Tips on How to Read Big Books

Reading big books can be a daunting task for any reader or book lover. Whenever I look at some of my bigger books, I want to run and hide. I am a big series reader and most series will have books that get longer and longer with each installment and usually that scares me too. However, I love big books and I cannot lie because I have these handy tips to get any reader through any enormous book! 

Join a Readalong

I read most of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas as the books were coming out. However, I stopped after the fifth book because I was feeling discouraged and couldn’t read anymore. When I started my bookstagram in April, I saw that a fellow bookstagrammer was hosting a readalong to read through the series and I decided to join because I had all the books already and I wanted to finish what I started. 

We read about two books a month and would have weekly zoom meetings discussing the books. We also had a group chat that would be open at any time to discuss the parts we were reading. This was such a great experience where I felt much more motivated to finish the books and I met amazing book lovers like myself. 

Scroll through your bookstagram to see if any of your followers or people you follow are hosting a readalong for one of your big books and join! 

Host or Suggest a Buddy Read

Buddy reads are a little different than a readalong. Buddy reads are usually between two bookstagramers and they mutually decide what they are going to read. If you have been wanting to read a big book for a while, ask one of your friends on bookstagram or outside of Instagram to read it. You can mutually set your own pace for reading the book and you can discuss the book as you read. This is helpful to keep you motivated to keep reading. 

Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Goals 

I have found that if I set daily, weekly, or monthly goals for myself, I am more inclined to finish a big book. Your goals can be set for a certain amount of pages a day or you can do it by chapters. I usually try to do 50 pages a day or maybe 10 chapters, but books are all different so this can change from book to book. 

Highlight or Tab Important Details

I am such a big book tab fan! Most of my books can be seen with a variety of colors of tabs. I usually will tab pages that I loved or that I found were important. This is really helpful if you are going to spend a month or a couple months on a book. If you are reading a book on an e-reader, most of them are capable of bookmarking or highlighting sections as you read. 

Take Notes as You Read

If you don’t want or don’t have tabs or an e-reader, you can always take notes as you read. I will sometimes do this if I plan on writing a review for a big book or I know I will forget something important later. I just bought a small pad of paper and keep it next to me as a read. I don’t always use it, but it’s nice to have it just in case. 

Read Other Small Books as You Read

I was never a big fan of reading more than one book at a time; however, I have found this really helpful when reading a larger book. I will set a daily goal or pages or chapters for a large book and then read a smaller book or an audiobook as well. Sometimes a book is too good to do this with and I will just end up binge reading it, but it is helpful when I’m reading a dense book. 

Big books can be a truly spooky venture. But if you just use one of these tips, you can read anything no matter how long! If you have any other tips on how to read longer books, please comment below! I would love to hear your ideas!