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Dry Spell

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  • 30-12-2010 2:06am
    #1
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭


    I'm going through a bit of a dry spell in terms of my reading. When I was in college and since I graduated I had a lot of free time to read and had a bit of a golden period there. Now, since I started work I just haven't had the energy to read as much as I have. I don't have the concentration in the evenings any more. Once I read the paper and browse the net all I want to do is vegetate with something mindless on the TV (Corry and Eastenders is excellent for this!)

    What do you do when you go through a reading dry spell? I've plenty of great books constantly eyeballing me in my bedroom, threatening me, scaring me, mocking me... But I don't know where to start or what to do with the half of them!


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    #2
    Sergeant
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,362 ✭✭✭Sergeant


    I can go through stages of this. I either pick a subject that is new and interesting to me (The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene being the last book that was an example of this), or I pick up a Flann O'Brien novel and come to the conclusion that this reading lark can be tremendous fun.


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    #3
    raah!
    Registered Users Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭raah!


    I agree with sergeant, an easy book with which to vegetate I think is a happy medium between rotting in front of the television and expending effort through some intellelectual endeavour. eeee . It is vegetating still, but a kind of vegetation which keeps the door open for future actual reading.


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    #4
    AntiMatter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 447 ✭✭AntiMatter


    Throw away your television.


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    #5
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    AntiMatter wrote: »
    Throw away your television.

    I have been tempted.


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    #6
    Eliot Rosewater
    Registered Users Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭Eliot Rosewater


    I'm sorry to hear about your dry spell Denerick. Perhaps some new books? I was hardly reading books before Christmas, only reading about 3 or 4 books in the preceding two months (I usually read 1 a week). When a book's been on your shelf for a year you tend to lose interest in it, and the natural excitement that comes from buying a book fades away. I got loads of new books at Christmas, and I'm very excited about them, so I've already read nearly four.

    I know one can read a lot with the time off at Christmas, but if I hadn't gotten new books I wouldn't have read so much.

    Getting easier books is also good advise I think. Something like The Chronicles of Narnia would do nicely - I've been meaning to re-read them myself.


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    #7
    Eliot Rosewater
    Registered Users Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭Eliot Rosewater


    I forgot, if you're looking for new books to spark your interest the Penguin Great Ideas books are, well, great. ;) They're short (about 100 pages) and are about diverse things so their hard to lose interest in. Chinua Achebe has a good one - An Image of Africa. The second essay in it - The Trouble With Nigeria - is really candid.


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    #8
    hatful
    Closed Accounts Posts: 346 ✭✭hatful


    Read on public transport to work? It's strange I very rarely see anyone reading books on the bus, the 'metro' yes, novels hardly. It sometimes takes a while to get back into the reading zone. Try reading something light that you know you'll enjoy in tandem with something more difficult, bad habits ensue I have about 5 books on the go at the moment. It's hard to finish one book at a time when Christmas comes around and I receive some great books as presents :D


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    #9
    Plowman
    Registered Users Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Plowman


    This post has been deleted.


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    #10
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    Plowman wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.

    I read novels and history books. Recently I've been reading Simon Schama's 'Citizens' (Or rather, re-reading) in the hope that it would spark a new love for the 18th century. Its not that I don't want to read it, its just that I'm only reading a dozen or so pages a night. Of a 900 odd page book! In more normal circumstances I would be reading around 100 pages a day.


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    #11
    Plowman
    Registered Users Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Plowman


    This post has been deleted.


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    #12
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    I always like humourous books when I go through this. Try some Saul Bellow, Phillip Roth. Or De Lillo's White Noise.


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    #13
    AntiMatter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 447 ✭✭AntiMatter


    metrovelvet wrote: »
    I always like humourous books when I go through this. Try some Saul Bellow, Phillip Roth. Or De Lillo's White Noise.

    Or any of Bill Bryson's, for an informative giggle.


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    #14
    IrishPhoenix
    Registered Users Posts: 634 ✭✭✭IrishPhoenix


    I always think that my old favourites are like comfort food. I think once you know you've loved the book before and know what's coming, it's very relaxing because there's no stress with keeping track of the plot. And once you're back in the habit, you can go hunting for new material.

    However, I know some people never re-read. Maybe try out some short stories or books that can be digested in easy chunks? For example, Jeremy Clarkson does a best of compilation of his articles and it's very easy to pick up, read one or two and put it down again. Because there's not a continuous narrative, you never have to remember what came before and they're fairly funny.


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