I never travel anywhere without my kindle -- and love reading before bed (even if only for 15 minutes), and like a pp, my husband loves that it doesn't keep him up. I primarily read on my kindle during the pandemic and downloaded frequently from the library. However -- nothing beats a physical book at times. Loved the Library of Congress' National Book Festival was in person this year. Energy for the soul and brain. Looking forward to Fall for the Book....

Anonymous wrote:I just want to put in a plug for a book that I wasn't going to read because it's popular and not a fluffy romance: Normal People. It's nice because it's not hard, but it's deep.

I agree, this book was deeply moving. It was a big book hangover type of book for me.

On the other hand, I read Conversations with Friends (also by Sally Rooney) after I enjoyed Normal People so much and it was horrible.

I just want to put in a plug for a book that I wasn't going to read because it's popular and not a fluffy romance: Normal People. It's nice because it's not hard, but it's deep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider the possibility that tiktok is frying your brain, and that your brain would be fine and you would have the time, patience and concentration to read if you scrolled less and held an actual book in your hands. Pick up a book. Read a few pages. Repeat this exercise daily until the book draws you in.

This. For all the endless posts about The Evils of The Phone/Tablet/Internet/Social Media by parents on DCUM, the parents themselves are addicted (my favorite was the recent one where OP told the kids the family was going to do a technology fast together, but then said “the parents sneak online after the kids go to bed”).

Yes, it is decreasing your attention span and ability to focus. Go into the settings on all of your devices and see how many hours of usage you have per day. It will be more than you think, or is healthy. People think that since it’s in bite sized fragments throughout the day, it’s “not so bad.”

+1 I think it's also a matter of options. DCUM is the only social media I use so there's only so much new for me to read. If I have free time during the day, I'll read. Or if I'm waiting in a parking lot somewhere to pick up one of my DCs. When they were younger, I only read at night before bed.

I do most of my reading on a Kindle because it's so easy to get library books. Like other PPs I'm not interested in heavy or dark reads anymore though. I have been trying to branch out this past year to different genres than my norm.

I red my kindle every day. I can read it when my husband sis asleep. Love getting into bed and reading even if it’s only for 15 min

When my kids were young, I gave up reading books for personal pleasure. I tend to get completely lost in books, and while it’s okay to forget to feed myself, I couldn’t do that to kids, much less miss a need for help. I read a lot to them through the years, and as they grew more self-sufficient, I started reading again. They’re grown now, and I’m back to reading voraciously. The vast majority of what I read is pure fluff that much of DCUM would probably sneer at, but I don’t care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an avid reader that really fell off the train with kids but audible got me back on board. I listen when I clean the kitchen, when I go to the store, while I drive, and sometimes I just go upstairs after the kids are in bed and lie in a dark room and listen. I would probably like to have a physical book in those times, and whenever I fly I ALWAYS buy a book to read, and very much love turning the pages. But I just don't have the time for it, and I tend to be a book binger. Once it gets going, I just cannot put it down, and listening helps me with that. I have just never been someone who can read for a half hour, I will look up and its been two hours!

And yes I gave up on reading whatever people say you are supposed to read and just read something that interests me. I forced myself through Malibu Rising recently because a bunch of people recommended it and I was like, meh, at the end (it was well written I was just not that into it for whatever reason)

OT: Malibu Rising just wasn't that good. You might consider her earlier books.

Ooh, read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It’s much better. One of them was Mick Riva.

PS - She has a new book coming out in August

I am the pp that didn't love MR and this is not a selling point for evelyn hugo hahaha

I’m the PP and I agree, Mick was my least favorite of the husbands? Just noting the connection between Malibu, which I didn’t much like, and Evelyn Hugo, which I did.

I just finished Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I loved / hated it.
It was not about what I thought it would be about, but half way through I vowed to keep going just to find out what was the reason Monique was asked to write…. After lots of tears and big feelings at the ending, I just realized it was the same author as Malibu Rising! Such drama!
I need to take a break from that author for awhile. (Too much drama.)

I loved Daisy Jones & the Six (also by this author) but maybe because I’m a huge music fan and loved going “Behind the Music” in such a gossipy, dramatic way.

I didn’t love her other books, though. Just finished her most recent one (Carrie Soto) and thought it was meh. Liked the relationship with her dad, but felt like she herself was boring and her character development was predictable. If you’re a tennis fan, you might love it. But I found it dull compared to DJ&S.

Yes - I listen to a TON of audiobooks!!

Maybe try pausing your relationship with TikTok. Take three days off. Just three days, but a complete break. (Delete the app.)

See how you feel when TikTok is not an option. Maybe a book would seem more appealing?

Personally, I can only do audiobooks at this stage of life - usually while exercising, prepping meals, folding laundry, or in the car solo. (Unless we’re on a relaxing vacation where I’m “off-duty”. Then I can “read with my eye balls.”) 😂

I find audiobooks to be relaxing. Someone is reading to me!! And I download everything through the library app (Libby), so it’s free.

I would recommend against a book club. To get into it, you want to choose what you want to read!

What interests you? If you were to read a book this week, what type would it be? If you share that, people can recommend great options in that genre. For example - suspense/thrillers (lots of domestic ones out these past few years - mo doubt inspired by the success of Gone Girl - couples with secrets that end up biting them in the butt! 😂), memoirs (sone good ones by celebrities, actually!), contemporary chick-lit type romances (so many that are interesting and not formulaic!), heavier, more emotional stories about women (Crawdad Sings etc). Or contemporary spy novels? non-fiction? World’s your oyster and libraries are free!

