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Reading has lots of benefits. I’ve always been an avid reader since young, and I strongly believe that reading taught me a lot about life.

Reading fiction has been proven to foster empathy and improving social skills. It has brought me to places I’ve never been to and transported me to different time periods, no need for a Time Machine. Reading also fixed my short attention span.

I’m selective with reading non-fiction because sometimes these books can be quite trashy (How to Travel by The School of Life, I am looking at you)

If you’ve been wanting to pick up reading or to read more, here are 3 tips that helped me:

1. Read something that interests you

Duh. No one really starts out reading Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, or Tolstoy right?! Unless you’re being forced by your lit teacher back in the day.

If you love cheesy romance novels, go for it! There’s no shame in reading Colleen Hoover or Jodi Picoult. Book snobs may judge you but honestly who cares so long as you enjoy what you read.

One way to find out what you may possibly like to read is by observing the sort of shows you like to watch. You’ll likely enjoy similar genres.

2. Bring a book everywhere

If you’re scrolling TikTok on the toilet bowl, maybe bring a book instead? Just be extra careful not to wet the book and to keep it clean ykwim...

I used to do this when I was younger. Also just be careful not to sit too long on the throne

The best thing I did was to bring a book every day to read during my commute. You can get a lot of reading done even if it is just a 30 min train ride. Beats mindless scrolling on social media!

3. Get a kobo

Optional, but I HIGHLY recommend!

I own a Kobo Clara and I picked it because it imitates paper. I LOVE it so much and it changed my reading habits so drastically.

It’s so compact and light and like I mentioned in point 2, I read while Im travelling, and my kobo is so easy to bring along. I used to carry books with me but books can get bulky and heavy. My kobo fits in my bag (even the tiny handbags) and has a good battery life. I don’t even know how long it takes to drain because I don’t even need to charge it that often. I also feel like I’m bring an entire library out with me so I can have options depending on my reading mood.

There’s also an in-built dictionary which I love! I just gotta long press on a word and the definition pops up. I can also easily highlight portions and revisit them later on (I usually take notes after I read)

The other benefit was that I could “preview” digital books before buying the hard copy.

Physical books are expensive and I’ve spent a ton on them. I no longer buy physical books unless:

- Ive read at least 1/4 of the digital version and I that I love it so much that I want a physical copy as keepsake (e.g. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder)

- It is a serious, difficult read and the digital version just doesn’t cut it (e.g. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara)

- It is a book that I feel the need to annotate on (e.g. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath - gosh this is GOOD STUFF. I thought this was so much better than The Bell Jar)

Kobo sometimes messes up portions of a book’s formatting in order to accommodate to its screen size. These are usually tiny chunks and are still readable so I don’t really mind. It just gives you a different experience from what’s been intended on the physical copy. This happens more often with pdf so I usually just make sure that I get the .epub file.

I picked a Kobo over a Kindle because a Kindle is more limiting. Kindles can only be used within the Amazon ecosystem (Kindle DRM). You can only read a kindle ebook on a kindle or the app and nowhere else. Which means that your book will no longer be yours if you lose your kindle or if the company shuts down! Some people go through the trouble of removing DRM using Calibre but Im too lazy for that.

A kobo on the other hand can read most formats and there’s no such limitation.

I’ve linked Kobo Clara on my shopee collection if you’re interested in checking out the specs - I got mine from Challenger a few years ago because ✨instant gratification✨

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Since you’re here, check out my other posts on reading / books:

3 books i could not stop reading

3 highly raved books i did not enjoy

3 books that made me go WTF did i just read

Books i read in jan 2024

#Postin3 #BookReview #books #kobo #kobo clara #reading #readingrecommendations