To be losing my love of reading?

[opheliacat]

Probably just me being a grumpy cow, but stay with me.

Downloadsd Friend Request by Laura Marshall on my Kindle. Stupid woman accepts friend request from dead person. Why? WHY would you do that? You would say something about sick bastards in the world and block, wouldn't you?

Jojo Moyes The One Plus One. Annoying bint goes to Scotland and comes back.

Sarah Rayner One Moment One Morning. Annoying twats on a train.

Are there any books without a fucking annoying main character?

Move away from that genre. Try something totally different.

Agree with PP, you're reading wrong books ! ;-)

i enjoyed The Power by Naomi Alderman, or get into writers like Margaret Atwood or Donna Tartt, or head for some classic literature from America or latin America.

I loved The Power as well

If you like fairly dark novels then try Monster Love by Carol Topolski

Atwood is a bit too high brow for me!

Definitely change genre.
I used to love "chic lit" Jane Costello, Lindsey Kelk, Jane Green, Sophie Kinsella but it all got mind numbingly predictable and boring.

I decided to try out some psychological thrillers and crime/horror books and I love it. I read far more now. Mo Hayder is my absolute favourite.
I also went back to some books I read as a child like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. It was brilliant reading them as an adult and having a totally different perspective on it.

I haven't read any of those books but your one line reviews made me

Have you ever thought of becoming an alternative book reviewer?

I do have sympathy. I have read a lot of books lately with characters that I cannot root for as they are so unlikeable which can make even a good story difficult to get through as you could not care less whether they live, die, are happy or sad! I think its a trend and eventually will stop! I see it in tv often as well, the main character is awful or cold or distant. I think that's why I watch so many documentaries at the moment

There was a similar thread not long ago, and loads of people agreed with your sentiment opheliacat.

I've been very off fiction for a year or so myself. I just find it really hard to believe in the characters and their fictional world. Fiction bores me or even actively pisses me off. I go through these phases every couple of years .

I tend to abandon fiction in favour of non-fiction during these phases. I like books about history (specifically ancient civilisations), as they fire the imagination without having to take that full leap of imagination, iyswim.

Occasionally I get a complete 'reader's block' phase, and then I retreat to shit TV and funny films.

You're not alone!

Also, I'm aware I'm a snobby bitch, but SO much chicklit and the 'Girl on a Train' genre is just formulaic nonsense.

I go through this. I teach English so read a lot. Sometimes though I get really nook bored - quite often after I have read something brilliant. My friend calls is a book hangover.
I then try something totally different. Quite often teen fiction!
Have just read the gender games series and that was brilliant.

Obviously book bored not nook!

I had readers block, despite being an avid reader in the past, and couldn't finish anything apart from my monthly book club book. I went back to easy but fun reads like Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer, and that eased me back into the whole book reading thing!

The characters and plot are so straightforward that they aren't even vaguely believeable. Crime stresses me out. Murder in 1981 and now shifty Dave is harbouring a dark secret.

I go through fads on reading. I'm currently on magazines atm.
Try bookbub for free books. I've currently got far too many to count waiting to be read in my kindle.

Know what you mean- change genre!
The uncommon life of Alfred Warner in six days by Juliet Conlin was fantastic- I defy anyone not to enjoy that book.
The Power as a pp has said was great.
I haven't read the awfully named 'chicklit ' for a few years now but am conscious that there are quite a few books in that genre that aren't 'chicklit'.
Why it just can't be called popular fiction I don't know.

As I get older my tastes have definitely changed. The classics, things I used to love as a teenager but went off in my twenties (Jilly Cooper - toddler ds went to nursery as Rupert Campbell Black for world book day this year, Georgette Heyer and Agatha Christie type mysteries) and psychological/murder I'm okay with. I can't read chick lit at all right now.

I spend far too much time on pinterest looking at other people's reading lists and as my DM always buys me a load of books for Christmas have requested a weird mish mash of non fiction and murder mysteries/supernatural type stuff.

I've just read ' The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper' by Phaedra Patrick, thought it was excellent! I have also re-read ( for about the 100th time), 'His dark Materials ' trilogy and cried again just like the first time.

Read better books. If you read straight-forward books that are an 'easy read', it's not surprising they are a bit... straight-forward.

Well, yes, but do they have to be so cliched?

Never got into the dark materials thing. I liked the girl's name Lyla when having DD and DH liked it as it is an Oasis song but was warned off on here!

I lost my reading mojo OP. Switched genres from chic lit to some crime stuff. Loved Vera and the Shetland books, the simon serrelair? series and the Tanya French set. Completely reignited my reading mojo.

I alternate between thrillers, chic lit and the odd bit of literary fiction. Have recently started rereading the early Marion Keyes and enjoying that too.

It's so hard to identify books that are actually good on Amazon- I've abandoned loads half way through in the last couple of years. I find that browsing under "literary fiction" rather than just "fiction" or "contemporary fiction" weeds out some, but not all, of the crap. Actually the ones I give up on tend to be not the shit "psychological thrillers", which at least have the advantage of being over in a couple of hours, but the allegedly quality literature that turns out to be mind-numbingly dull.

I just read Reservoir 13 and enjoyed it a lot.

And why are there so many books with titles like "The (adjective)(noun) of (first name)(last name)"? It was never charming, and now it's flat out irritating.

I haven't been able to read fiction since before I went to uni! Just can't get into it anymore!