And how did you overcome it? Was there a book which reignited your passion for reading, or was it a gradual thing?
I was an avid reader from early on, and I used to tear through books. As an adult I always had a novel in my backpack and would read on the bus, the tube, through my lunch-hour at work and in bed into the small hours when I should have been sleeping. If it was a particularly engrossing book I was one of those dozy pedestrians who would wander along the pavement with my nose buried.
Then in 2010 I had a baby, followed by another in 2012, and since then I've... Struggled. I've started so many books, sometimes with plenty of enthusiasm which has fizzled out about half way through. The only books I've managed to get all the way through are The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (not my usual thing, but MIL recommended at as good hospital reading and I was in for 4 days after having DS), Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and collections of short stories by Grace Paley and Alice Munro.
I've started and abandoned so many I can't remember them all. They've included many highly recommended books and some classics like Birdsong, The Poisonwood Bible, Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel and The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. I start a book, enjoy it, then get distracted by children and housework and life and don't pick it up for a few days, and when I do my enthusiasm is just gone.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Will it get better when the children are older and more independent and I'm less knackered? And can you recommend a book that is so amazing and compelling I'll be able to stick with it? I miss my old self. Thanks!
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Have any other former bookworms struggled to read since having children?
66 replies
Mrsfrumble · 28/08/2014 05:23
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