Have any other former bookworms struggled to read since having children?

[Mrsfrumble]

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!

I think pat of my problem as well is the baby still sleeps in our room so I can't go up and read in bed anymore as it disturbs her, but do miss that feeling of wanting to disappear upstairs early to get back into my book.

Another avid reader here who lost it after having children. I got back into it last year, when my youngest was 3, with the help of the MN 50 book challenge thread. At the beginning of last year I never thought I'd get to 50 (judging by the previous few years) and was so pleased when I managed it.

In fact, that may be the first ever New Year's resolution that I've kept till the end of the year!

Yup. Used to be a book a day person. Since having children (21 years ago!) I really struggle to devote as much time to it as I used to. Sometimes at Christmas, I sit in a corner with my stack of Christmas present books and a mug of mulled wine and immerse myself, but I find it very hard to dip in and out of books and have to re-read things I missed because I was too tired to take it in the first time.

I've kept a book diary for nearly 20 years, my reading remained constant through DD1, DD2 (18 month gap but both good sleepers), then hit a brick wall when DS was born - I read 2 books in the first year of his life. Since he moved out of our bedroom and I went back to work I'm reading again. I always have a book at work and read in my lunch hour, I tend to read a mix of classics and hard to get into books there (because I read a little bit every day it makes it easier to get into something I might not get into at home) and books I'm longing to read at home. So I'm reading an early Wilkie Collins at work and just started The Goldfinch at home. I read when I BF and when I go to bed at night but sometimes in the afternoon when DS naps as well, completely indulgent but necessary!

Kids haven't affected my reading as much as tinterweb has, I piss about on here rather than reading which is silly really.

Have you tried audiobooks? Great to put on in the car, while making dinner, doing the laundry, drifting off to sleep etc.

I have a pile of books by my bed and select carefully from the library, as I hate giving up on a book! I try to go to bed a bit earlier so I can cram plenty of uninterrupted reading time in.

I love books that are slightly creepy rather than full out horror, when the nights start drawing in I would definately recommend Michelle Paver Dark Matter, and Patrick McGrath Asylum.

Am reading the casual vacancy again, really enjoying it as I raced through it before and kept getting the characters muddled up, very similar to Burley Cross (?) post box theft

Save time... read the first page then last page, making up the bit in between.

I found myself reading lots of magazines rather than books when DC were younger, just seemed less...effort, I suppose. Back into books now though!

Wasn't there a John Irving character who only had one child because it interrupted her reading time?

Having been a really quick reader previously I'm now so slow I get really frustrated. My concentration is shot too. I am reading just very, very slowly.

This is so me. Since dd2 was born four years ago, I have really struggled. Lots of things have contributed - tiredness, poor concentration scan (not helped by discovering social media and getting an iPad), depression and writing for a living (not fiction) which means I read as part of research for work.

This means that anything I do read is under huge pressure to be good, otherwise I feel really disappointed. Yes Eat, pray, Love, and The Little Friend, I'm looking at you But I feel so daunted by more difficult hooks, which I would probably enjoy.

evilgiraffe I can recommend using a breastfeeding pillow (I bought a dreamgenii doughnut one in tk maxx just before DD was born and it was one of my best buys). I couldn't be without mine. Baby can feed and you can have both hands free once they're latched on!

I have read lots since DD was born (she's a year old now and I'm still bf). I got a kindle paperwhite for Christmas and I have been reading a lot more since then, as I can read without disturbing baby.

Now DD goes to bed at 7pm, I can spend the evening reading, which is bliss.

Thank God it's not just me. I've always been a six-books-on-the-go-at-once avid reader but since having DS (16m) I've read hardly anything. I broke myself back in gently with some of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, but it's been pretty much those, some Austen, and magazines. I want my brain back!!!

I found it very difficult to read more challenging/literary fiction once I had my son. If it was something I could easily dip in and out of, or something like a crime story where there's a yearning need to KNOW the killer, it was a lot easier to keep going back to it.

I did eventually start reading more again. I joined Goodreads (there is a mumsnet group called The Book Vipers) and a few book groups there, so I'm prompted to read stuff. If I don't want to read the group stuff I just get on with my own things, but recording it all helps me keep track of it and get recommendations etc.

I challenged myself to read 60 books this year (you can set one on Goodreads or even on Mumsnet). I read 40 by June and then have slowed to a crawl - up to 45 now, but I'm 8 months pregnant and really tired in the evening. I won't challenge myself to read nearly as many with a baby, but even just having the challenge helps.

My issue is that when I do have energy I'm trying to do some other hobbies at the moment - when I prioritise reading it gets a lot easier. Or when I'm commuting more, as I always read on the train.

Yes! I can't tell you how ashamed I am that I don't read books, as I have an Oxbridge english degree and what's worse, I actually work in books/publishing. In fact I'm very well-read if you're talking about Chaucer and Shakespeare etc. But when people ask me what I think of Wolf Hall or the latest David Mitchell I'm totally left out.

I have tried but I don't have the time and energy to really get going and get into a book. I can read a page before falling asleep, but then I have to go back and catch up with where I am the next night, so I don't get any further. I often work in the evenings, or enjoy telly with DP if not. The rest of the time, I'm constantly working/busy/on call.

I remember being going travelling before DC and reading huge novels like the Poisonwood Bible in a couple of days, then swapping them with other travellers. It was great. But I need time and a good run at it.

I do read magazines, ranging from Grazia and Homes & Interiors to the slightly more highbrow - New Scientist – because it's bite-sized bits and I can take in some information while having lunch or sitting with the DC after school. Also listen to loads of Radio 4 because I actually crave information going in.

I read loads, although since dd I find myself less patient with fiction and more inclined to read non-fiction. hottoddy, you mention Austen, for example - I've really enjoyed reading books about her, like What Matters in Austen and Jane Austen: A Life in Things.

You do need a certain momentum through books - I sometimes push myself to go fast because if I go slow, I mightn't get back to into a particular book at all.

If someone is looking to get back into reading, I thoroughly recommend Helen Simpson's book of short stories, Hey Yeah Right Get a Life. I don't usually like short stories, but these are funny and poignant stories about early parenthood (and one story even deals with the prospect of starting to get yourself back).

My sil went off broccoli when pregnant and could never eat it again. I'm the same with some books :)

I must admit my reading tastes have become lighter, and I have been drawn by plot more than before. I read less, but I enjoy it just as much.

I've discovered the name for a genre I'm starting to love too: narrative non fiction. Biography, history etc presented as readably as good fiction.

I bloody love books. I look forward to a peaceful retirement full of them. And jigsaws.