to see how our brains change when we ask them to. Challenging them opens up all kinds of understanding and perceptions in our comprehension. I always like to have a medium/fast paced book on the go to balance out my fairly usual slower paced ones. Thanks again for your videos! Happy New Year and Happy reading!

[@brenboothjones]

@ thank you! You too :)

[@jennyjaybles]

I was feeling very bad about the amount of books I read this year, granted from January to May 29 I was having cancer treatment, and then radiation treatment left me still depleted for another month after because it continues to effect you for awhile even after it's over, so it really made me physically exhausted and my brain turn into pudding for a whole 6 months, but by August I really tried to start ramping up the reading. Now I am reading about 6 books at the same time which I thought was not good or chaotic but glad to hear you say that is a good thing. I will just keep doing that then and I am having strong impulses to get books that are outside what I usually read so I am hoping maybe this the neuroplasticity trying to work it's magic. I feel encouraged. Thank you.

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you for sharing. I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been dealing with that horrible disease. People very close to me have been inflicted with it and it’s hell. Wishing you a speedy and total recovery. Good for you for diving deep into your literary journey! Max respect for you.

[@DeirdreGordon-t3j]

Great recommendations for improving reading habits.

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you! I’m happy you found it useful:)

[@gregorykim1344]

I have a difficult time reading multiple books at the same time, even if they are completely different like poetry, plays, novels or non-fiction. But I do rotate what I read. As for annotations, I just started doing that last year and I find that my engagement with a book is much better and I remember more of what I've read. Thanks for the video

[@brenboothjones]

Thanks for sharing. Annotation helps a lot, doesn’t it? :)

[@JoelleHekman]

Thanks for the great tips! It really helps to hear how someone else approaches reading and to know that everyone gets distracted sometimes even though we want to read as much as possible. I always find that I get impatient when reading a book because of the quantitative aspect, there's always so much more that I still want to read or that I could be reading instead. I think reading multiple books at once is a good way to tackle that feeling and to stay motivated to continue reading. What really changed reading for me was a realization that I had at one point, that I don't have to like a book or find it interesting just because it was well received or because it's a classic, but that I can form my own opinion about the book already while reading. Reading used to be a one-sided sharing of information for me, where I felt like I had to soak up all the information the author was giving me all the way until the end of the book. But after I had this realization, I feel I'm much more engaged when reading because I reflect on the text as I go, which sometimes also slows down my reading, but it helps me discern the key points in the book for me, as opposed to feeling like I have to basically memorize the book or pay equal attention to all pages, and it helps me remember what I read!

[@brenboothjones]

Very well said! I concur with that notion of a dialogic approach-not merely a passive absorbing of the ideas conveyed. And not following the status quo just because a particular book is in vogue.

[@johnmacquarrie8430]

I have three books with me every day. Changing the pace of my reading by having three completely different books helps me focus.

[@brenboothjones]

It’s wonderful isn’t it, John? You always have a medley of texts to choose from to suit mood and appetite.

[@johnmacquarrie8430]

@ I assumed most people read like that. My wife thought I was crazy. I live on an island and have to commute by ferry for work. I get to the ferry early and read. Once I load on the boat I start the second book for the transit. At the end of the day I read the third book to decompress. I have started the GBWW deep reading and I am currently reading the Iliad on the weekends. I have never been a big reader so I have to focus and force myself to make the time. Your video just reinforced what I’ve been trying to do. No New Year’s resolutions, just read more and deeper and the “resolutions” will naturally fall into place.

[@brenboothjones]

@ sounds like a fantastic rhythm. I used to commute and loved my early morning and late afternoon reading sessions on train and bus! I found the Iliad quite a trudge. Much prefer the Odyssey!

