This has been my number of books read in recent years.

  • 2021: 28 books
  • 2020: 12 books
  • 2019: 35 books
  • 2018: 32 books
  • 2017: 31 books

I have friends who ask me how I manage to read so much. According to El Economista, in Mexico people read an average of 3.8 books a year[1]. I think some of the causes are:

  • Books are not cheap (Although calculated in hours they are, I will talk about it in another post).
  • At school, they do not teach us the value of reading nor do they propose interesting books. No, Don Quixote is not fun nor is it for beginners.
  • In Mexico there are almost no public libraries, and, although I may be wrong, I think it is the same in all Latin America.

I have heard the phrase “I don’t like reading” or “it’s not for me” many times. I think this is a wrong idea. Most of us are not born with a taste for reading. I see it more like going to the gym; many like it from the start but many others (Like me) do not like it, we have to go for weeks, even months, to acquire the taste, but it is done because you know it is an investment. Also like the gym, you must start with small exercises, instead of lifting 100 kg from the first day (Reading Don Quixote or The Divine Comedy) start with little weight, small and/or fun books: Short stories, juvenile literature, or a topic you like, like mystery. For example, I started with Harry Potter and after almost 250 books it continues to be one of my favorites.

Another thing that has served me a lot is setting a reading challenge on Goodreads, the website par excellence for readers. You can keep track of the books you have read, those you want to read, what your friends are reading, and recommendations. Start with a small challenge, maybe about 6 to 8 books per year, that equals one book or 1.5 books every two months. If you subscribe by the way add me as a friend, I would very much like to know what you are reading https://www.goodreads.com/jesusalmaral

How much time should I read a day?

It doesn’t matter, it can be half an hour or ten minutes. The important thing is to do it consistently while you pick up the pace, just like in the gym; sometimes you don’t feel like it but by going at least ten minutes you already feel progress.

Authors that I recommend to start:

  • Detectives: Agatha Christie.
  • Horror: Stephen King, but don’t start with It, it can be Carrie or The Shining.
  • Fantasy: J.K. Rowling or Patrick Rothfuss.
  • Thriller: John Katzenbach (The Analyst) or Eva Sáenz (The Silence of the White City).
  • Short stories: Tales of Love, Madness, and Death by Horacio Quiroga, or stories by Hans Christian Andersen

As for non-fiction books, that will depend on what you want to learn. What I DO recommend is that you intersperse non-fiction books (Finance, psychology, personal improvement, history, etc.) between novel readings because these will teach you many things, although unless you need a particular topic or you like a topic a lot I would put them in a little later when you like recreational reading.

Final Tip

Think of reading as an investment, something that will bear fruit later. Much information is only available through books; it is one more medium that you are missing. Imagine if tomorrow you no longer watched any series, only movies, all the stories and information you would miss. Personally, I attribute at least 20% of my success to reading.

[1] El Economista