Something to help me get back into reading ‘proper’ books

[helpmeCalifornia]

I used to be such an avid reader. Under another name was a regular on the 50 book threads, and from childhood onwards was basically never without a book in my hands. I read it all, plenty of lighter ‘beach read’ types but also the classics, selections from the Booker and Women’s prize lists, non-fiction and biography etc etc.

The rot set in when I was pregnant really, I couldn’t get through so much as a recipe without my mind wandering. I’ve made occasional attempts to get back into reading and sometimes managed it for a time but I keep drifting away. My child is nearly 5 (and still doesn’t bloody sleep but that’s by the by) and I really want to rediscover this part of the old me, but my attention span is absolutely shot to shit and nothing grabs me at all. I’m also probably perimenopausal and the brain fog and memory lapses are real.

I’ve developed a slightly embarrassing porn romance habit, reading truly awful free billionaire type romances that are free on kindle unlimited, but I’ve not read anything with the slightest hint of literary merit in about a year I think.

I did devour the Richard Osman murder series, can’t even think of the name now, even though I knew it wasn’t great. I tried the ones that were recommended as similar - Marlow murder - but hated them. And I always get lost in the Galbraith/ Strike books (again, all the valid criticism and lack of editing notwithstanding). To give an idea of the level of thing that might be likely to tempt me back!

I’d love recommendations for books that are going to get me back into reading, that are well written but not too challenging. The Wolf Hall trilogy are some of my all time favourite books for example, but I don’t think anything in that vein is going to work - I doubt I’d have been able to read them if they came out today.

Ultimately I think I just need a really good story. It can’t be terribly written and has to be somewhat plausible/ coherent but I can also forgive quite a lot in terms of style if I’m invested enough to want to know what happens.

Some things that did break through the fog in the last 5 years to give more idea of taste -

• Circe Madeleine Miller
• Kiss Myself Goodbye, the Many Lives of Aunt Munca
• The strike books as mentioned above
• The Final Revival of Opal and Nev - Dawnie Walton
• The Dark Queens - Shelley Puhak
• Rizzio - Denise Mina
• Foster - Claire Keegan (all of hers, though I’m looking for something a little happier I think)
• Still Life - Sarah Winman, little too much whimsy maybe for me but I do remember enjoying it

Things I hated - that Crawdads one, Elinor Oliphant

Would love any ideas! Or stories of people who got back into reading and what did it for you?

Can't offer any suggestions... but I'm the same and dd is 9!

I managed a good streak a year or two ago by deleting social media. Every time I picked up my phone to scroll I would read instead!
It really helped... but then I redownloaded social media and reading went out the window!

Lessons in Chemistry

The Appeal

I find I only read on the Kindle (via my phone) when on the train/bus, all other times it's audiobooks using Borrow Box. I too was in a fog for a while, but the minute I started reading (real reading lol) The Hearts Invisible Furies, by John Boyne, I was back! A brilliant read, well to me anyway.

Others I enjoyed that have a good story and kept me engaged were -

The Bee Sting- Paul Murray
Long Island - Colm Toibin
The Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Anything written by Claire Keegan

I'll leave it there for now, since I read a lot of biography/history also which may not be what you are looking for at the moment.

Totally get this! I find am so much worse at reading proper books than before had kids and no real excuse as my children are big. Hilary Mantel also one of my favourite authors. I listen to audio books mostly for my serious reading. I can usually read Elizabeth Strout and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche on paper in terms of proper literature. My guilty pleasure is John Grisham as tend to find them unputdownable even though wince sometimes at how he writes about women. Also can read Strike books - except that one with all the annoying online messages.

It's old but I recently read Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (1987 Booker winner). It was really good and I didn't find it challenging. Would highly recommend.

If you're a fan of literary fiction I also recommend the Backlisted podcast. It's like talking to friends about books.

John Boyne - The Heart's invisible furies
Anything by Ann Patchett or Elizabeth Strout.

Have you tried looking some recommendations on Goodreads or The Storygraph, if you search for the books you have previously enjoyed on there, it will recommend you books that others have enjoyed or similar books 😊

Come Back to 50 Bookers! You won’t be judged and you don’t have to read 50!

my votes for compelling books are None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell and American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, not quite lit fic, more on the thriller side. Someone on here told me off for not giving a content Trigger Warning for American Dirt so there’s that to be considered

I’ve tried to keep up with reading after having my son (13 months) as I’m an avid reader.

Even if that means reading kids books to him or books that I’m interested in (that are appropriate for me to read to him/middle grade or young adult books) it can be hard when I’m so knackered all the time to motivate myself to read but I try to read a little every day if I can

This it's brilliant

I get like this frequently and I don't even have DC. 😁 I'll have a think for suggestions, but in the meantime a tip: if you hated Eleanor Oliphant, give Strange Sally Diamond a very wide berth.

Yes I think this is what it’s going to take!

I am really into Iris Murdoch atm. She's a new discovery, and I'm avidly devouring her books. I rarely read contemporary fiction, though I did enjoy Edward St Aubyn's Melrose novels.

