So you want to be a book lover and you’re wondering how to become a bookworm? Or maybe you were a bookworm before, but now you’ve fallen into a reading slump and can’t seem to enjoy books anymore?
It’s easy to say just “read books” and you’ll be a bookworm, but often the reality isn’t as simple or easy as this implies. So if you’re wondering what steps you can take to become a reader, or if it’s even possible to turn yourself into a bookworm now, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you learn how to be a bookworm again or for the first time in your life!
1. Find a Good Place to Read
First up, if you’re wanting to become a bookworm you may find it helpful to find a good place to read. Whether you like reading in the comfort of your home or reading somewhere in public, finding a good reading nook that allows you to concentrate and enjoy the experience of reading is definitely a must!
If you’re looking for ideas, here are some of the best places to read to help you find the perfect environment for reading. You may find you like one or two of the places best, or perhaps you’ll find you like variety.
But giving yourself the chance to make reading feel exciting, new, or comfortable (by reading somewhere fun or cozy) could be exactly what you need to give your new life as a bookworm a boost!
2. Find Books That Make You Excited to Read
Another super important thing to do when trying to become a bookworm is to find books that make reading exciting.
Everyone likes different things when it comes to reading, so you may need to do some experimenting to find what works best for you. Is there a specific genre you like? Or has there ever been a book you’ve really loved? All you need to find first is one book that you love, and then you can delve into that genre or style to help you find other books you’ll be excited to read.
If you’re looking for more tips on how to find books that you will love, check out these tips for how to find good books to read. Finding out what you like and being able to read more of what you like is a great way to increase your motivation to read…after all, if you’re enjoying it, you’re more likely to do more of it!
3. Read Short Books
If you like the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing a book, another easy way to give your reading habit a boost is to read short books.
When you read short books, you first of all have a book to read that feels a lot less daunting to start. Especially when you’re reading a physical copy, the shorter the book the slimmer and lighter it is, which means it feels less intimidating and your brain is much less likely to balk at reading it than at reading a book of normal (or abnormally long) length.
And second of all, reading short books means you get to the end faster. So if you’re motivated by finishing things and that sense of accomplishment, then reading a few short books instead of one long one is likely to be more exciting and motivating.
There are tons of short books out there, but here are some really short classic books to get you started if you’re interested in reading the classics!
4. Track Your Reading
Similarly to the motivation that comes from finishing books, you might also find that the motivation from keeping a list of books you’ve finished reading will help you want to keep reading more. It’s so fun to see your list of finished books grow! And that’s where tracking your reading comes in.
There are lots of different ways to track your reading. You can use spreadsheets, apps, journals, and many other methods to keep track of what you read. Different people prefer different methods, so check out these reading tracker ideas to see what you like best.
5. Find Friends Who Like to Read
Community can also be a really good way to form new habits, and reading habits are no exception. If you want to be more invested in reading books, a great way to help you achieve that is to find friends who are also excited about reading!
These can be friends in real life (maybe you see someone reading at a coffee shop and decide to say hi and become friends), or maybe these are online friends (there are tons of good book communities to join on Facebook or fun BookTok or Bookstagram accounts to follow).
But whether they’re online or IRL friends, having others around you who love books will help keep your interest in reading alive too. Plus, having bookish friends is another great way to find books to read as you can take their advice and book recommendations for what to read next!
6. Join a Book Club
Similarly to having bookish friends, joining a book club is a great way to help yourself become a bookworm.
There are many benefits to joining a book club, but just a few benefits include helping you with reading accountability and growing your love of literature. As you read books alongside a group of other book lovers, you’ll be motivated to stay on track with your reading (so you can discuss the book, and avoid the embarrassment of not having done the reading). You’ll also likely discover new books and new authors you might not otherwise have tried.
So if you’re looking for a community to read together with, look for an online book club or a book club in your local area to help you take that first step toward becoming a full-fledged bookworm.
7. Always Carry a Book With You
When you’re wondering how to be a book lover, it’s important to keep in mind that the accessibility of books in your everyday life can help you read more than you would otherwise. That’s why carrying a book with you is such a great idea!
Carrying a book with you can be as simple as having a book downloaded on your phone or carrying a Kindle with you. It doesn’t have to be complicated or mean lugging around an entire library.
But it can also be pretty simple to carry your current read with you in the car, in a tote, etc. if you prefer reading physical books. (You may want to get a book sleeve if you plan to carry a print book with you. This will help protect your book from damage!).
Having a book with you at all times means you can read in the little in-between moments of your life: waiting in line, during lunch time at work, waiting at a doctor office, etc. While before you may have messed around on social media, having a book means you can pull your book out and read instead. And that’s how you become a bookworm!
8. DNF Books You Don’t Like
Something else that is very important to learn if you’re struggling to be a bookworm is that you can feel free to DNF a book if you aren’t enjoying it.
In the bookworm world, DNF stands for “Did Not Finish” and means, predictably, that you did not finish the book. Sometimes book lovers have a “holier-than-thou” attitude if they don’t DNF many books and instead read everything they started. But especially if you’re just now trying to become a bookworm, this is not a helpful attitude to have.
When trying to become a bookworm, making yourself finish a book that you aren’t enjoying is the quickest way to drag yourself down and find yourself not liking reading. At this stage, we’re really just trying to make sure you enjoy and see the rewards and benefits of reading…so forcing yourself to slog through something you don’t like is not going to help.
There are sometimes, however, perfectly valid reasons to keep reading a book you’re not enjoying. So this guide to when to stop reading a book can help you decide if it’s worth continuing your read or if you should DNF it.
