Chris Barker

Today, I broke my reading target for 2026 by finishing 100 books. Statistically, I should finish about 150 books by the end of year.¹

This is the first time I have set an explicit reading goal. Before 2026, I estimate that I read 50+ books per year as an adult, and maybe 100 before the age of 18.²

Many people struggle to find the space for reading because of a combination of stress, lack of time, and distractions.

This post is a list of ways I have avoided those issues with my reading habits, which I hope will also serve as a handy guide on how to read a lot of books in a year.

1. Have a goal

Having an explicit goal of reading 100 books this year actually helped me focus. Seeing the progress bar on StoryGraph advance every week also gave me a little dopamine rush.

2. Don’t strain your brain

I read classic literature this year- Ulysses and The Brothers Karamazov were the heaviest- but I also broke it up with lighter stuff like PG Woodhouse, Agatha Christie, Stephen King, short story collections, and occasional YA novels.

The classics- particularly the ones written before the early twentieth century- require a fair amount of mental effort to enjoy, because you need to get your brain on the same wavelength as writers from that time period. Trying to consume nothing but 18^th and 19^th century novels is a recipe for giving up reading, unless you happen to be a literature professor.

Always remember, it’s fine to take a break and read something lighter.

3.Dip into short stories

An extension of the above- whenever your attention is wandering from your current novel, it is helpful to dip into an enjoyable short story for a while.

I have all of Stephen King’s collections from the 1970s and 1980s on my Kindle. I find that if reading experimental fiction from the early 1920s is becoming tiring, a couple of stories from Night Shift is quite restorative. It’s the equivalent of watching a B-movie full of giant rats coming out of the woodwork.³

4.Pad your stats

Ain’t no rule that novellas and graphic novels⁴ don’t count as books. Just saying.

5.Don’t be afraid to fail

According to Storygraph, I started Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude on 30 January 2026. It is still listed amongst the books I am technically ‘reading’ at the moment.

More like ‘over one hundred days trying to finish this book in solitude,’ amirite.

I know I will complete the book at some point, but if I don’t feel like reading it, I will just wait for the moment when it does feel right.

6.Take your Kindle wherever you go

This is the most important way my reading habits have changed in the last two years.

I have written about the benefits of owning a Kindle or other e-reader, and I cannot stress enough how much of a game changer it is to be able to carry hundreds of books and short stories in your pocket.

I use public transport in London, and frequently visit my parents who live multiple hours’ drive away.⁵ That means there are often periods of an hour or more when I would normally be scrolling my phone. Because I bring my Kindle everywhere, I can read a book instead. Approximately half of my reading takes place on public transport or in the car.

An e-reader’s advantages:

1. Carries thousands of books/short stories (unlike a phone or physical book).
2. No distractions (unlike a phone).
3. Very long battery life (unlike a phone).
4. Fits into coat pocket/small bag (unlike most paper books).
5. Can be read in the dark (unlike paper books).

About a third of my books read this year were physical, but the Kindle has been crucial for boosting my reading because of sheer convenience.

7.Have fun

Reading should be a joyful experience. If you aren’t having fun, something is wrong with your reading habits.

Some of my favourite moments of 2026 have been spent with books: the bleak horror of The Terror, the understated, heartbreaking power of The Remains of The Day, or the sheer one-of-a-kind wtfness of House of Leaves.⁶

We should read varied authors, in varied genres, and most importantly, books we enjoy and find compelling.

Final notes

Reading is an introverted activity, and one which is sometimes difficult to make time for, or even discuss, when it competes with so many other demands on our attention.

It is still one of most interesting and most mentally enriching hobbies, and one which is open to almost anyone. Crucially, reading is active– books require interpretation and mental effort, and aren’t simply experienced, as with physical media.

They give us the only real insight we will ever get into the mysterious few inches inside someone’s skull. They are direct access to someone’s thoughts and feelings- someone born hundreds of years ago, in a different country, with a different gender, a different personality.

Have fun, find good books, and keep reading.

(How many books have you read this year, and do you wish you had read more? Let me know in the comments).

1. Unless I try to re-read Ulysses again, or something. ↩︎
2. Before I owned a smartphone and had, like, responsibilities and work and stuff. ↩︎
3. James Herbert also wrote some novels where giant rats come out of the woodwork, two of which I happened to read this year. Don’t judge me. The first one is actually good. ↩︎
4. To be fair I only have three of these in my list! ↩︎
5. Me and my wife split the driving 50:50, so on a four-hour trip that’s up to two hours reading. Although with the time spent amusing the toddler, more like 30 minutes reading. ↩︎
6. Which I have not finished, and will not finish until my hand-held mirror arrives. Which is the only spoiler I will give about the book. ↩︎