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There was once a time when I would gobble up a book a week. I read voraciously and would spend my afternoons darting my eyes across pages, sometimes on the edge of my seat, and other times weeping. After buying a Macbook Air, though, I started to read less and less. It got to the point where I read maybe a book or so every two months. Now when I try to read, my mind begins to wonder after just one page, and when I do try to bring myself back, everything is just so bland to me. The internet has ruined my ability to pay attention to a book. Books are simply dull to me now Another problem I have is finding the right book. Whether it's the book or it's me, I can't seem to find a genre that I enjoy. Back when I was into reading, I enjoyed fantasy and realistic fiction. Don't get me wrong, I really want to get back into reading. I want to lose myself in the pages of a book and suddenly jerk back into reality at the sound of a car passing by. I want to be emotionally invested in the characters and their conflicts. Yet when I try to read, it's simply too mind-numbing for me to go on. I should also clarify that the last time I was passionate about reading was around 2 years ago. Thanks.
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Feb 15, 2017 04:18
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 12:32 |
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It sounds like you just need to read cooler books
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Feb 15, 2017 04:43
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A human heart posted:It sounds like you just need to read cooler books Yeah probably. Any suggestions? What's the most interesting book you've every read? (don't care about genre.)
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Feb 15, 2017 05:01
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What were you reading when you were devouring books? If it was genre fiction, your brain may have just realized that all of those stories are basically just variations on a theme. Just guessing here. Not to get all "quit being a loving child and read some lit" but that could be the case. It's hard to recommend without knowing anything about your old habits though.
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Feb 15, 2017 05:53
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Zero Karizma posted:What were you reading when you were devouring books? Okay, I'll search around at the library for books then.
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Feb 15, 2017 05:54
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That's not a dismissal. We just need an idea of your tastes before anyone can recommend you something. Otherwise we'll just sit here telling you read Infinite Jest or Goosebumps or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or Ready Player One. That's just not going to help you.
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Feb 15, 2017 06:08
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weab00 posted:Yeah probably. I can't just suggest a book out of the air, i don't really know anything about you so i don't know if books i like would be interesting to you.
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Feb 15, 2017 07:28
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Maybe try short stories a bit, you're less likely to get bogged down and bored with them.
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Feb 15, 2017 13:09
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Give up on reading forever and make me look smarter.
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Feb 15, 2017 19:25
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have you tried manga
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Feb 15, 2017 23:36
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I just finished Seveneves, that's a good book you can try. Fuckin lol if you don't have like 3 books going at once though. OP maybe you're just dumb?
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Feb 16, 2017 04:01
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Zero Karizma posted:That's not a dismissal. We just need an idea of your tastes before anyone can recommend you something. Whatever you do don't read Ready Player One. Such a lovely book. For something fun, if you're cool with vulgarity and horror, go pick up a cheap copy of John Dies At The End. It's a terrible book in a lot of ways, but it's a fun read and entertaining. Otherwise, if you used to enjoy fantasy, get started on a Terry Pratchett bender. His stuff is both hilarious and a very clever lampooning of fantasy tropes you're probably very familiar with. Also, if you've never read them, both Good Omens and American Gods are good reads that are fantasy with modern settings.
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Feb 16, 2017 05:28
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Liquid Communism posted:Whatever you do don't read Ready Player One. Such a lovely book. those recommendations all suck
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Feb 16, 2017 05:38
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Liquid Communism posted:Whatever you do don't read Ready Player One. Such a lovely book. You are a cancer
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Feb 16, 2017 05:54
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A human heart posted:those recommendations all suck You're right. But he's right that Ready Player One sucks too. Everyone is right! 
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Feb 16, 2017 05:59
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I had a similar issue not too long ago... after getting into a period of browsing the web on my phone a lot, I found it hard to concentrate on a real book, couldn't finish a paragraph without my mind wandering and I would get to the end of a page and realize I hadn't taken in anything but the first sentence or two. Good news is that it just took a bit of conscious effort to read and reread for a while to learn to scan/read properly to get back into the groove. My suggestions for interesting reads, in no particular order, all old but great: Dunn's Conundrum, by Stan Lee (no, not that one) Wall of Brass, by Robert Daley (or Man With a Gun) The Color Of Light, by William Goldman (or anything by Goldman) Lethal Gas, by Ron Kurz The Choirboys, by Joseph Wambaugh (or The Onion Field, or almost anything by Wambaugh) All good for different reasons, you'll either like them or you won't... Good luck!
