Reading life, one evening at a time
Read more by asking less of yourself.
Reading challenges you can actually finish, habits that survive a busy week, and reading nooks that need nothing fancier than a lamp and a chair.
A reading challenge that works like a menu
Pick any three squares this season. You don’t have to clear the card. The point is one book you’d never have picked up on your own.
- 01A novel in translation
- 02A book published the year you were born
- 03Something a friend loved and you’ve avoided
- 04A book under 200 pages
- Free squareReread an old favorite
- 05A pick from the library’s staff shelf
- 06A memoir from outside your line of work
- 07Book one of a series you’ve never started
- 08A story set somewhere you’ve been
Prompts are suggestions, not homework. Swap any square for one of your own.
New on the shelf
All guides- Reading Journal Ideas: 12 Pages and 30 Book PromptsReading journal ideas you’ll keep up with: 12 page ideas, 30 book journal prompts and a digital vs paper table to help you pick a format that fits.
- Book Club Questions: 40 Prompts and a 90-Minute Run OrderBook club questions for any book: 40 open prompts by stage, a 90-minute run order, follow-ups for quiet moments, and ideas for members who didn’t finish.
- How to Annotate a Book: Beginner Guide With a 5-Symbol KeyHow to annotate a book without overthinking it: pick a simple key, mark lightly in pencil, keep library books clean and export ebook highlights.
- Reading Nook Ideas: 12 Checks Before You Buy AnythingReading nook ideas that start with what you own: a one-week trial, a 12-point checklist, light aimed at the page, and fixes for renters and small rooms.
What a reading nook actually needs
Where you read matters more than people admit, and it costs less than you’d think.
- Light at shoulder height
- A lamp beside and slightly behind you, so the page is lit and the screen glare isn’t.
- A chair you can sit in for an hour
- Arms to rest a hardback on beat any designer shape.
- Nothing to charge nearby
- Leave the phone in another room for the first twenty pages. The habit does the rest.
- Somewhere to set the book down
- A small table or a windowsill turns a corner into a place you come back to.
Bookish things, for browsing
One piece for people who’d rather be reading. This shelf is display only and doesn’t take orders.
How the guides are made
Each guide answers one question readers keep asking. A machine-made outline gets the draft started; June rewrites it and looks up every title, publication date and series order in publisher pages and library catalogs. No publisher pays for a spot here.
June Hartley