Reading Skills:
How I Beat Reading Slumps (pt. 1)
Just as you, my foot is caught by life’s twisted root and I trip into reading slumps.
Long,
tiresome,
guilty streaks of no reading.
It’s awful to let yourself down and scrap what you know nourishes your mind.
It’s different for everyone, but when you no longer open books to talk with your favourite authors, a wave of dry lethargy sweeps the mind and emptiness is replaced by . . . more emptiness -mindless content from reels, Youtube and the like.
A pocket lobotomy.
Hustlers get mad at your fall (even though they are just as guilty):
“Just wake up earlier bro.”
“Just molest your calendar with yet more time blocks.”
“Just grit it.”
Just just just.
The storm of life blows differently for each of us, and we don’t share the same starting line. Bullshit, one-dimensional advice is about as useful as a cheap umbrella in Ireland.
I repeat this warning almost everywhere, so forgive me if I sound like a broken record. It’s only because disappointment awaits if you forget it, and I don’t see it stressed elsewhere. With anything you hear, from me to your mother’s dog, try, tinker and see what works for you.
With that said, these are many of the tips I used to trudge out of those reading valleys and get back into the flow. With some determination and clever thinking, you can fall back in love with books.
Study Overlap
A few months ago In ages long forgotten, when I was in college, guilt lingered over me whenever I closed the textbooks and read something else for pleasure’s sake.
How dare I.
You almost hear the unwritten lecture notes scream from the table, begging for yet more attention:
“You have work to do -why are you reading?”
This same creeping guilt goes beyond the student and touches everyone -the professional, the job-seeker, the housewife and everyone in between.
Something as minor as the pile of laundry on your chair is enough to throw your focus from any meaningful reading session, but there is a compromise.
I studied ecology back then, and my solution was to choose a book that let me revise the topic, but was also different enough to scratch the itch for something new.
In other words, something loosely related to ecology, but fresh, exciting and full of tangents that lean into other topics. I chose books like Why Geese Don’t Get Obese, which bolted down my understanding of evolutionary history, but also went into some cool ideas on hunger hormones and obese rats.
Study can be fun.
When other duties call you away form your natural curiosity, see what you can read to satisfy both at once and you will keep the guilt far away.
Start easy, read bullshit even
Many readers are snobs.
I know this because I’m a part-time elitist, with my hours depending on how strong the delusions of grandeur are.
But jokes aside, too many in the literature sphere try to puff up their chest and one-up each other.
(Please read with an increasingly nasally, posh voice)
“I’m reading Dostoevsky.”
“Oh.. well I’M reading Solzhenitsyn.”
“Hahaha, cute. I indulge in Guénon before bed.”
And it gets more and more obscure until people don’t even like the books they read, but still want their edgy aesthetic to be held up (none of those authors are bad, for the record).
I found myself doing just that -I forced myself to read hard books when I just didn’t want to. All it led to was friction, as if I fought the hobby every time I sat down to read.
Yes, literature is not a mindless walk in the park, but if you’re trying to ease yourself back into it, you need to manage expectations and be fair with yourself.
I choose easier reads. They should still pique your interest, but also give you the room to tune your mind back into the reading mood. This might be some light non-fiction or a novel you love.
By no means are these less insightful by nature, but simply natural paths back into reading so that you are better primed to face the more difficult works.
You can even read trashy junk -totally valid if it’s how you muster the energy for more (or heck, if it’s fun from time to time). No judgement there.
Exploit nostalgia
Old memories are more colourful than yesterday’s.
The sea was more blue, videogames wouldn’t let you go, and even a stale cracker could have made a gourmet meal.
The same is true for books.
Like an old friend, you can revisit your childhood favourites and spark up a conversation right away.
Whenever my brain is soup and I can’t find the energy to plough through philosophy or history, I turn to A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, one of my old pleasures.
It’s easy, it’s touching, it fills me with the hunger to read more.
When your axles are sticky and your engine rusty, look to your past and see what can open the gates to nostalgia-fueled motivation.
Bookshop thirst
I hate going into bookstores.
They’re the black hole of the high street. Your caveman brain says “I see bookshop. I go in.” You scan for your next read as you navigate the winding shelves, like a hawk surveying for its next meal. It’s easily the best way to kill an hour or two in a cozy autumn afternoon.
So why the hate?
Bookshops ruin the rest of my day out.
Browsing builds me an insatiable hunger to read.
There’s a hundred books at home and this Waterstones outlet gave me 30,000 reasons to run back and finish them all before I can tackle something new.
It’s a uniquely strong desire that I only get when surrounded by books. Once home, I can read for hours.
I don’t say it works for everyone, but the next time your motivation has sunk to the seabed, see what a trip to Barnes and Nobles can do for you. Or even better, your local independent.
Scrap books you’re not bothered with
I’m a completionist, and if you are too (which doesn’t surprise me one bit), it could waste hundreds of hours of your reading life every year.
Completionism is the belief that you must finish everything you start, or at least most of it, even if it’s a grind to get there. Every videogame achievement must be won, every hobby has to be explored, and most tragic of all, every great book must be finished.
All in your mortal life.
Is it wrong? Is it right? I don’t care. The collector inside you is amoral, and leans both ways. The dark side leads you to the addictive pursuit of more, whereas the honest voice helps you appreciate every corner of the art in front of you.
For now, we peer into the ugly side.
Completionism hurts you when the book you choose fails to live up to your standards.
"The intro excited me as much as a pile of bricks. . . buuut it’s only the intro. We read on."
"Ok maybe it takes a while to get stuck into."
"Surely the second half will pick up? Nothing interesting here . . ."
Maybe. Maybe it will.
But not every book is good, or relevant to you. Even fewer will meet your personal taste. Forcing yourself to push through a hopeless read is a sure way for an ugly reunion with the hobby you once loved.
Drop it. Put it aside, at least for now.
Read something you do love, because life is not long enough for you to waste time with forgettable books that hold you captive.
Read the best.
Yours,
Odysseas
P.S. Sorry for the long hiatus -I was on holiday in Cyprus. I'm Greek, so it was interesting to see what similarities and differences would stand out between these two peoples. My conclusion: not that many. They put lettuce in their main salad (odd), drive like maniacs (feels like home), and perfectly capture that wild, rustic approach to life that you would find in Crete. Amazing place overall.
P.P.S This was long so I split it in two, as you can see. The second part will be out within a week, just so I don't spam your emails.
Thanks so much for sticking around and reading these, it makes me very grateful and I want you to always know that.