I hesitate to recommend books as what pleases one person may bore another. All I can do is tell you a few books I absolutely love:

Bertrand Russell's autobiography
Richard Ellman's biography of Oscar Wilde
Aldous Huxley: Chrome Yellow
Evelyn Waugh: Sword of Honour
Robert Graves: I Claudius and Goodbye to All That

Patrick Fermor: A Time of Gifts
P G Wodehouse: Right Ho Jeeves
Dickens: David Copperfield
Stephen Fry: Moab Is My Washpot
Douglas Adams: Hitchhiker's series

How about re-reading books you loved in childhood? The Narnia books, perhaps, or The BFG or Wind in the Willows. Or how about listening to audiobooks? That can be a great way back into literature. Stephen Fry reading Sherlock Holmes and P G Wodehouse is my idea of heaven.

Not popular on here but I love the Richard Osman books, and also the Robert Galbraith ones. My tip
would be the Slough House books by Mick Herron - Slow Horses is the first one. They are well written but fast paced, plus there’s 9 of them (as well as some spin offs / novellas too). My problem now is that I’m coming to the end of them and will then be stuck as to what to read next (as I think anything else will be a disappointment)

Oh, and I also hated Elinor Oliphant so sounds like we have similar tastes!

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was really absorbing to me. Such interesting voices and different viewpoints and lifestyles than you generally see which I found refreshing.

The Never Game trilogy by Jeffery Deaver (Never Game, The Goodbye Man and Final Twist). They are the books that the Disney+ TV series Tracker is based on but are much more in depth and gripping. No gore or anything horrid but clever twists and easy to follow.

Thank you for all the recommendations! Some I have read, but I’m making a list, quite happy to reread, an advantage of having no memory these days would be like a new book for me anyway.

I will look out for The Appeal.

@Dolamroth - I should have mentioned Moon Tiger on my list of ones I’ve managed to love since this all started! I think that was another 50 book thread recommendation, back when I was having another go haha. I loved it, I did look for other stuff by the same author but nothing really appealed, though I’m not sure that one would have without the recommendations, so it’s worth a try.

I also read the John Boyne one in one of my better phases - I did really like it but I wanted to love it as much as everyone else was and didn’t quite. It reminded me of John Irving though, which is a good thing IMO.

Like I say I have had fits and starts over the last few years (though literally nothing this year, unless you count the romance freebies) - I just can’t seem to keep it going. I think I’m just going to have to take drastic measures re social media and locking my phone away from myself jn the evening.

Thanks also for the audiobook suggestions - I’ve actually kept up my audible subscription and build up a massive stockpile to work through. These days though I don’t really have so many opportunities to listen - I used to use them a lot when I had a commute to work, or when DC was tiny on pram walks. These days I work from home and the school run is too short to get into anything. A couple of times a year I have a long drive for work and I do listen to them then.

I really appreciate the suggestions - it’s nice in itself to be talking about books again! Thank you also @EineReiseDurchDieZeit - perhaps I should come back, the enthusiasm of other posters there may rub off on me. I also had the opportunity to go to Barter Books recently and it made me think of the thread. Unfortunately I had the child in tow so it became about picture books rather than me having a really good browse, I’m hoping to go back in a solo mission.

Agree the Appeal is good.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker - a retelling of the Iliad

I've read Rizzio and also recommend the Long Drop by Denise Mina. A fictional retelling of a real case, told in real time. Not your standard crime fiction.

The Whalebone Theatre is a bit like Still life but better imo.

Elizabeth is Missing - v good.

If you liked Circe - anything by Natalie Haynes might appeal (Stone Blind, about Medusa or A Thousand Ships, about Troy) - or Pat Barker, as mentioned by PP

I've had sevear hypothyroidism for the last 5 years despite various treatments. One of the side effects is major brain fog and attention span issues.

I found reading YA books helped me get back into reading again. They had fun and complex plots while having quite simple prose. Not bad writing, just simple.

Audio books also helped a lot - though I have to be physically doing something in order to pay attention. I often play a game like power washing simulator while listening.

I'm now back up to finishing 52 books a year, split roughly 50/50 between kindle and audio and I've been slowly adding in more adult reading too. I still read some YA when the brain fog is worse and usually have two books on the go. A harder one and a more simple one and I swap depending on how symptomatic I am.

I'm currently devouring the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and I'm on book 7 after just three weeks (and they are not short!).

Audio books helped me after a spell in the covid lockdowns where I found I just couldn't settle to read anything. I ended up listening to quite a few long classics like Barchester Towers and Bleak House because the narrators on Audible were just so good and did all the voices.

What about something like John le Carre? They're much better written than the average spy novel, but they're still spy novels and very plot driven.

Omg I hated Elinor Oliphant so, so, so much! I'm glad someone else did.

Sometimes when I'm struggling to get back into reading something short that I can see the end of really helps - a book called Universality by Natasha Brown which came out recently is sort of a thriller, so might fit the bill.

How To Kill Your Family is a bit silly but so, so compelling - I think I read that in one go.

I absolutely devoured Flesh by David Szalay recently, too.

I feel your pain. I love reading and when I’m enjoying a book/ finishing one I wonder why I don’t read all the time. Doom scrolling is my number one reason for not reading, just too many distractions. I’ve recently really enjoyed My Brilliant Friend. Couldn’t put that down but unfortunately haven’t quite got in to the second book in the series.

I read Pachinko recently and couldn't put it down. Not a particularly short (or light) book, but the chapters are short and very absorbing, so it's easy to pick up whenever you have a spare 5 minutes. The person I passed it on to raced through it in a few days as well