How to Read More: Four Easy Tips

First, you need a good reading chair

Instead of wishing I read more (NYE resolution for the last 100 years), I actually have been reading more. I read 44 books in 2024 and 34 in 2025. Impressive numbers I am certain I have never before attained, including in college while I was acquiring degrees in journalism and English literature. 

I plowed through Yesteryear last week, finishing it in a few days. (I was hooked.) So I've tried to capture how I "did" all this reading so my future self cannot make excuses. 

1. The Kindle Paperwhite — Lil boo thang. 

Getting the Paperwhite was a huge game changer. It kickstarted my reading habit in a way physical books hadn't. It's so much more convenient than a physical book in a way that I cannot explain, though part of that is the ability to get books from the library stat. 

That hasn't stopped me from buying physical books, but I buy way fewer, and I do buy "trophy copies" of the books I read on my Kindle that I love and want to a copy of. I still have 400+ physical books and I love them too, but I like reading some of them on the Kindle. Crazy. 

2. The Cincinnati Public Library and Libby— ILYSM, queens. 

It's like a shot clock above my head. Libby giveth and Libby taketh away. And that is motivating. Also, did you know many Ohio libraries have reciprocity, so you can get cards from various libraries with your CHPL card? I have about six library cards on my Libby account, so if one library has a super long wait or doesn't have the book I want, it's likely one of the other libraries has a shorter wait time or the book. 

3. A reading nook/reading chair — A seat of own's own. 

I've also become being less precious about where/when I am reading. I read at the kitchen table while eating, sitting on the back porch, etc., whereas before I felt like I had to be in a certain headspace to capital R Read. Nonsense. Anywhere, anytime works great, but having a space to devote more time to it is wonderful, and I love this little corner of our light-filled dining room. 

4. Audiobooks — Speak to me.

Before Libby, I rarely listened to audiobooks, and then only during long trips. But now that I can get pretty much whatever I want via the library, I've found that having an audiobook and a "reading" book at the same time is perfect. 

I typically do memoirs on audio since they are easier to follow and often shorter, so I can listen when I'm cooking, painting, driving, etc. Then I devote reading time to the book-book. I put up big numbers this way. 

Somewhere a river of happiness flows

We'll sit on the bank while the warm breezes blow.

My heartbreak over losing Dolly Parton last week was made better only by reading the heartfelt, powerful tributes to her from all around the world. I feel lucky that I got to share the same time and space with her. 

Pride was a riot

This morning I shipped off 11 envelopes full of tiny pride art, some for friends, some for strangers. One of the strangers was a woman who runs a FLAG (Free Little Art Gallery) in Georgia. She needed pride art to fill her FLAG for the month, so I sent her myriad cards to help stock it. 

Remember kids, the first pride was a riot. Don't be afraid to flip over a table or sock someone's jaw if anyone insults your queer friends or family. I got your bail money. 🌈

A moment for the lashes

 

It Was (Previously) Valentine’s Day

Hi. No, you did not drop acid, my handwriting sucks. 

It seems I can only keep my painting mojo during a holiday or theme — Christmas, Valentine’s Day, spring, etc. 

I need a project. Dolly Parton has some ideas, specifically bird paintings.

Speaking of birds, I recently watched A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching, a two-hour doc on YouTube about "big years" in bird watching, i.e. trying to see as many birds in one year as possible. It's an ad-free, AI-free sheer delight by two twenty-something brothers. 

I smiled nearly the entire time at the joy, humor and perfect balance between reverent and irreverent. 10/10, no notes.

"I'd walk through a brick wall for that bird." Quentin 

Here is the full doc.

 

This Gun’s for Hire

We’ve been going to Elk Creek whenever the weather is nice. I got this sweatshirt so I could feel legit while I push the button and keep score. ‘PULL!’ 

It’s like wearing the band tee to the concert. 

Never forget - Ungrateful Cat

 

The speculation around the "meaning" of this went on for weeks. I asked anyone who would listen. 

