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I'm struggling..

  • 12-08-2015 12:14am
    #1
    Slattsy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,775 ✭✭✭✭


    To finish books lately. I'm not sure why.
    I've always read book after book from start to finish, regardless how bad they were for about 10 years. Easily one a month.

    But now, about halfway through, I just lose interest and just don't have the same enthusiasm.

    I've even tried to re-read one or two old favs, but still the same thing occurs.

    Ever been through something like this? Any idea how to get out of this slump / rut?


Comments

  • #2
    daithi1970
    Registered Users Posts: 515 ✭✭✭daithi1970


    ..maybe log off the computer for a while?..try starting a book and see if you can finish it before logging on again

    daithi


  • #3
    wreade1872
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 362 ✭✭wreade1872


    I never have that problem, i have a completist mind so it bugs the crap out of me not to finish something. I can get easily bored between books though but i've found ways around that.
    I did get stuck on Don Quixote for like 3 months, i didn't want to finish it but my completist attitude prevented me from starting anything new so i just didn't read anything. Eventually i managed to drag myself back to it again.

    Maybe that would work for you, hold yourself to ransom and refuse to read anything new until you finish the old, you might be stuck for a while but eventually the dam will break, your love of reading will force you through.

    Also when i'm reading something awful i'll sometimes resort to an audio book version if i can't otherwise finish it, that could be worth a try.

    Other tactics might be to switch it up, try reading things other than novels like short stories, graphic novels, poems, theres some awesome epic poems out there. Something like that might get you back in the reading mood and then you can go back to books.

    Epic poem recommendations:
    City of Dreadful Night by James B.V. Thomson
    Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
    Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
    Song of Roland by Unknown
    Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs by William Morris
    Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson
    Beowulf by Unknown


  • #4
    GhostInTheRuins
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,965 ✭✭✭GhostInTheRuins


    wreade1872 wrote: »
    I did get stuck on Don Quixote for like 3 months, i didn't want to finish it but my completist attitude prevented me from starting anything new so i just didn't read anything. Eventually i managed to drag myself back to it again.

    Maybe that would work for you, hold yourself to ransom and refuse to read anything new until you finish the old, you might be stuck for a while but eventually the dam will break, your love of reading will force you through.

    Also when i'm reading something awful i'll sometimes resort to an audio book version if i can't otherwise finish it, that could be worth a try.

    Why force yourself to spend time reading/listening to something that you don't enjoy or find awful? I don't understand that at all, life's too short!

    I'd have no problem starting a book and halfway through realising it's rubbish, abandon it and find something worth reading.

    OP maybe you just need to find some books that really captivate you and make you want to finish them, otherwise you're just finishing it for the sake of finishing it, so what's the point? Maybe try reading something that you normally wouldn't; fantasy, science fiction, horror etc. Mix it up a bit, keep things fresh.


  • #5
    wreade1872
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 362 ✭✭wreade1872


    GhostInTheRuins wrote: »
    Why force yourself to spend time reading/listening to something that you don't enjoy or find awful? I don't understand that at all, life's too short!

    I have serious psychological issues ;) thats why i do it. For me not finishing things is very dangerous, breaking my rules about finishing what i started can create a streak of such behavior. If i give up on one my stupid brain may end up giving up on the next and so on.
    And although i can recognize what my future behavior will be that doesn't mean i can stop myself.

    Besides i never said Don Quixote was awful, sometimes you just get bogged down or distracted and it has little to do with the book. Its like hiking or something, just because its tough going doesn't mean you don't enjoy Having completed it :) . I am a big fan of HAVING read something as opposed to a big fan of CURRENTLY reading something.


  • #6
    GhostInTheRuins
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,965 ✭✭✭GhostInTheRuins


    wreade1872 wrote: »
    I have serious psychological issues ;) thats why i do it. For me not finishing things is very dangerous, breaking my rules about finishing what i started can create a streak of such behavior. If i give up on one my stupid brain may end up giving up on the next and so on.
    And although i can recognize what my future behavior will be that doesn't mean i can stop myself.

    Besides i never said Don Quixote was awful, sometimes you just get bogged down or distracted and it has little to do with the book. Its like hiking or something, just because its tough going doesn't mean you don't enjoy Having completed it :) . I am a big fan of HAVING read something as opposed to a big fan of CURRENTLY reading something.

    Well that's a whole other kettle of fish. Fair enough so :)


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  • #7
    wreade1872
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 362 ✭✭wreade1872


    GhostInTheRuins wrote: »
    Well that's a whole other kettle of fish. Fair enough so :)

    Yeah that was probably TMI :o . Still, point is its nice to have a system :) .


  • #8
    Cows Go µ
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 902 ✭✭✭Cows Go µ


    Slattsy wrote: »
    To finish books lately. I'm not sure why.
    I've always read book after book from start to finish, regardless how bad they were for about 10 years. Easily one a month.

    But now, about halfway through, I just lose interest and just don't have the same enthusiasm.

    I've even tried to re-read one or two old favs, but still the same thing occurs.

    Ever been through something like this? Any idea how to get out of this slump / rut?

    I find going back to your original loves helps. Not necessarily rereading old books but finding a previously unread book by an author that you have always liked. I grew up on fantasy books, in recent years I have branched out a lot but when I'm in a rut and nothing is holding my interest I go back to fantasy and to remind me of what made me fall in love with reading in the first place. I love the fiction books but sometimes I just need epic and nothing does epic like fantasy.

    If you haven't changed genres much before, try it. Go for something completely out of your comfort zone. You'd be surprised at how refreshing it is.


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