[@mikeinbostonma9990]

Hi Bren, I like your comment about reading multiple books at the same time. I've never really thought about this as an option I might want to pursue. My reading habits were formed early by literature teachers who seemed to think that once you decide on what to read, then your reading experience is diluted by adding other works at the same time. I'm actually trying to form some new reading habits and think I'll give some thought to seeing if this works for me. I decided to reread Mann's Magic Mountain for 2025. I remember it was quite a slog about 10 years ago on my first read - so much of a slog that I often thought of putting it down numerous times. For my reread, I might try adding two or three other works that are maybe "lighter" but also quality works. The logic seems to make sense to me and hopefully this will make the reread a little more "bearable." Thanks for the ideas!

[@brenboothjones]

@@mikeinbostonma9990 Hello Mike! Nice one, I hope the multiple books idea works for you. It might not be for everyone. You seem like a pretty committed reader but I’m sure some people would get bogged down in Magic Mountain. Let me know how the double stacking goes :)

[@bibliomania158]

Hello my friend, I hope you’re doing great! Another great video 👏🤝

[@brenboothjones]

Hello! Thank you so much! :D

[@emilylee5353]

I stopped using goodreads or storygraph. It felt like a superficial waste of time to me. I've not tracked my reading since then. I couldn't tell you how many books I've read this year. (I might track what I read next year but with pen and notebook) I'm also more careful with how much and what type of videos I watch on book tube, as that was impacting my reading and looking in bookshops in ways I wasn't happy with. Happy reading for 2025.

[@brenboothjones]

Sounds like you have your priorities right! Thanks for sharing and happy reading to you too :)

[@xMo29]

I just read ZAMM. And as a beginner reader, man that book was annoying. The speed with which I read a Vonnegut novel right after was something to behold. The most frustrating thing about ZAMM is that at some point (halfway?) the narrative interspersions become useless and distract from the thesis of the book. Anyways, great video BBJ!

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you so much! Yes it’s a lopsided book, isn’t? Ahh a Vonnegut novel sounds like the perfect antidote after ZAMM 👌

[@JamesRiley-zy9sh]

When reading multiple books at once I find that designating one as my primary really helps. That means I need to read at least one page from that book every day until it's done. Otherwise I will keep adding books into my currently reading roster and never finish anything.

[@brenboothjones]

Good strategy. It’s too easy to nibble endlessly until the current reads pile spills over into madness!

[@pedroleitao1937]

One more quite nice video. However, as already mentioned in a previous video and as visually impaired I only “read” audiobooks. But this has some different challenges from paper books. 1. The first one is the fact of English not being my natives language (even if I’m fluent). It makes my choice harder or just the fact I sometimes miss a lot of details in English-spoken audiobooks. I often try French speaking (one of my native languages), as Portuguese (from Portugal and not Brazil) speaking audiobooks are quite rare. 2. I try to read more than a book at a time. So totally agree with you on that point. For the notes on audiobooks, it’s not that simple. Apart from the features of Audible to bookmark pages, I can’t find any to take notes from audiobooks. Do you?

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you! You know, I actually planned to talk about audiobooks in this very video-but the filming and editing turned out to be a bit of a hectic rush and I didn’t have a chance to go back and add that part in. Hopefully soon. I quite often doodle in my diary while listening to audiobooks and jot down notes there. Or screenshot the place I’m at to go back and relisten and make a note.

[@bart-v]

3:43 Don Quixote is "arguably" the first novel, because it's not the first novel. The tail of Genji is the first novel, but hey, it's not a competition, and both books are masterpieces.

[@brenboothjones]

The Tale (not “tail”, while we are on the theme of accuracy 😉)of Genji crossed my mind while editing but I was a bit rushed and didn’t have time to go back and qualify my blunder. I appreciate you pointing it out though! Thank you.

[@bart-v]

@@brenboothjones Woops! (English is not my mother tongue). Your channel is great, by the way!

[@brenboothjones]

@@bart-v Thank you. I’ll give you a shout-out when I get around to discussing The Tale of Genji on my channel :)

[@brenboothjones]

@@bart-v ps. Your English seems fantastic.

[@hqtravel]

Reading multiple books at once 😅😅

[@brenboothjones]

Highly recommend 👌

[@Noortjestortelder]

Brilliant about Brilliant ;)

[@brenboothjones]

🤍