There probably was no meaning other than the sender thought it was funny. That was 11 years ago. So, was there meaning? I believe I sent something back. But I can't remember what. 

Steal Like An Artist? Done. ✔️

HomeGoods called this painting "Coastal Views". I am naming mine "HomeGoods."

My plan is to sneak my recreation into my friend's house the next time I am there and see if she notices.

My First Spent Watercolor Paint 🫡

Good job Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Deep. You made stunning sunsets and florals.

It's Getting Serious

Dick Blick and I are in a serious situationship. Dolly Parton, my attorney, prefers the box to the supplies though. 

Technically, I Get My Peaches from Kroger

But they probably come from Georgia. 

Watercolor > gouache > colored pencils. Layers folks, like an onion. 

Water, Water, Every Where

I’ve been testing out the creme de la crème of watercolor paper, Arches 100% cotton. It’s so expensive my credit card sent me an alert for a high priced item. Jk jk. But it is pretty pricey for… paper.

At first I wasn’t a fan. Give me the cheap cellulose or wood based paper. But I’ve discovered it’s meant for true watercolorists, those who saturate with water more freely. Knowing that, I like it better and we’ve developed a mutual admiration. Each supply and medium has its own personality. You just have to get to know it on its terms.

Ray made me these watercolor sketchbooks from the Arches pad so I’d feel better about using the ‘good’ stuff instead of worrying I needed to paint a masterpiece with it and not using it at all. He was excited to try book binding so it was a win-win.

Title inspo, Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 

 

More is more 🌈

Collect all the paints and pigments is my motto. Hence getting this Himi gouache set, which I definitely didn’t need but had to have so could swish little toothpicks around in the paint.

I learned that gouache is harder than acrylic or watercolor, at least for me. The gouache tulip tried to kill me. 

 

Your Move, Pizza Hut

This photo is blurry because it's from a larger image, but the real painting is perfection. 

 

UPDATE: The Pizza Hut social media gurus saw my tag of this on Instagram and sent me a code for a free large pizza. Not even a personal pan, a large. This is my path to artistic freedom... I will chain restaurant paint my way to fame. 

I've read nearly 20 books thus far in 2025, Pizza Hut, which I feel strongly is more than enough for a free personal pan pizza. Ya'll did me dirty as a kid because I'd never heard of Book It, otherwise I'd have been aglow in greasy, cheesy pizzas, so it's time you all do right by me. 

If that isn't enough — but let's be clear, it's more than enough — I also painted the iconic Pizza Hut Tiffany-style stained glass lampshade. I can see it in my mind's eye, hanging above a vinyl red booth along the windows at the Pizza Hut in Marion, Indiana, casting the red plastic drink tumblers aglow. 

I painted this as a surprise for a friend who met her husband while they both worked at Pizza Hut in college. He was her manager. Scandalous. 

If I don't hear back from you soon, I'll assume you are sending me a lifetime supply of free breadsticks. (Those breadsticks slap.)

Happy Cinco de… Seis?

I am day late on the Cinco de Mayo festivities, but I did paint this margarita late last night. She’s gone to a friend or else I’d add some more detail to the lime. She still cute tho.🍋‍🟩

 

April Showers... May Flowers

The vase is probably my favorite of the florals I painted in late winter/early spring for family and friends, but it took forever to paint. 

Blue and white pottery has been catching the eye for all of antiquity, so no wonder it resonates the most. It's probably been ingrained in me over the of course many lifetimes/through ancient DNA. 

The leaves are... not great. But I love it anyway.

Many of the postcards went to the Love For Our Elders organization, which I discovered through a work volunteer event. It's very simple... you write a handwritten note/letter to an elder who's been nominated to receive happy mail. So if I ever become a famous painter, my first paintings belong to people I found through volunteering. 

I also really love the California poppies. 

Can I Call You Rose?

Can I call you rose? No? How about I send you one instead? My stack of watercolor postcards is dwindling. This is what I have left of the spring florals.

