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Original poster

If your NY resolution was to get back to reading...

30 replies

HighQueenOfTheFarRealm · 04/01/2024 01:28

Have you started a book yet?

I haven't! Not sure why I have such a mental block when I used to adore reading

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 04/01/2024 01:29

Yes, but only because I had a train journey. I don't know why I can't just sit and read a book at home any more.

MrsTaytodarling · 04/01/2024 01:42

Yes! I'm on book 3 of 2024. Find something that will envelop you...

MissMarplesGoddaughter · 04/01/2024 02:02

I went to the library and had a wonderful browse around the bookshelves. I've borrowed 9 books and have just started the first one.

ChodeOfChodHall · 04/01/2024 02:05

I no longer trust public transport, so I tend to drive. I would go via the motorway and listen to music if I am honest.

Xiaoxiong · 04/01/2024 03:20

This was my resolution a couple of years ago and I found three things really helped. I had been an avid reader and covid lockdowns seemed to break my ability to concentrate on a book so I had to kind of rehabilitate myself.

Reading first thing on waking up instead of just before sleeping (which I did as well, but never made much progress as I would fall asleep). This also helps with not scrolling social media and the news and starting my day with a jolt of negative adrenaline. So first thing on waking up I grab my book and read for a bit.

Kindle books on my phone. Not the ideal reading experience but it meant I had something to choose on my phone instead of social media when stuck on a train etc. I have the Libby app too to borrow e-books from my local library.

Audiobooks for reading while doing things that need eyes/hands. I listened to many hours of Dickens last year while doing housework, cooking and walking the dog. (You can even get the ones from audible that tie in with your kindle so you can switch back and forth between them - I don't do this and had two separate books running concurrently on kindle and audiobook but a friend of mine swears by it.)

Hardtodothis · 04/01/2024 03:24

I want to read at least two in January, I am half way through one I started in December which I will be counting as a January book.

I think since SM became to … addictive I’ve really struggled with reading. I’ll read a chapter then pick up my phone when 15 years ago I could read and read and read.

frozendaisy · 04/01/2024 03:30

Start with something short, easy, .light.
You can ask the "what we are reading" board for recommendations.

LadyChilli · 04/01/2024 04:18

No and it's because of my phone. I came to bed with a pot of tea and a book and didn't open the book. I need to get over the phone addiction.

HappyDaze23 · 04/01/2024 04:59

I started with an easy read, the latest Mike Gayle novel. Sometimes I find getting back into reading is a bit like eating when you have no appetite - I have to start with the reading equivalent of a packet crisps and build up to something more substantial and time consuming!

AuntieMarys · 04/01/2024 06:05

I'm about to start book 6 of the year. Granted I've not been well since New Year so I'm making the most of it.
Read 70 last year.

Sleeplessinseattle234 · 04/01/2024 06:17

You have to find a way to read that u like. This was my New Year’s resolution in 2021. And I did struggle. And then I found audiobooks and I haven’t stopped. I get though at least two a week ( I can have my headphones on at work ) and for me it was a game changer.

mickybarrysmum · 04/01/2024 06:21

Iv read 4 books over my Xmas break something I haven't done for ages.
Iv absolutely loved it and can't imagine why I let myself get out of the habit.
Also after joining the online library borrow box I'm now cancelling my kindle unlimited subscription so it's a free hobby 🙌
I'm peri and had a stressful time recently so I'm hoping this rediscovered love of reading continues and my sleep issues will be resolved

Original poster
HighQueenOfTheFarRealm · 04/01/2024 10:01

Well, this is inspiring. So many books already. I'm impressed with any but 6 is amazing.

I have got a book I really want to read. I picked it up over Christmas and it's here, in the living room on the side table where I see it every day. I just have some weird block at the moment.

OP posts:
Sartre · 04/01/2024 10:05

I’m an English lit lecturer so read an awful lot, I have to remind myself of books I’m forcing on my students often so will skim read those each week. It’s rare I get chance to read purely for pleasure as a result, summer and Christmas tend to be my main opportunities. I just finished Chuck Palahniuk’s back catalogue finally after promising a colleague I would a couple of years ago. Great writer.

LandOfDreams · 04/01/2024 10:54

I know what you mean about the mental block. I used to be a huge reader, but basically didn't read a book in six years. Still kept buying books that I wanted to read, by authors that I knew I liked, but somehow just couldn't actually do it.

At the beginning of October, I decided that my new rule was that I must read 2 pages a day. If I was in the mood and wanted to read more, that was fine, but if I didn't feel like it, I only had to read the two pages, but I absolutely couldn't just decide that I wasn't going to do it. (It helped that I started with a book that had very short chapters, so those two pages were actually getting me most of the way through a chapter.)

I think there was only one day that I angrily speed-read the two pages because I really didn't want to, and ended up having to go over them again the day after (with a couple more added in, as I was in a better mood by then!) and the result is I have read every single day for three months now, and am nearly finished my third book. Most days now I read 8-10 pages, as it's become a habit again and I'm enjoying it. So it seems to have worked for me.

SquirrelSoShiny · 04/01/2024 10:58

LandOfDreams · 04/01/2024 10:54

I know what you mean about the mental block. I used to be a huge reader, but basically didn't read a book in six years. Still kept buying books that I wanted to read, by authors that I knew I liked, but somehow just couldn't actually do it.

