Merry and Pippin do not get enough credit for actually being really smart in numerous situations

I went to a private school until 4th grade, and then I transferred to a public school. At the private school, we were not allowed to read above our grade level, so I would only mainly check out joke books and the I Spy books. Not really books you can read.

When I moved to a public school, as long as it was in the library you could check it out. I picked up my first chapter book. Small Steps by Louis Sachar. This was a sequel to Holes following the character Theodore "Armpit" Johnson. Had I read Holes before reading this book? Nope! (In fact, I wouldn't read Holes until high school for an English class. Don't ask me why, cause I have no idea why 9 year old me would just pick up random books without finding out if they were part of a series.) Anyway, I loved this book so much. It made me realize how much fun it was to read.

So I'm just curious, have you always been a reader? Or is reading a more recent hobby? Do you come from a family of readers?

I do this thing where I always have a "slow read" book on the go alongside whatever I'm actively reading.

It's usually a non-fiction book, a classic, an emotionally draining book, or a book I find challenging (looking at you, The Silmarillion), or just something I know is important to me but feels overwhelming to start.

My rule is that I read one chapter a day. Sometimes more if I'm really into it, or a set number of pages if the chapters are huge. Having the expectation be so small makes it much easier to pick up. (And there's been the odd time I was so into the book I read it quickly!)

I was telling my best friend about this because she'd been wanting to read a book for weeks but couldn't get herself started. And because of this, she was stuck and couldn't read any of her books. She tried the one-chapter-a-day approach and said it helped immediately. Going in knowing she only had to read a small amount made it feel much less overwhelming, and now she's reading two books at once. Her slow read, and another read that she finds exciting.

I honestly thought this was a pretty common thing, but maybe not? The few readers in my life hadn't done this before.

Does anyone else do this? If so, what's your current "slow read" book?

Mine is War Animals by Robin Hutton. It's a non-fiction about hero animal stories during war.