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Feb 16, 2017 07:03
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A human heart posted:those recommendations all suck What's it like to be such a sour fucker that you are incapable of enjoying things? More relevantly, since you're prepared to be an arbiter of taste, what do you recommend? 
Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 09:02 on Feb 16, 2017 |
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Feb 16, 2017 08:47
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Liquid Communism posted:What's it like to be such a sour fucker that you are incapable of enjoying things? I enjoy a wide variety of literature, but i wouldn't recommend children's fantasy and horror books to a guy who has lost interest in reading, and who has said very little about what he might want to read
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Feb 16, 2017 10:23
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Sounds like the spark has gone out of your relationship with reading, op. But fortunately, reigniting that passion might be easier than you expect!!! You need to make TIME for the magic to happen, and that means Date Night, just you and your SO. Clear the decks at work, send the kids away for the night, and tell the neighbours you're going out. Don't forget to turn your phones and computer off - and I mean OFF, not silent! You're going to spend the whole evening with each other - really listening, thinking about them, and replying to them. Have dinner together and then a deep, meaningful conversation on the sofa, maybe with a bottle of nice red to help things along. What happens next might be a night to remember!
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Feb 16, 2017 15:42
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Don't read. Reading is for gay nerds. Hit the gym instead so you can atone for your years of gay nerdery by bullying gay nerd readers. OR Join a book group. I went through a similar thing as your good self and then got dragged along to a book group by a shy chum who didn't want to go alone, and it worked wonders. What whaaaat.
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Feb 16, 2017 15:54
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Try some ergodic literature, like House of Leaves. It can be a little gimmicky but having to work on reading helped me get back into reading.
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Feb 16, 2017 18:35
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Shbobdb posted:ergodic literature please dont use this made-up bullshit term
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Feb 16, 2017 22:42
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Read some Cormac McCarthy.
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Feb 16, 2017 23:18
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The OP, a man with a genuine heartfelt problem - he has lost the spark in his eye for a good book: Can anyone help me in my plight? The Book Barn, a collection of flailing toadmen with no theory of mind: Hello, perhaps you could read house of leaves or this book by terry pratchett
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Feb 17, 2017 00:22
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I'm sure a guy who said he liked fantasy before but has recently been struggling with maintaining focus due to using his computer a lot would hate a fairly light, comedic fantasy as an entry point. Some Murakami would really grab his attention. If this was a standard reccomendation I'd roll my eyes too but something like Pratchett is a good fit for the circumstances, especially since we've got barely anything to go on.
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Feb 17, 2017 01:20
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chernobyl kinsman posted:please dont use this made-up bullshit term all terms are made up 
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Feb 17, 2017 02:50
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rumble in the bunghole posted:I'm sure a guy who said he liked fantasy before but has recently been struggling with maintaining focus due to using his computer a lot would hate a fairly light, comedic fantasy as an entry point. Some Murakami would really grab his attention. (Very sincere voice) Murakami is definitely a big step up from fantasy books
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Feb 17, 2017 03:49
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Ready Player One is a fun book, it is easy to read, and really strikes a chord with a certain type of person. I think its a great recommendation for someone looking to get back into reading. My recommendation would be Ready Player One, maybe check out The Dresden Files, or maybe Mistborn. They key with all of these is that they are relatively easy to get into and establish a wide cast of characters that are all pretty well developed. If reading them doesn't work, I've had a few friends that have gotten back into reading through Audible. Grab a trial and a copy of one of the books that's recommended and give it a shot. You could also look at Graphic Novels -- Transmetropolitan is great, topical, and fully complete. That might get you back into it as well.
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Feb 17, 2017 07:31
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I would really recommend Grief is the Thing With Feathers, I read it recently and was deeply moved by it. It is quite a short read, which might be good for someone trying to get back into reading.
