Issue 82: The Reading Life of... Michelle Martin
+ a fascinating method to help you organize your upcoming reading season
When Rumi and I returned from the library this past Saturday, I retreated to indulge my Substack reading habit. Noticing an influx of new subscribers, my first thought was: I'VE BEEN HACKED. After a brief panic, I discovered Coleen Baik of had featured my no-bullshit guide to annotation in her Substack Reads edit. 😳
Coleen wrote:
The thing that I’m also struck by in A reading life is her intentionality around consumption, particularly when it comes to longform fiction. Reading literature requires muscle that I feel has been sadly atrophying among most of us, so it’s refreshing to come across someone bent on going the other way.Â
This unexpected spotlight left me surprised and humiliated. Yes, I'm on Substack longing for an audience (why else share my annotations publicly?), but the terror of new readers stumbling specifically upon my unpolished journal entries (and my greasy journal covers) was overwhelming. As my daughter would say: JESUS CRISIS! 🫣
But - of course – the un-polish was precisely the point. For years, I postponed writing about books (and writing my book, but that’s a different story) - wishing for the perfect moment: more time, better knowledge, a cleaner house, less greasy fingers. The years passed, and longing turned to resentment until I could bear it no longer. I simply began, imperfections and all. Who cares if the cover of my reading journal is stained with hand lotion. I have a reading journal!
So, I am taking a breath. I am so glad that you are ALL here. Especially today, because I get to introduce you to another person who, similar to me, has simply RESOLVED to take her reading seriously.
Michelle Martin writes the wildly popular Substack and below answers some of my very nosey procedural questions about how she choses what to read and how she makes time for reading. I bet you didn’t think that you would see an excel spreadsheet featured prominently in a books newsletter! There’s nothing that I like more than a FRAMEWORK and after reading Michelle’s notes, I feel like I have a new one to test out! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did! P.S. All the gorgeous images included in this posed are Michelle’s work. Every time I land on her Substack, I swear I wish I were reading a book by the sea in Maine.
Tell me a bit about yourself. Are books part of your professional life?
I live on the coast of Maine with my husband and our two cats. We moved here from New York City in 2021 and love it! I’m a lifetime New Englander, so it is nice to be back. I’m an avid reader and a professional photographer. When I’m not doing either of those things, I can be found going to the movies, riding my bike, working on a crossword puzzle, visiting a museum, or crocheting.Â
Books have slowly become part of my professional life over the years. What began as a fun, creative outlet on Instagram in 2018 slowly turned into part-time freelance work and the weekly publication of my Substack.Â
I worked for eight years in higher education before going full-time with my wedding photography business in 2021. While I now consider my photography work my full-time job, my Substack is a part-time professional endeavor since a portion of my income comes from it.Â
What are you reading right now, and how does it make you feel?
I am knee-deep in reading Marian Keyes' Walsh Family series, which follows five sisters from a family in Dublin. I knew I was entering a busy work season, so I was keen to find something that had substance but would feel gentle to escape into.Â
Marian Keyes has been on my "to read" author list for a while, so I gave the first book in the series, Watermelon, a go and absolutely adored it! Each book follows a different sister, and it's been a joy to get to know each one as I've worked my way through the series. I'm now about to start the fifth book. What has struck me is how incredibly funny Keyes' writing is while still tackling hard topics and deeply human emotions and experiences. In many ways, it reminds me of Nora Ephron's romantic comedies.Â
It's making me feel transported back to the 90s. It's comforting. I have less of a desire to be online, and I look forward to any chunk of time throughout the day when I know I'll be able to read a few chapters. It's been an energizing reading experience for me.
I love the idea of reading a series during busy times of life. You immerse yourself into the world of the book once and then allow yourself to be propelled forward by the desire to stay with the characters even longer. My personal favorite series is the Outline Trilogy by Rachel Cusk and I am currently 2 out of 3 for Constance Debre’s trilogie and 1 out of 3 on Deborah Levy’s Living Autobiography.
How do you choose what to read next?
I have a simple tip I discovered a few years ago that I always use to choose what to read next when I'm unsure what I'm in the mood for. I pull 2-3 books from my shelves and read the first ~10 pages of each. Whichever one pulls me in the most is the one I continue with. It works most of the time!
As for planning my reading, I started taking a new approach this summer that worked well for me, and I'll be carrying it into the fall. I was inspired partly by Katy's Summer Reading Program and partly by a concept in Wear It Well (reading life inspiration is everywhere!).
Katy's program has several reflection questions that help you think about what your reading life will look like for the season ahead and plan your to-be-read list from there. Wear It Well has you define your style using three words to help guide your sartorial choices. I loved this idea and applied it to my reading life alongside the insights I got from the reflection questions.
So, for example, this is what my summer reading looked like this summer using this method:
I knew I'd have more time to read because we had a low-key beach vacation on the calendar, and we like to spend weekend days at the beach. I also knew I like to read my Kindle before bed. From there, I knew I would focus on physical and Kindle books for the season. After that, I thought of a few categories of books I wanted to read. I reflected on what I enjoyed reading in summers past and what I wanted more of this year. These fell into a few categories:
Witty summer-set romantic comedies
Novels set by the sea
Novels that are a perfect blend of literary and pleasure
Novels that feature a long, hot summer
I'm a spreadsheet fan, so I entered my categories into a spreadsheet and jotted down a few titles under each category that I was excited about.
This wasn't a prescriptive list; it still allowed for mood reading and discovery. But it helped guide me through the summer months, and you'll see I was pretty successful in enjoying what I read off the list! It felt like a really fulfilling reading season for me. I loved this method and am in the midst of creating a version of it for my fall reading.Â
OK. First, this framework is the best and most unexpected crossover - Katy O. + Allison Bornstein —> LOVE. If you liked this part of Michelle’s responses, boy, do I have a fun surprise for you coming SOON.
Do you have any tips or advice for people who wish they were reading more?
I have many, but the two that have helped me the most are ditching social media on your phone and DNF (Did Not Finish) a book if it's not capturing your attention.Â
When it comes to replacing your scrolling with reading, the key is to find books that truly excite you. Think about what you love watching and then seek out books with a similar feel. Is it 90s romantic comedies? Is it high-brow dramas? Is it obscure indie films? Whatever it is, embrace it! This will make diving into your book more appealing and inspire you to read more.
And if you find yourself not interested in picking up your book, move on to the next one! It's okay not to finish a book if it's not grabbing your attention. It will always be there for you if the interest arises again. Life is too short to read books you aren't enjoying ◡̈
A question for you:
Which of Michelle’s tips and ideas resonated the most with you?
I love her intentionality behind planning for the upcoming TBR season! Finding categories and also thinking about what kind of movies and shows you like to watch. So smart and helpful!!
Reading the first 10 pages in fascinating! I feel like I do this with audiobooks (listen to a couple of chapters to decide) but haven't done it with a physical book.