I have forgotten how to read books

[BabCNesbitt]

I haven’t forgotten how to buy books - I have stacks of them, hard copies and digital, all of which seemed incredibly intriguing before and at the time of buying them. They’re in all genres, classics, recent releases, quick reads, more challenging reads, fiction, non-fiction, poetry. I look at my shelves and I feel slightly oppressed rather than excited by them.

But in the last six months, my attention span has been shot to pieces. A combination of a new but long distance relationship and the UK then US elections has had me glued to my phone for an embarrassing amount of time a day. I miss reading. I miss the way that books feel like a second life I carry around in my head. And I’ve tried the tricks - leave your phone in another room, just read ten pages, just read for ten minutes… none of it works. I’m starting to feel like reading books has gone forever from my life. Has anyone else been through this and rediscovered their love of reading?

Audiobooks have really helped me get back into reading! I use the Libby and BorrowBox apps to get them out of the library.

If I hit a reading slump I go back to an old favorite, to ease me back into the habit. Then I remember how much I love reading and all the unread books that had been making me feel guilty, suddenly seem like treats again!

I'm the same. I did read a book published by a friend recently, a fiction book. It felt great and I promised I'd keep up the habit, but now I'm back to doomscrolling. I really want to read more but I struggle with fiction and I don't want to read any more non fiction about dementia (re my mum) or self help books.

The one thing I have found that helps is books with short chapters.

I'm the same. I think it's about getting out of the habit.
Good suggestion from @ElleMcFearsome to revisit an old favourite, that has worked well for me in the past.
I've lapsed again this year because of having a puppy and being too exhausted to concentrate. I'm trying to ease myself back in by reading Harry Potter for the first time (at age 60😆), despite having a massive TBR pile of adult fiction and non-fiction.

I doubt that reading books has gone forever from your life. You will regain the reading habit.

I've had a similar problem, for some of your reasons. The thing that made me a huge reader also turned me into a doom-scrolling news-addict. It also induced me to do a PhD, which (for me anyway) means reading a lot, but only a chapter of this book, another of that, various articles, and only the occasional book cover to cover.

I decided that this Christmas/Chanukah enough would be enough. I read the latest in a series of police procedurals, and a novella by a new (for me that is - she's very well-known) writer. I'm moving onto another police procedural this evening over cheese, biscuits etc and when that's done, the third in a re-read of a fantasy series. I'll spend tomorrow on my PhD but apart from reading the news at breakfast, I'm limiting my intake.

I can't think of any way to get back into reading as the pleasure it should be other than to just do it. Guilt certainly won't; that's likely to drag you away from, say the 19thc sex and shopping novel you can't put down, in favour of something you think you should be reading instead, eg Dostoevsky. By all means read him if you want to - Demons is great - but not because you think you should.

I had completely lost the art of reading, mainly due to lack of time and being able to lose myself in a book due to interruptions.

I got back in by having a re-read of an old classic, and also by having a short chapter books on a subject I was interested in (page a day stoic philosophy and a gardening by month), there was also a tour of the British isles book with a couple of pages on each area.

Then I just went for short novel books, and then I was flying again and getting through a book over a weekend.

I do have what I call an "emotional support" book pile, so I have a few different genres to hand depending on what I fancy - it's not a to do pile, it's my sweetshop 😁!

I have had this problem since Covid. My concentration was low during lockdown and I have never really got it back. I can read very easy reads (like the Bridgerton series, I read them all last Christmas), but I can't seem to read anything more challenging. I would really like to though. I have to read a lot for work (academic), and it seems that that now uses up all my reading energy.

If i haven't read in a while I always re read a book I have already read and enjoyed. It's always worked for me as there is no pressure to take in every detail as ive already read it and it gets my brain back into the flow again.

I used to read loads, minimum 3 books per week, I worked in a library and effectively had 1st dibs on all the new releases as I could request them as soon as the stock was listed in the catalogue - absolutely loved reading in those days.

I have no idea what happened but I can't read books anymore, I just can't sit still long enough to settle into a good book. I can't concentrate and one book can now take me 2 months to read.

Last book I read was the 1st Richard Osman one, I could not keep up with who all the characters were, couldn't figure out who was who and despite the 100K+ positive reviews on Amazon etc, I'm really at a loss to explain what the book was actually about 😳.

Pretty convinced there's something wrong with my middle aged brain.

No nor at all. I’m at least as addicted to my kindle as my phone.