At the beginning of October, I decided that my new rule was that I must read 2 pages a day. If I was in the mood and wanted to read more, that was fine, but if I didn't feel like it, I only had to read the two pages, but I absolutely couldn't just decide that I wasn't going to do it. (It helped that I started with a book that had very short chapters, so those two pages were actually getting me most of the way through a chapter.)

I think there was only one day that I angrily speed-read the two pages because I really didn't want to, and ended up having to go over them again the day after (with a couple more added in, as I was in a better mood by then!) and the result is I have read every single day for three months now, and am nearly finished my third book. Most days now I read 8-10 pages, as it's become a habit again and I'm enjoying it. So it seems to have worked for me.

This sounds like a great strategy!

bloodyeffinnora · 04/01/2024 10:59

yes, I've started After you'd gone by Maggie O'Farrell, im half way through and it's good. bought a physical book instead of getting on my kindle and it seems to be making me read it more.

TheChosenTwo · 04/01/2024 11:02

I’m aiming to read a book a week.
Totally lost my enthusiasm for it last year as was dealing with a lot but I picked up a couple of books in a second hand book shop last week and am stuck into the first one and quite enjoying it at the moment.
I’ve decided to not switch the tv on at all until 7pm so any free time will be reading - I don’t mind being on my phone as I can put it down and tend not to doom scroll.

stealtheatingtunnocks · 04/01/2024 11:03

I have two I want to read before a feminsit conference in Feb because the authors are speaking. I’ve had their books for ages. Thanks for the thread, I’ll go and open one of them now and put my phone down!

Allthescreens · 04/01/2024 11:09

I love reading! I work in a library, so have access to all the books I could want! But I still find it difficult to actually get into reading sometimes. A mixture of needing a break from work & addiction to my phone, sadly 🙈

Two things really work to get me reading:

  • Reading my Book Club book. The thought that somebody else needs the copy of the book after me & also that I will need to discuss it at the next meeting (although we are not at all strict if people don't manage it).
  • Making an early morning cuppa & bringing it back to bed, leaving my phone downstairs. Sadly only applies on weekends & holidays, but it's very effective!
Couchant · 04/01/2024 11:11

Sartre · 04/01/2024 10:05

I’m an English lit lecturer so read an awful lot, I have to remind myself of books I’m forcing on my students often so will skim read those each week. It’s rare I get chance to read purely for pleasure as a result, summer and Christmas tend to be my main opportunities. I just finished Chuck Palahniuk’s back catalogue finally after promising a colleague I would a couple of years ago. Great writer.

I’m also an academic in Eng. Lit., but I read obsessively all the time as well as for research and teaching texts.

Natsku · 04/01/2024 11:29

HighQueenOfTheFarRealm · 04/01/2024 10:01

Well, this is inspiring. So many books already. I'm impressed with any but 6 is amazing.

I have got a book I really want to read. I picked it up over Christmas and it's here, in the living room on the side table where I see it every day. I just have some weird block at the moment.

I expect once you start reading the block will lift so you need to start it like a chore. Choose a time in advance, set a timer (short to begin with, say 10 or 15 minutes) and read for that time. Once the timer goes off, stop reading as soon as you've finished whatever paragraph you're on and hopefully leave yourself wanting more. Then go do some other, far more boring chore, and perhaps you'll feel the urge to reward yourself by reading a bit more.

beguilingeyes · 04/01/2024 11:37

Every so often I resolve to leave my phone downstairs at night so that I can read, but it never seems to last very long.
If I'm really struggling to get into a book now I will abandon it rather than plodding on. Some books, like Lee Child, I can wizz through in a couple of days.
I have got a mountain of unread books, and hundreds more on my Kindle. The Kindle is perfect for travelling.
I spend way too much time on SM.

Hobnobswantshernameback · 04/01/2024 11:39

I have
DH is a big reader and I used to be so we've formed our own "book club".
we've picked one fiction and one non fiction to start and have agreed that to keep us on task 😂 we will have a book club "meeting" over drinks and dinner in a month.
Fiction this month is The Librarianist
non fiction- Politics on the edge

Latewinter · 04/01/2024 11:58

HighQueenOfTheFarRealm · 04/01/2024 10:01

Well, this is inspiring. So many books already. I'm impressed with any but 6 is amazing.

I have got a book I really want to read. I picked it up over Christmas and it's here, in the living room on the side table where I see it every day. I just have some weird block at the moment.

I would start something else then and come back to it. I get those blocks too. It doesn't mean you won't read it, you'll come back to it, find something that does suit your mood. I'm on book 3 of the year but first two were short. My goal for this year is 175, not counting rereads. Got 100 last year (baby!) and 145 the year before that (pregnancy) but am trying to work my way back up to the 200 a year average I had before kids. Seems dim and distant now 😂

I'm a writer so reading is literally part of my job but I still got a massive reading block after I had my first son. Looking back I think it was less to do with time than not feeling able to face intense emotions from reading, or accidentally read distressing things. So I still read but mostly rereads and very comfortable things. The book that broke this streak for me was Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell which was so distressing - I cried pretty much the whole day reading it - and yet so beautiful that it just broke that tendency in me to only seek comforting things ( not that there's anything wrong with comfort reads but it wasn't making me happy any more.) I think after kids I partly also felt guilty about time and money spent on reading which is stupid because as far as hobbies go it's pretty low maintenance.

All of which is only to say that often a reading block has nothing to do with laziness etc and might be to do with what's going on in your life at the time, and the book you think you want to read isn't always the right one for the moment.