New stories aren’t keeping my attention. Recently I have been finding it really hard to get into a book. Have you ever had this happen? I have tried everything! I’ve tried The Witcher (which I loved, it just took a really long time to get through), Drums of Autumn (I got 500 pages in and can’t find the motivation to finish it), I’ve tried classics, popular culture, fanfictions and audiobooks and I CAN’T CONCENTRATE ON THE STORY!!
As a booklover, this predicament is endless infuriating, but every time I sit down to read a book my mind starts going through a list of things I should be doing. Homework, work, cleaning, assessment. My responsibilities, while not immense, seem to quadruple the second I open a book! For months now I have been unable to complete a book. Many of my friends tell me they have the same issue, that they love to read but find it hard, that it is just easier to chuck on Netflix and pretend you’re studying, than having to justify to yourself that you deserve a chance to relax and enjoy a book.
So, as a problem solver, I started experimenting.
Keep in mind, I never re-read books, ever. It’s not something I have ever been able to do. I have a very good memory, so whenever I sit down to re-read, the second I get back into the book, I remember the ending. But re-reading is what has been working. I’ve looked at my jam-packed bookcases and chosen books that I adored the first-time round, and I am ever so slowly making my way through them. I make time to read now. I have developed my love for reading again and I am so happy. I’ve re-visited my friends in Velaris (Court of Thorns and Roses, I skipped the first one because I didn’t like it as much). I’ve travelled back to the moors in Wuthering Heights and developed new ways of reading it and reasons for despising Heathcliff and Catherine (once you read a novel in a Literature class, you will never be able to unsee the themes and what-not). Currently, I am diving back into the post WWII world of Guernsey and London in the beautiful world of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I attribute my not coming back to it sooner to my reckless decision to lend it to my mother who promptly lost it (I only found it again recently and no, she still hasn’t read it!).
To all you fellow bookworms that are have trouble leaving our world, which I have to admit is a little messed up at the moment, to go forth and find books you loved and try reading those. Maybe it will work. Maybe you will enjoy it. Maybe it will rekindle your love and intrigue enough for a new book!
Happy reading!!
Tales for Teens 