Ignoring all the unread books piling up around me, I find that sidling up to a book sample on my phone kindle - not with the intention of actually reading it, just glancing at the opening page - can work. Ten minutes of that; bit of MN; bit of Apple TV scrolling; check The Times; twenty mins book; swift diversion to Wordle; bit of Radio 4; wonder how the book characters are getting on …

There might just be something wrong with that book. You can’t believe all the positive reviews. Try a book you have not read by a favourite author.

Following for ideas and inspiration.

For years I used to read a couple of books a week, but got stuck on a really boring one around the start of 2020. I tried for months just reading the occasional page before deleting it from my kindle, but I've not managed to get back into the habit. I tried subscribing to magazines, but they didn't get read either.

There's a pile of books on my bedside table, and at least 60 on my kindle, but I keep ending up scrolling Mumsnet instead. I think I've wrecked my attention span or ability to concentrate.

I hear you! I used to read all the time, then discovered Tiktok. I've promised myself to only read in bed, rather than doom scrolling and it seems to be working. I've also found a couple of books that actually made me want to read them rather than do anything else this week, which has helped enormously (If We Were Villains, and the Song of Achilles if anyone is interested)

I'm going to do Good Reads 2025 book challenge next year. Can't bear the thought of my greatest pleasure in life disappearing because my concentration span is shot due to TikTok.

I don't if I've cured this, but I am improving! Yes, like a PP I used an easy but engrossing childhood favourite to get back into it, did just 5 mins in the bath, but when I got out and did my hair and makeup I listened to the audiobook, carried on in the car and after work while cooking supper, then swapped to the physical book in bed. It brought back that sense of books being as compelling as TikTok.

What happens when you try to read @BabCNesbitt ? Is it that you cannot focus on the words and/or get distracted by other things?
I have experienced the same as you and the one word I kept in my head when trying to get back into reading was 'discipline'. It sounds onerous, and it probably will be, to start with, just like the discipline of keeping up with a training program. Keep trying and trying and eventually you will be able to get back to being the reader you once were.

I think for me it's an age thing, concentration just shot. Never thought I'd like audio books but they're great. Joined a book club recently so I have to read and the variety in the monthly books has helped.

I went through a similar thing earlier this year . In the end, deleting Twitter and reading a batch of children’s books is what saved me.

Or you could try re-reading some old favourites.

It’s more that I’m constantly distracted by “light” reading online, and picking up a book (or listening to one book) and focusing on that one title seems much “heavier”, harder to psych myself up to do. Snatching time in my day for quick skims of MN or online articles feels much easier than bringing my attention back to a book I’ve put down, too. (I do like @Timeforabiscuit’s idea of seeing a pile of books as a sweet shop, though!)

Which children’s books did you get into, @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie? I deleted Twitter, hurrah! And then developed a replacement addiction to Bluesky 🙄

I think it’s also helping that I’m finding Bluesky very boring, so not looking at it much!

really enjoyed a couple of children’s books by Katherine Rundell.

This is the exact issue I'm having.

Things that worked for me:

• setting a target for a yearly challenge (although this can backfire as I purposefully didn't start a long book in November as it would have scuppered my 51 book target!)
• reading during the day, not just at night
• taking a book everywhere and reading on the bus etc rather than pulling out my phone.

I’ve actually set up a reading challenge for myself on Goodreads every year for the last decade or so, and I’ve managed it easily until this year (even when DC were small!) I wonder if something as banal as having a more easily accessible bag (rather than a backpack) would make me more likely to read when out and about - anything that would make reading a book as straightforward as yet another Substack article.

I was also a complete bookworm until the internet came along! Wasting time on my iPad was the big reading killer for me, it is such a distraction. It's taken me two years to really get back into it. I read 19 books in 2023, I should just make it to 40 this year (my target was 35). Going for 50 next year.

You have to find books that are engrossing, and that will vary from person to person. It doesn't have to be great literature, (as a PP says, don't bring negative feelings into it read what you want) but something you can get stuck into and find yourself looking forward to picking up again. Children's favourites are brilliant, I'm reading The Dark is Rising at the moment, and DS just gave me the Moomin books for Christmas!

Set at least one session during the day when you would scrolling and read instead. Try and read in bed, even if it's just for 10 minutes.

I like to have something fairly light on my kindle for bed time, and then another slightly chewier book for daytime.

Dont expect things to change radically, just build up slowly - it's so worth it.