During the summer between third and fourth grade, I read the entire Harry Potter series. As an adult, that feat I performed, devouring those 4,224 pages in three months with ease and excitement, sounds impossible. Reading is easy with zero responsibilities and no Netflix account. In face of that, however, I was determined to get through my to-be-read pile this summer, and to read for fun again despite working a full-time job. I managed to read six books. If you’ve been wanting to read can’t seem to juggle it along with your homework or internship, here are some tips for reading more:

Grammy Award-Winning Books

The 2018 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album was the audiobook for Carrie Fisher’s memoir, “The Princess Diarist.” Just like a Grammy doesn’t always mean music, reading doesn’t always mean “reading”; with a busy schedule, multi-tasking is a must. That’s where audiobooks come in. Instead of listening to music on your morning commute, listen to an audiobook.  You can “read” when you’re walking to the grocery store, or when you’re rushing to class and can’t stand to talk to people on the elevator. You can time your workout intervals to chapters instead of songs at the gym. Listening to an audiobook is the perfect activity to occupy your brain while you’re being productive like doing the dishes or folding laundry. If you’re a fan of podcasts, audiobooks are a must-try.

An easy way to access audiobooks is via Audible.com, a service free with Amazon Prime, and you can use your Fordham email for a discount. My favorite audiobooks are the “Six of Crows” and “Crooked Kingdom” duology by Leigh Bardugo, narrated by a full cast of voice actors for each different point-of-view.

There’s an App for That

The most effective way to read more is to make reading as easy and accessible as possible. Use technology to your advantage. Luckily, there are several apps for that. The most well known e-book apps are Kindle and iBooks. You can purchase e-books from either Amazon or the iTunes store and read digitally without needing to carry a bulky book. However, you still have to buy the books, and it can get a little pricey. My reading app of choice is Overdrive. Overdrive lets you connect to a library and access all e-books and audiobooks in that library system’s online database for free. I connected my hometown library card as well as my New York Public Library account, and now I have access to thousands of free books to read and listen to right on my smartphone.

After you’ve downloaded and read the entire “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy, you can track the books you’ve read on the Goodreads app. There, you can add books to different “bookshelves” like Want to Read, Currently Reading and Read as well as set yearly Reading Challenge goals, rate books and find recommendations. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb because you’re too busy reading.

Swipe Instead of Scroll

Have you ever been scrolling through your Instagram Explore page or your Twitter feed, and suddenly it’s hours later and you’ve done absolutely nothing with your evening? You weren’t doing homework or anything productive so you could’ve spent that time reading. Place your reading apps where you usually keep your social media apps. Then, you’ll notice when you subconsciously go to click on Instagram, now Overdrive is there. This will make you more aware of mindless scrolling. Now that you have tons of free e-books on your phone, there’s no excuse to scroll through your ex’s Twitter likes over and over again when you can instead swipe through Kindle pages.

Set a reminder in your calendar app or add an alarm to schedule time to read into your day. It can be as easy as reading one chapter when you wake up in the morning or reading for 10 minutes before you go to bed. You can bring a book with you and read on the Plaza in between your 10 a.m. and your 1 p.m. class. Make it as easy for yourself to be successful by always having a book on your nightstand or making sure you have an e-book or audiobook downloaded on your phone.

Make it Fun

What’s the most important rule at summer camp and in life? Have fun! You’re already reading thirty pages of Kant for philosophy class, don’t force yourself to read what you don’t want to. You don’t have to pick up or even finish a book just because it’s #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List. If you want to reread “Twilight,” reread it. Go to a bookstore and pick up that new romance novel because its cover was pretty. Some days your eyes will just be too tired to read more words after studying for five hours straight in the library and you truly just need to go brainless and binge-watch “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Do it. But then, be sure to pick up that book that you’ve had since sophomore year of high school and read it.

Now that you’re a reading expert, check out which books Rams read this summer!