How I Read Over 100 Books Last Year How You Can Do Too

I’ve talked about this a few times, but I got back into reading in the past twoish years. It’s been really nice to escape into worlds instead of doom-scrolling on social media; however, lately, I’ve been scrolling through Substack versus my Instagram or TikTok. It’s been so fun to discover new and different writers! I know a lot of you are like, Becca, how is it possible that you read all of these books in one year? Did you process all of them? How did you do it?

Can you teach me how to do it? This post is gonna be full of all the hacks you need to hit your reading goals for 2025. Make sure to share and subscribe for more content like this! For me, listening to audiobooks has been completely life-changing. At least ten or more books that I “read” were audiobooks last year. I just learned how to track audiobooks properly on Storygraph!

I have an NYPL card, and I am also a Spotify premium member, so I have access to them. If you do not have a library card, you need to get one! Not only can an NYPL card give me access to books of all formats, but it can also give me access to a lot of NYC landmarks, and that will be another newsletter. Spotify premium members get 15 free hours of audiobook listening time every single month. Once I realized that was a thing, I started to take advantage of it. A majority of books I’m interested in are 9-11 hours.

If you run out of time, you can top off for an additional fee. This is not sponsored by them, however if Spotify sees this, I would love to work with you! The first book I ever read was Matilda by Roald Dahl. It had been a gift from my grandmother, who used to sleep with a book under her pillow every night. I don’t know if this was her intention, but that story sparked within me a passion for literature that still resonates deeply to this day. I remember reaching the end of Dahl’s story feeling both shocked and betrayed, yet intrigued.

After reading an ending that was completely different from its 1996 film adaptation, nine-year-old me felt overjoyed that she knew a secret only a select few would understand. Thus started my love for literature, my love for worlds, characters, and stories that only readers could truly know and cherish. From then on, I read childhood classics like Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney; then soon moved up to the YA genre, with... The truth is, I read A LOT as a child. The last Divergent book Allegiant had almost 600 pages and I loved every second of it. I especially enjoyed getting to say the magic words in every book-to-film adaptation I watched in theaters: “That was different in the book.” Or, my personal favorite: “The book did it better.”

And then came the stage that every reader DREADS… the infamous reading slump. I don’t think I looked at a single book in two years, and honestly, I didn’t even care to. Books were so far off my mind during this phase of my life. It wasn’t until 2019, during my sophomore year of high school, that I decided to resume this hobby. It was a time when power outages were far too common (although sadly, they still are) in Puerto Rico, and most times, there was nothing to do. So, on one of those mindless days, I picked up a book series that had been collecting dust on my shelf for years: The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

This book series is extremely well known, at least in the YA reader community, and, although my love for it was definitely not immediate, by that sixth and final book I was hooked. After finishing this one, I immediately jumped to its prequel trilogy before starting the sequel series (The Mortal Instruments comprises more than 15 books, and it’s still not over). Once I had finished reading the published books of this world, I needed more, and my love for the written word was reignited. Trips to the bookstore became common again, and for birthdays, graduations, Christmases, and the like, that’s all I asked of my family: books! I say “again” because, like the countless friends and colleagues I’ve spoken to who have also found themselves swept up in the reading renaissance that’s currently reshaping the book industry—the U.S. market is projected to grow from $40.5 billion in 2024 to $51.5 billion by 2030, with audiobooks and ebooks seeing explosive growth—I’d lost the habit somewhere between the demands of a growing career and...

For too long, reading was relegated to vacations—and even then, I’d be lucky to get through a full book. Subscribe to Subscribe to Two Truths.... a newsletter that explores the many truths of motherhood through news round-ups, trend reports, and expert-backed deep dives on topics that matter to moms. To learn more visit twotruths.substack.com But last year, something shifted. Twelve months later, I’ve read over 100 books and listened to countless more on audio.

I sleep better, stress less, have a better work/life balance, and—for the first time in years—have an actual hobby that’s purely for my personal enjoyment. How’d I do it? Call it a perfect storm: I stumbled into the world of BookTok, finally succumbed to the siren call of the Kindle, and I made a few small but strategic lifestyle changes that opened up... Below, I’ve included five of the tactics that helped me make reading a priority (read the other ten on my Substack, Two Truths). Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.

This article was co-authored by Grant Faulkner, MA. Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story, a literary magazine. Grant has published two books on writing and has been published in The New York Times and Writer’s Digest. He co-hosts Write-minded, a weekly podcast on writing and publishing, and has a M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. This article has been viewed 65,434 times.

One hundred books in a year may seem like an impossible accomplishment. Where will you find the time? If you really examine your daily life and your schedule, you’ll probably find that you actually have quite a bit of time that is spent on activities that can easily be turned into reading... If you truly have a passion for reading and want to achieve the goal of at least 100 books in a year, you can definitely do it. "Audiobooks are a great option if you want to read more classics. Shakespeare’s plays, for example, are meant to be performed or read aloud, so audiobooks truly enhance the experience.

Hearing the narrator’s tone of voice and emotional performance also makes the language easier to comprehend and more accessible for a modern audience." As the end of the year approaches, many of us begin writing down our New Year’s resolutions. Among these goals, reading more books often makes the list—but it’s also one of the hardest to accomplish. Why do so many people struggle to reach their reading targets? Let’s break it down and discover practical strategies to help you read over 100 books in just one year. The first reason we fail to meet our reading goals is that the goal itself can feel overwhelming.

For my 2024 resolution, I ambitiously decided to read 100 books. It sounded impossible at first, but I made it happen by breaking the goal into smaller steps. I began by setting a much smaller target: just 10 books. Achieving this felt manageable and gave me the motivation to set another goal of 10 books—and then another. By focusing on incremental progress instead of the big picture, I was able to maintain my momentum and end the year with over 100 books under my belt. A common mistake when setting a reading goal is sticking to one genre, author, or type of book.

To keep things exciting and avoid burnout, explore different genres and styles. Don’t limit yourself to bestsellers or the works of a single writer—give lesser-known books a chance, too. You’d be surprised how much variety can make reading feel like an adventure rather than a chore. March 6, 2022 • Mother Culture • Reading A few years ago, I was sitting around during those strange days between Christmas and New Years (when no one seems to know what day it is) and I saw a friend of mine... My first reaction was–NO WAY–she must have counted picture books or something, because she was in the same stage of life as I was with young kids, pregnant/nursing and homeschooling, etc.

and I had, had the same three books on my nightstand for the last eight months without any progress. But, as I looked over the list of books she had read (which weren’t picture books like I had assumed) and chatted with her about how she did the impossible, I became completely inspired! So inspired, in fact, that I set a goal for myself for the coming year: I was going to read 50 books! I don’t usually set goals for myself unless I feel like they’re actually accomplish-able but even 50 felt like a stretch. Imagine my surprise, when here we sit at the end of the year and I’ve read 100 books! I want to share with you how I did this, what I learned and what some of my favorite books were, and I hope you’ll join me in the future in setting a reading...

In the last two years, I’ve read over 100 books per year. 108 books in 2018 and 110 books in 2019. I love to read, still, sometimes I just don’t want to. If you want to read over 100 books a year, you can’t go months without reading. Therefore, I’ve here outlined the things that help me read consistently and a lot. The easiest way to read more is to read through all the small waiting moments and the time you spend mindlessly scrolling through your phone.

This can be done easily by having a book available at all times. E-books are the solution. You can get e-books from your library or buy them. By having them on your phone, you can make an effort to choose to read whenever you pull it out while riding the train or sitting in a waiting room.You can of course just... But then you might forget it. And it’s an extra thing in your purse, where you probably have your phone on you automatically.

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