Last year my goal was to get back into reading so I gave myself an ambitious goal (read 75 books). I missed it by 4 books but hey, I read over 70 books! I logged it on Good Reads so I was anxious to see my progress on my goal.

This year my goal is 45 books and I'm a little bit ahead of schedule. I found that when I was anxious about getting to 75 last year, I was rejecting books that were too brainy or long as they'd make it harder to get there. So obviously that was taking all the fun out of reading and my goal was too high.

I don't know what it is, but being accountable to that Reading Challenge progress report really helped motivate me. Because like you, my brain will default to something brainless and meaningless and I won't feel like picking up a book.

There's a poem called "Lying in a Hammock at Wiliam Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota," that's all about the peacefulness of being still and observing nature, but suddenly the poem ends with the line, "I have wasted my life." I say that to myself like a mantra when I've lost time looking at my phone doing nothing that edifies or delights me.

A good way to get back into reading is to re-read your favorite book.

Try keeping a paperback of short stories by your bed. Turn off all screens and TV when in the bedroom. Short stories are a good way to get back into the habit of reading books.

Most books are mass produced by Amazon to sell the author's consulting services accompanied by Ted Talks and podcasts and YouTube channel videos. It's so much noise to me. I learn nothing from any of these activities.

I stick to reading the classics.

I enjoy reading the classics. And then I plan a trip.

I read House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne before I visited the real House of the Seven Gables in Salem.

Every so often, I will read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

I am reading a biography about David Foster Wallace before reading Infinite Jest again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an avid reader that really fell off the train with kids but audible got me back on board. I listen when I clean the kitchen, when I go to the store, while I drive, and sometimes I just go upstairs after the kids are in bed and lie in a dark room and listen. I would probably like to have a physical book in those times, and whenever I fly I ALWAYS buy a book to read, and very much love turning the pages. But I just don't have the time for it, and I tend to be a book binger. Once it gets going, I just cannot put it down, and listening helps me with that. I have just never been someone who can read for a half hour, I will look up and its been two hours!

And yes I gave up on reading whatever people say you are supposed to read and just read something that interests me. I forced myself through Malibu Rising recently because a bunch of people recommended it and I was like, meh, at the end (it was well written I was just not that into it for whatever reason)

OT: Malibu Rising just wasn't that good. You might consider her earlier books.

Ooh, read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It’s much better. One of them was Mick Riva.

PS - She has a new book coming out in August

I am the pp that didn't love MR and this is not a selling point for evelyn hugo hahaha

I’m the PP and I agree, Mick was my least favorite of the husbands? Just noting the connection between Malibu, which I didn’t much like, and Evelyn Hugo, which I did.

I just finished Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I loved / hated it.
It was not about what I thought it would be about, but half way through I vowed to keep going just to find out what was the reason Monique was asked to write…. After lots of tears and big feelings at the ending, I just realized it was the same author as Malibu Rising! Such drama!
I need to take a break from that author for awhile. (Too much drama.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an avid reader that really fell off the train with kids but audible got me back on board. I listen when I clean the kitchen, when I go to the store, while I drive, and sometimes I just go upstairs after the kids are in bed and lie in a dark room and listen. I would probably like to have a physical book in those times, and whenever I fly I ALWAYS buy a book to read, and very much love turning the pages. But I just don't have the time for it, and I tend to be a book binger. Once it gets going, I just cannot put it down, and listening helps me with that. I have just never been someone who can read for a half hour, I will look up and its been two hours!

And yes I gave up on reading whatever people say you are supposed to read and just read something that interests me. I forced myself through Malibu Rising recently because a bunch of people recommended it and I was like, meh, at the end (it was well written I was just not that into it for whatever reason)

OT: Malibu Rising just wasn't that good. You might consider her earlier books.

Ooh, read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It’s much better. One of them was Mick Riva.

PS - She has a new book coming out in August

I am the pp that didn't love MR and this is not a selling point for evelyn hugo hahaha

I’m the PP and I agree, Mick was my least favorite of the husbands? Just noting the connection between Malibu, which I didn’t much like, and Evelyn Hugo, which I did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an avid reader that really fell off the train with kids but audible got me back on board. I listen when I clean the kitchen, when I go to the store, while I drive, and sometimes I just go upstairs after the kids are in bed and lie in a dark room and listen. I would probably like to have a physical book in those times, and whenever I fly I ALWAYS buy a book to read, and very much love turning the pages. But I just don't have the time for it, and I tend to be a book binger. Once it gets going, I just cannot put it down, and listening helps me with that. I have just never been someone who can read for a half hour, I will look up and its been two hours!

And yes I gave up on reading whatever people say you are supposed to read and just read something that interests me. I forced myself through Malibu Rising recently because a bunch of people recommended it and I was like, meh, at the end (it was well written I was just not that into it for whatever reason)

OT: Malibu Rising just wasn't that good. You might consider her earlier books.

Ooh, read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It’s much better. One of them was Mick Riva.

PS - She has a new book coming out in August

I am the pp that didn't love MR and this is not a selling point for evelyn hugo hahaha