How it started.

My Top 11 Reads of 2024

Chuck Norris and Dolly Parton have read all the books. They think they're ok. 

Impossibly, I read 44 books this year. I don't think I've ever read that many books, except for maybe when I was tearing through Sweet Valley High books in middle school. And even then, doubtful. 

Here are my reviews of all 44. And here are my top 11 reads from the last year. 

The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

David Grann

When I tell you I spent a weeks in the throes of starvation and scurvy, with this book, I mean it. Grann is masterful in The Wager, taking a long-forgotten seafaring story of misery — shipwrecks, starvation, scurvy — and shaping it into a well-written thriller.

Charlie Hustle

The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

Keith O’Brien 

I loved this book. And I love a good sports argument. And there are few as great as an argument about Pete Rose. I bullied multiple people into reading it.

And this one belongs to Keith O'Brien... and Pete Rose.

There is No Ethan

How Three Women Caught America’s Biggest Catfish

Anna Akbari

Jaw dropping. I couldn't put this one down.

More than being a story of a catfisher, which is insane and compelling in and of itself, it's also about justice. I love Akbar for taking no prisoners.

Beautiful Country

A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood

Qian Julie Wang

Profound and emotional, hopeful and heartbreaking.

The free school lunches, the public schools and public libraries. (We are all so lucky.) There is also a lot of humor, joy and love in this book. It is an American story above all, the good and the bad. 

Travels with Charley

John Steinbeck

Magical and funny, a treasure of a road book with thoughtful, sly and amusing observations.

I spent weeks on the road in Rocinante with Steinbeck and Charley, the big poodle, traveling the byways of the United States. I felt very much at home in their company, letting Steinbeck illuminate the landscape. I trusted his steady hand at the wheel in the slashing rain and enjoyed the strangers (mostly) we found along the way. I hardly wanted it to end. 

Challenger

Adam Higginbotham

By the time I got to the Challenger disaster, I could hardly stand it. My jaw was in a perpetual state of clenched. The endless mishaps. The refusal to accept good counsel. It’s a wonder anyone on any Shuttle mission made it back alive give the endless compromises, funding cuts and general chaos.


This book is so well done that even knowing the fate of the launch, I felt like I was there, that I could jump into the conference rooms and force them to hear, to listen. 

An absolute page-turner.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

George Saunders

Illuminating, thoughtful and often funny. Many times I laughed out loud and even cried laughing.
He is funny and wise, pointing out what we should notice, or at least what he noticed. Saunders is a great guide, helping us uncover some of the mystery of Russian literature. 




North Woods

Daniel Mason

Four hundred years of existing in this novel and its strange inhabitants and I didn’t want it to end.

Tuly an imaginative, magical book. Atmospheric and occasionally dark, eerie and shockingly scary, in a funny kind of way.

Speak, Memory

Vladimir Nabokov

A book of poetry told in prose. I highlighted so much of it because so much of it is beautiful.

It is a long, vivid poem to the flora and fauna of Russia. He writes with such affection and eloquence about his family, Russia, and the woods and forests and butterfly hunting. 

Crossing to Safety

Wallace Stegner

There is a quiet lyricism to this book reminiscent of John Williams’s book 'Stoner', one of my favorite books of all time (a million stars). This book reminded of that kind of writing.

The voice, tone, and pacing are so good. A remarkable (or unremarkable story), beautifully written.

The God of the Woods

Liz Moore

The writing is immersive, the plot is an expertly paced, slow-burner and I found it a wholly enthralling.

Moore pulls off a grandiose confidence in her characters. She has the audacity to posit that these female character(s) could persevere. And I believe her, and I believe in them. 

A Partner's Crime

Randy and Brandon Stone

In other book news of the year, my friend Randy Stone and his son published A Partner's Crime, a total page-turner. The action ratchets up chapter-after-chapter and I was so impressed with this debut novel, I wrote a review of it for the published version. A first for me as well!