Tools for Reading

If you’re thinking about becoming a more serious reader, either by putting in more time or by more carefully considering whatever you read, there are a few tools that can help. Luckily, you probably have almost all of these already! There is no need to buy anything fancy or extra. But if you want to treat yourself, upgrades from whatever you found lying around the house and pressed into service are always nice.

Notebook and Pen

I am willing to bet you have some very cute, very cool notebooks lying around that you have been saving for some worthy purpose. Now, friend, is the time. Becoming a serious, thoughtful reader is the perfect reason to break into those nice notebooks. On the other hand, I also like to stock up on 10 for $10 college-ruled spiral-bound notebooks during back to school sales. You’ve got choices!

Your notebook does not need to be pristine or meticulously planned. Here are a few things you’ll want to note:

• Quotes from the book, especially if it’s a library book and you can’t write in it. Note the author, book title, and date of publication so you can source it later if you end up using the quote in an essay or something.
• Books that you hear about and want to pick up next time you’re at your friendly local neighborhood bookstore.
• Thoughts about the book you’re reading, or questions you have about it.
• Words you need to look up in a dictionary, including foreign words.

Like the notebook, the pen can be anything. It can be a ballpoint you swiped from a hotel room, or it can be a vacuum-fill fountain pen (my current choice). It can be a rotating selection of colorful gel pens.

You can also keep a pencil handy if you’d like to try writing in the books themselves. You can provide your own marginalia! I love to write in books and have for years. I underline, I star, I NB, I write “Um.” next to things I disagree with. As always, the pencil itself does not matter – wooden or clicky, hard or soft lead. Grab whatever’s handy and upgrade if you like later.

One cheap extra that I have found immensely helpful: a book weight. These suckers hold your place while you take a note or write down a quote. I got mine for $11, I think, on Etsy. They’re everywhere, you can probably make one yourself if you’re crafty, and they work way better than trying to use your phone to hold a book open.

Lap desk

I am using my second secondhand lap desk to write this list. I was given my first by an old coworker, back when I had coworkers, and when that one gave out I replaced it with one from Goodwill. I’ve been eyeing a wooden one online, but it’s spendy.

If you don’t have a lap desk, a nice pillow works. One that’s a little firm is ideal. Throw pillows for the couch are often the right size and density. You can also take a piece of scrap wood from a project, one that’s maybe 12 inches wide and long enough to span the arms of a chair, and sand it until it’s smooth and splinter-free. I have one of those too.

Lighting

It only makes sense to use the lighting available to you. In summer that’s the actual sun, and in winter it’s usually a floor or table lamp. Overhead lights don’t make great reading lights; are they too diffuse? Too far from the page? I’m not sure.

A clip-on book light is nice to have for reading in bed. You could even use it to read on the sofa while your partner or roommate watches a shitty movie. You have no interest in the movie, but you do have interest in the other person, so you share a space and do different things. It’s not for everyone, but it might be for you.

Of course, an e-reader has lights built in, so problem solved.

E-reader

I don’t normally hyphenate e- things, like email, but ereader seems odd, yes? So I’m going with e-reader. This is a Kindle for most people; I switched over to a Kobo a few years ago and like it even better. It’s a personal preference thing.

E-readers are spendy, but they hold so many books. And ebooks are often on sale, so you can pick up best-sellers for cheap. They also work with library ebook lending, like Libby and Overdrive, so you can borrow books from your couch on a Saturday night. I live that book nerd life.

I think physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks all count as reading, for what it’s worth. However, reading on a laptop, tablet, or phone puts just as much strain on my eyeballs as working on a screen, so I try not to read books there too. E-ink is way easier to read, since it doesn’t emit any light of its own.

Headphones

Headphones serve a couple of purposes for the devoted reader. First of all, wearing headphones signals to everyone around you that you cannot hear them and you do not want to hear them. You want to be left alone.

Second, headphones cut down on or even cancel out distracting noises. If you’re getting back into a reading groove, you’ll probably be pulled out of your book by every passing car and every cat meowing. If you’re a more seasoned reader going after some tough, bucket-list texts, you’ll want to minimize those sounds so you can be fully engaged with the material.

Once you have your headphones in place (and it goes without saying, whatever headphones or earbuds you have are fine), you can choose what to listen to. White/pink/brown/whatever noise works for mere sound suppression. Lo-fi hip-hop, jazz, and some classical work. Be careful not to choose music that’s so low-key it makes you sleepy. I also like high-energy music in languages I don’t speak so I don’t start paying attention to the lyrics.

Pets

There’s no need to run out and buy a pet if you don’t already have one or four, but if you do have an animal around, they make excellent reading partners. If you can time your deepest reading sessions for when your cat, dog, rat, or gerbil is sleepiest, they will offer a warm, furry anchor to keep you in your seat. There’s no way you’re going to disturb their nap, so you might as well read the next chapter.