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Feb 17, 2017 19:29
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echidnagirl posted:I would really recommend Grief is the Thing With Feathers, I read it recently and was deeply moved by it. It is quite a short read, which might be good for someone trying to get back into reading. I was thinking short engaging reads as well. They don't tend to bog down and you can quickly hit the tipping point to where you're almost done. I liked Grief, and it's one you can certainly blow through it in an afternoon. A few other thoughts, mostly in the 200-250 page range, these are all books I've found to be quick and engaging, for various reasons, and across a few genres. The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton - A policeman infiltrates a gang of anarchists. Best chase scene ever. Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston - Wall to wall fights, chases, and action. A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson - Hardboiled classic crime novel. Short, mean, and sordid. Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse - British class comedy. Wodehouse is rightly regarded as one of the finest comic writers ever. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - Afro-futurist coming of age in space! story. Hugo award winning novella from last year. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by PK Dick - Classic sci-fi with an android hunter and what it means to be human. Revenge by Yoko Ogawa - Short stories that are interwoven to create a pervasive sense of the macabre. Lady Matador's Hotel by Cristina Garcia - 6 different people's paths cross at a luxury hotel in a small Central American country that hasn't found it's way after a civil war. General Theory of Obvlivion by Jose Agualusa - An agoraphobic woman boards herself into her apartment and watches for 30 years as Angola undergoes a revolution. Beautifully crafted and the best book I read last year. For colored girls who have considered suicide by Ntozake Shange - A linked series of poems meant to be performed about the struggles of women of color. Cannibalism by Bill Schutt - Nonfiction examining cannibalism in the animal kingdom and around the world. 300 pages, but fascinating. There's a little crime, a little action, a little sci-fi, a little mystery, a little horror, a little revolution, some mindless, some literature, some international, some classic, some modern, one play/poem, and one nonfiction. All were pretty quick, compelling reads and I'd be willing to bet something on there would appeal to just about anyone.
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Feb 17, 2017 20:13
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I think the short story suggestion was a good one. It won't require a huge amount of your attention if you're busy with life and whatnot, but still gets you back into the reading groove. One author I'm re-reading right now is Katherine Anne Porter, and she was a rather amazing writer. Wrote one novel, but quite a number of short stories and really mastered the art. Pale Horse, Pale Rider would be my suggestion, and it comprises three short novels in just over two hundred pages.
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Feb 18, 2017 03:49
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Please do not read Ready Player One. It's just... so loving bad. Read literally anything else, read packaging labels and road signs instead
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Feb 18, 2017 04:04
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BloodMusic posted:Ready Player One is a fun book, it is easy to read, and really strikes a chord with a certain type of person
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Feb 18, 2017 05:26
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Read Gödel, Escher, Bach, OP.
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Feb 18, 2017 06:06
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Hooplah posted:Read Gödel, Escher, Bach, OP. If we're going Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas is a way better start as a collection of a metric fuckton of his short essays. At least a few of them will appeal and they don't require that LONG an engagement individually.
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Feb 18, 2017 07:31
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I went through this problem in college OP, and I found the best way to get out of it was to read really dense books where you really have to focus to get the most out of them and read other outside articles about things I might have missed: really make a project out of it. Then again I'm an English Lit major so I genuinely enjoy throwing myself in complex books like that. But the more you have to chew and can engage with a book the more likely you're going to find the spark again.  (The books in particular were Blood Meridian, Infinite Jest and Book of the New Sun, for what it's worth).
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Feb 18, 2017 14:55
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GreyjoyBastard posted:If we're going Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas is a way better start as a collection of a metric fuckton of his short essays. At least a few of them will appeal and they don't require that LONG an engagement individually. I haven't read that one but you're probably right.
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Feb 18, 2017 15:03
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Chard posted:Please do not read Ready Player One. It's just... so loving bad. Read literally anything else, read packaging labels and road signs instead Bruma Shave.
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Feb 18, 2017 15:42
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chernobyl kinsman posted:please dont use this made-up bullshit term What term would you prefer?
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Feb 18, 2017 22:35
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 12:32 |
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Shbobdb posted:What term would you prefer? experimental literature. 'ergodic lit' is an a) an unnecessary neologism, because it improves in little to no way upon the extant term 'experimental lit' and b) very poorly chosen, because ergodicity and ergodic theory are already established terms with meanings long predating the word's (very different) application to lit
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Feb 18, 2017 23:54
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