But the point of this part of learning how to be a book addict is just to make sure you know you have the permission and freedom to DNF a book anytime you want to. You can DNF it and pick it back up when you’re back in the mood later, or you can DNF it forever. It’s YOUR reading life, and you can live it however brings you joy.
8. Get a Library Card
Sometimes there are barriers to become a bookworm, and one of those can be money. After all, as much as we’d like to, we don’t always have extra cash on hand to buy more books or ebooks. And in cases like these, library cards are especially helpful!
Getting a library card gives you access to free books, ebooks, audiobooks, and more (depending on your library). When you’re wondering how to become bookworms or avid readers, having access to a free supply of books can help you read more without having to spend more.
This also means you can more easily experiment with new genres or styles that you aren’t sure if you will like, since you can borrow them for free and DNF and return them if you don’t like them. And if you love them, you can always decide to buy them for your home library later!
9. Listen to Audiobooks
Additionally, listening to audiobooks can be a great and easy way to up the number of books you consume.
If time is your enemy when it comes to reading books, then audiobooks are a perfect option as they allow you to multitask. There are so many things you can do while listening to audiobooks, which means you can get chores done, exercise, or even help pass time on your commute while still getting to enjoy reading.
Or, if one of the big obstacles to your becoming a bookworm is that you struggle to actually sit and read words on a page, audiobooks also help with that as you can listen to them and even move around if you want instead of feeling confined to one place and having to read word-by-word off a page.
While reading out of a physical book or ebook is still the most popular way to “be a bookworm”, there are many benefits to supplementing reading time with listening to audiobooks and it’s also a great way to ease you into the world of book lovers if you’re feeling like you need a little help on your way.
10. Set Reading Goals
Setting reading goals is another important step when you’re looking for easy tips on how to become a bookworm. Once you’ve found books you are excited to read and you feel like you’re on your way to being a bookworm, setting reading goals can help you take it to the next level!
There are many different types of reading goals you could set, from reading a set number of books a year, to setting a specific amount of reading time per day, and more. You could even set goals to read a book a week if you’re feeling ambitious!
But whatever goal you choose, simply having a goal can help keep you on track. Especially if you tell others about your goal so you know others will be checking if you reached it!
11. Don’t Be Hard on Yourself
And last but not least, don’t be hard on yourself. While all of the above points are helpful in bringing you along your journey of being a bookworm step by step, it can be easy to become too rigid with yourself and take the joy out of reading.
And when you take the joy out of reading, you’re much less likely to want to read consistently. So it’s important to give yourself some grace if you don’t meet your reading goal, or don’t feel like reading one day, or aren’t able to make it to book club one week.
Yes, being a bookworm is about discipline and making a habit of reading. But it is also about enjoyment, so keep that enjoyment front and center and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a bookworm!
Becoming a Bookworm FAQ
Have more questions about becoming a bookworm? Here are a few of the most frequently asked questions to help get you answers. But if you still have a question not answered here, feel free to leave it in the comments below!
1. What is a bookworm? What makes someone a bookworm?
What makes a bookworm a bookworm? Well, at its simplest, a bookworm is someone who loves and is devoted to reading.
There isn’t any real “bookworm test” that tells us if someone is a bookworm, but you’ll tend to know one when you see them. They’re usually the ones who are devoted to reading, and who might even choose reading over other activities (like preferring to stay home and read some nights instead of going out with friends).
This doesn’t mean bookworms are anti-social, just that they place value on reading and sometimes prefer reading to other activities. You can still be a bookworm and an extrovert who loves spending time with friends!
But if you find that you really love books and reading, you might just discover that you have turned into a bookworm!
2. How many books do you need to read to be a bookworm?
How many books does a bookworm read? There is no specific quantity of books you need to read to be a bookworm.
You don’t have to read 300 books a year or some other randomly chosen number in order to reach some mythical standard to be able to call yourself a bookworm. All you need to do is love reading and be devoted to books.
When you’re just starting out as a bookworm, you may find you read fewer books than other bookworms you know. But as you get more into the realm of book lovers, you’ll likely find you read more and more. And you may even like to set yourself a reading goal, to read a book a week or more!
But as long as you’re enjoying reading and do it frequently, you don’t need to reach any goals made up by others of specific numbers of books to read unless YOU’RE the one setting that goal and want it for yourself.
3. Is it good to be a bookworm?
Is being a bookworm a good thing? How does being a bookworm help?
Well, there are many benefits of reading…including expanding your knowledge, improving memory function, improving focus, and much more.
Being a bookworm is also just plain fun if you’re reading books you like! And it can help you find friends and a community, as it’s easier to make new friends if you have something in common…so having a hobby like reading can be a good place to start if you want to make new friends.
So overall, there are many benefits to reading and many reasons why it is a good thing to be a bookworm.
4. Is it bad to be a bookworm?
While there are many reasons being a bookworm is good, is it also sometimes bad to be a bookworm?
The answer to this is that yes, it can be. If you’re reading books to the exclusion of everything else in your life, or if reading books and being a bookworm means you’re turning into a hermit, then it may be a bad thing to be a bookworm.
Life is all about moderation and balance, so if you’re a bookworm that is neglecting other areas of your life then it’s time to expand your circle and maybe even find a new hobby or find people to share your love of reading with.
But in general, the benefits of reading outweigh the detriments so being a bookworm is overall usually a good thing.
5. Is it too late to become a bookworm?
No, it’s never too late to become a bookworm! No matter how old or young you are, there is always still time to learn to love books!
Follow the ideas and steps above to discover what works best for helping you to become a bookworm, and you’ll be on your way to being a bookworm no matter what age you are!